With Didier Drogba and Guus Hiddink sat together with Roman Abramovich on Saturday, it was almost as though someone at the club had the bright idea of getting the old gang back together so that it would suddenly make everything all right again.

But they’ve just tried going back to the future at Chelsea with Jose Mourinho and that didn’t turn out so well. And however hard Roman Abramovich wishes it, this isn’t 2009. Hiddink doesn’t come with quite the same glittering reputation and the club has much deeper problems than it did back then.

First item on the agenda will be how to win back Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas. Or rather, how can he possibly create an environment where those payers can be effective when their own fan base has turned on them so decisively?

Guus Hiddink was back at Chelsea’s training ground for the first time in his second spell on Sunday afternoon

Newly-appointed Chelsea manager Hiddink gets straight into action on his first day working back at Cobham

Roman Abramovich (right) looks a relieved man with Didier Drogba (centre) and interim boss Hiddink

Abramovich (far right) and former Chelsea striker Drogba are on their feet to celebrate on Saturday

Hiddink (left) was joined in the directors’ box by club legend Drogba (centre) and owner Abramovich

Sacked manager Jose Mourinho was spotted taking a stroll around Knightsbridge on Sunday morning 

Eden Hazard is likely to be next in the firing line when he does recover from his hip injury. Chelsea fans returning home on Saturday night were convinced he knew what was coming and thus would not risk his injury in front of an angry Stamford Bridge, loyal to Mourinho.

Steve Holland, in charge for the day, made it clear that Hazard had tried to play and couldn’t but the Belgian player will know that Chelsea fans hold him as responsible as Costa and Fabregas for the departure of Mourinho.

His name was on the banner which mentioned the rats who had betrayed Mourinho. No matter that when Mourinho used that emotive word he was referring to someone on his staff rather than any of his players. 

Those nuances won’t help Costa, Hazard and Fabregas in the age of social media. Whatever the rights and wrongs of Mourinho’s departure, Hiddink has inherited three world-class players who could be rendered obsolete if the abuse continues.

Costa may only have scored eleven goals in 2015 but he is still the best hope Chelsea have of a functioning striker for this season; Hazard was unplayable last year; Fabregas’ quality is not in dispute. 

Unless Marina Granovskaia and Michael Emenalo can pull together a remarkable January transfer window and complete the unlikely transfer of Jamie Vardy, then Hiddink is going to find life second time around considerably more problematic given the rifts that divide the club at present.

Mourinho spent his Saturday watching Middlesbrough secure Championship victory against Brighton 

There were boos from the Chelsea supporters at Stamford Bridge for under fire striker Diego Costa

There were also boos from sections of Stamford Bridge as Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas was withdrawn

Hiddink watches from the stands at Stamford Bridge after being named manager until the end of the season

One sign from the home crowd described the Chelsea players as Judas as the supporters jeered their team

Vocal Chelsea fans showed their support for Mourinho throughout Saturday’s Premier League game

A banner with Mourinho’s face on it reads ‘One of us’ as Chelsea fans make their displeasure at his sacking

Costa looked as though he was ready to square up to each and every Chelsea fan who booed him on Saturday as he stalked off in fury when substituted. During the summer he denied that he wanted to return to Atletico Madrid, as his close friend and confidant Filipe Luis did. 

What is verifiable is that Costa hasn’t learnt English and is much more at home in a Latin environment. Unless there is a substantial change over Christmas, Saturday afternoon looked like the beginning of the end of Costa’s Chelsea career, but Fabregas may be different. 

He is almost as much a Londoner as he is a Catalan. Maybe he can tough it out. Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand both got on the wrong side of Manchester United fans and won them back. 

But the reasons for their fallouts with fans were related to contract negotiations, a much colder and less personal issue than being held responsible for the sacking of a much-loved manager. 

Fabregas is being cast as the man who shot Bambi. It would be intolerable to keep playing for a club where fans disliked you that much. And then there is Hazard. 

Only six months ago Chelsea fans would have hoped he might even become something like a Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi figure at the club, a dominant individualist who could challenge for the Ballon D’Or from Stamford Bridge. 

Just six months ago Chelsea’s 2014 Player of the Year was being tipped as a future Ballon D’Or winner

Hazard missed any potential abuse from the fans on Saturday because of injury picked up against Leicester

His reception on Boxing Day will go some way to deciding whether that can ever now happen or whether a prolonged period of agitation and a move to Real Madrid is a more likely scenario.

Welcome back, Guus. You thought things were bad in 2009? Chelsea were fourth in the league then, seven points off the lead and had a dressing room with John Terry, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Petr Cech to lead it.

It doesn’t feel quite the same now. Old-school reunions are often more fun in theory than in reality.

Just ask Mourinho.