Claudio Ranieri emerged from talks with Chelsea's new owner saying the two saw eye to eye about turning the club into part of the European elite.
Speculation was rife that Roman Abramovich would look for a new manager to replace the 51-year-old Italian, with the England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and Roma's Fabio Capello suggested as potential candidates. But Ranieri was all smiles after his clear-the-air talks with the Russian billionaire.
"Roman is a polite man," said Ranieri on Chelsea TV. "It was interesting because he now knows my ideas and I know his.
"Roman said: 'I agree with your ideas. Continue with your job.' And so I will stay at Chelsea.
"There is now a good link - and it's very important for the future of Chelsea."
He continued: "I only spoke about football with him. We want to put Chelsea at the same level as the big teams in Europe - Real Madrid, Manchester United and Arsenal. We are ready.
"I'm very happy to stay at Chelsea."
Ranieri revealed there had not yet been any concrete moves into the transfer market. "There has been a lot of speculation - but it's not true," he said. "Chelsea don't want all the players. We only want good ones. This is reality."
Keith Gillespie has become the second player in as many days to fire a damning parting shot at the Blackburn Rovers manager Graeme Souness by claiming the Ewood Park dressing room is a hotbed of unrest.
Gillespie joined Leicester City on a Bosman transfer yes terday and, like his former Rovers team-mate David Dunn, who signed for Birmingham City on Tuesday, criticised Souness's man-management skills.
According to Gillespie, the pair represented the tip of an iceberg of discontent at Ewood Park. "I didn't see eye to eye with Souness and I'm obviously not the only one," he said.
"I thought his treatment of me - not even speaking to me at times - just sums him up. It's just arrogance really. I could probably name about 10 or 12 players that feel the same way about the manager as David Dunn and I do.
"It's almost unfair to do that but we can't all be wrong about the manager. Great manager, great player but as a person there's not really much left to say about him."
Gillespie, 28, has agreed a two-year contract with Leicester after spending 4 seasons with Blackburn Rovers following his move from Newcastle United in 1998.
But Souness has a staunch supporter in Blackburn's club captain Gary Flitcroft, who dismissed the accusations of dressing-room unrest.
"There is a great team spirit here. You don't have the success that we've had here in the last three years without a good team spirit," Flitcroft told Sky Sports News. "From my point of view the dressing-room atmosphere is good."
Leicester's manager Micky Adams, meanwhile, has also signed French midfielder Lilian Nalis on a free transfer from the Italian side Chievo Verona. The 29-year-old is Adams's sixth signing of the summer and Adams intends to open talks with West Ham's former England striker Les Ferdinand.
