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Guus Hiddink has been instilled as the favourite to replace Jose Mourinho on an interim basis until the end of the season.
The Dutch coach enjoyed a massively successful spell in charge of the Blues after he took over from Luiz Felipe Scolari in February 2009.
In 22 matches in charge Hiddink, now 69, lost just one match and led the Blues up the table to a third-placed finish as well as winning the FA Cup.
But since leaving the club at the end of that interim spell the Dutch coach, loved by the Chelsea players and fans at Stamford Bridge, has had a rather more torrid time in the dugout.
Hiddink was out of management for about year because of a brief retirement, but then became the manager of the Turkish national team in February 2010.
Hiddink won his first match but during his spell he was frequently criticised as the team failed to progress. He never moved to the country, instead travelling and visiting when the side had matches, while his high salary was also a frequent bone of contention.
He resigned after failing to lead Turkey to Euro 2012, the team losing 3-0 in the play-offs to Croatia.
Hiddink was then out of work again before moving to the cash rich Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, his first permanent club job in six years, taking over near the end of the season.
In his only full season in charge of Anzhi, 2012-13, Hiddink led the club to third place in the league, the final of the Russian Cup and the last-16 of the Europa League (where they lost to Newcastle United).
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Hiddink announced his retirement at the end of that season but then decided to carry on into the next season. However, he unexpectedly left the club just two games into the new season stating that he had completed his mission with the club.
He was then announced as the man to take over from Louis van Gaal in charge of the Netherlands, for the second time, when the future Manchester United manager stepped down at the end of the 2014 World Cup.
However, his reign lasted a disastrously short 10 matches. Hiddink won just four of those games in charge and his qualifying campaign for Euro 2016 included shock defeats to the Czech Republic and Iceland.
Hiddink lasted just 10 games with the Netherlands in his second spell (Getty Images)
With the Netherlands on the brink of missing the tournament, Hiddink was fired in June.
Hiddink's management career started in 1987 with PSV Eindhoven. He has also managed Fenerbahce, Valencia, Real Madrid, Real Betis and PSV again. He won six Eredivisie titles and four KNVB Cups as well as the European Cup with the Dutch club, but silverware hasn't been so prominent elsewhere.
He has had an extremely successful career in charge of national teams, leading the Netherlands to the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup, South Korea to the semi-final of the 2002 World Cup and Australia to the last-16 in their first ever tournament.
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