Guus Hiddink today admitted that Chelsea's failure to finish in the top four is a disaster for the club.
Chelsea have suffered their worst campaign in the Roman Abramovich era and can only finish as high as ninth place.
It means Chelsea won't be playing in European competition for the first time since the 1996-97 season having also failed to win any of the other three cup competitions they entered this term.
Outgoing Manchester City coach Manuel Pellegrini conceded that it will be a disaster if his side don't finish in the top four this term and Hiddink feels the same applies to the Blues.
He said: "Of course when I talk about big words such as 'disaster' I think of bigger things in the world.
"But when I go into our closed football world then you may call it a football disaster because Chelsea must always be at the top as they are used to and even better than that, fighting for silverware. So in the narrow football world, chelsea should be there."
Hiddink took over from Jose Mourinho in December when the club were just one point above the relegation zone in the League.
They survived comfortably, but their hopes of qualifying for Europe via the League suffered with the Dutchman claiming just one win at home in five months.
Chelsea were also beaten home and away by Paris St Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League and lost to a struggling Everton outfit in the FA Cup Quarter Final.
When asked if he was disappointed by his performance, Hiddink said: Yes of course. My first job was to get them out of the relegation zone as soon as possible. There were no further targets set because you never know in English league what can happen.
"We did (get away from the bottom three) relatively fast, in a few months and I liked to set another target, which were the two finals in the FA Cup and Champions League.
"I was happy we got out of there (the bottom of the table) but then you reset your goals, which we did, but we were caught through Everton (and PSG)."
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Italy coach Antonio Conte takes over on a permanent basis in the summer, but Hiddink won't be passing any advice on the current squad.
"He and his assistants are watching videos and one of his assistants may have watched live, I don't know," he said.
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"I told the players that I want to give fair treatment and I am not going to give judgements about them because I have to work with them now.
"I didn't want information when I started in December because everyone has his coloured view, right or wrong.
"On top of that, they (Conte and his assistants) are clever enough to make their own judgements regarding the future."
Chelsea take on Liverpool at Anfield tomorrow night and Hiddink admits he's been impressed by the job Jurgen Klopp has done since taking over in October.
They were beaten finalists in the Capital One Cup and will play the Europa League Final against Sevilla next week.
Hiddink said: "They made a good change. They have always been a very energetic club, with a huge history.
"But it is a very energetic team that Klopp has formed and that's good to see. They can also be very resilient because they were down against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League but made it up in the last second.
"They have a very skilful team, but also a strong team mentally. It's nice to see them play.
