Chelsea FC manager rumors: Max Allegri, Jose Mourinho agree deals; Koeman receives endorsement

Ok, so technically not all these are Chelsea rumors, but Mourinho is supposedly "one of us" or some such, so he kind of, sort of squeaks into this short round-up as well.  Plus, he's about to join the enemy, a la Juan Mata, so this will be a true test of love and friendship and loyalties, like when the Gargoyles were betrayed by the captain of the guard.

Anyway, The Special One is inching ever-closer to the Manchester United job, despite Van Gaal managing slightly better results since the turn of the year.  The catalyst of course is Pep Guardiola's agreement with Manchester City.  In a way, United owe the football world* to appoint Mourinho and resume that rivalry.  Once separated across the ideological, historical, cultural, ethnic divide between Madrid and Barcelona, now they'll be literally within just a few miles of each other in Manchester.  Oh, the spectacle!

* Chelsea should perhaps complete the triumvirate by luring Simeone away from Atlético, no?

ESPN's Miguel Delaney stops short of declaring it a done deal, but apparently Mourinho's camp is "confident" that a deal will get done in time for a summer move.  Reports in Portugal go a step further, with El Confidencial claiming that Mourinho "has already signed an agreeement".

Speaking of signing agreements, the big story yesterday, as far as actual Chelsea managerial candidates are concerned, was that current Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has agreed to switch to the Blues this summer on a four-year deal.  Everybody picked up on this, but the big caveat is of course that a) this doesn't really make that much sense for Allegri and b) it's originally from CalcioMercato.  So take that for whatever your think CM is worth.  The journalist who broke the news, Luca Borioni, claims that it's a "secret agreement" that nobody would know about were it not for his scoop.  BOOM! SCOOP!  BOOP!

Meanwhile, Spurs legend and former Chelsea player and manager Glenn Hoddle has given his endorsement to Ronald Koeman, who recently tested the waters with some easily back-trackable comments on Dutch radio.

"For me looking forward I would definitely look at Koeman. I think Ronald Koeman has done a fabulous job. I think he would get them playing in the right manner, organised, they play with a bit of freedom but within a style and they know what they're doing."

"They're very organised, Southampton. What he's done with those players is absolutely fantastic, particularly last year, but with better players and backing, I think he could take Chelsea on."

-Glenn Hoddle; source: Get West London

It's all a bit second-rate, really, but I suppose that's our lot in life.  Maybe we should just give the job to Emenalo.  Or John Terry?  Didier Drogba?  Steve Holland?  The bar's pretty low at the moment.