Soccer-Tantrums and silverware make Scolari perfect for Chelsea

By Martyn Herman

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - Any manager of Chelsea, as Avram Grant found out to his cost last month, needs to be a serial collector of silverware and have a big personality able to cope with one of the most unforgiving jobs in soccer.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, who will take over at the London club on July 1 once his stewardship of Portugal comes to an end at Euro 2008, can put a large tick in both boxes.

The Brazilian, who is approaching his 60th birthday, has an appetite for success to match Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, while his passion for the game often spills over into temper tantrums and run-ins with officials and opposing players.

The thought of Scolari head to head in the technical area with Manchester United's tempestuous Alex Ferguson and Arsenal's Arsene Wenger next season is a dream scenario for the hyped-up Premier League.

Chelsea fans spent most of last season recovering from the sudden departure of their beloved Jose Mourinho, the man who returned glory to Stamford Bridge after 50 years of league mediocrity, winning two titles in his three seasons in charge.

For all his honest endeavour and impressive results, Grant, a rather dour Israeli, was never going to fill Mourinho's boots and was sadly lacking in the 'wow' factor demanded by both Abramovich and the fans.

When Grant was sacked despite taking the west London club to their first Champions League final and pushing United all the way to the final day of the Premier League season, Chelsea fans awaited the announcement of a real heavyweight coach.

Unsuccessful overtures for AC Milan's Carlo Ancellotti and Inter's Roberto Mancini appeared to underline the folly of allowing Mourinho to leave.