Worst. Article. Ever.
To be fair, it's quite well written... But it's absolute tosh and full of hypocrisy and a xenophobia CJACKO would be proud of (
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Roman Abramovich made the correct decision in sacking Carlo Ancelotti
The Italian will be missed if he returns to Italy but Chelsea's owner was right to relieve him of his dutieshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/football/...vich-chelsea?commentpage=last#end-of-comments
It may seem preposterous that Roman Abramovich has sacked a manager who brought him the Double of the Premier League and FA Cup only 12 months ago, who took the club to second place in the table this season and who is universally liked. But the past year has not been the most glorious in the career of Carlo Ancelotti, who now becomes the sixth manager in eight years to say farewell to the Russian oligarch.
Ancelotti is a great football man, as his playing and managerial record handsomely attest. But a truly great manager? It is possible to argue that at Milan he took over a side built first by Arrigo Sacchi and then by Fabio Capello, and that the success of his first season at Chelsea was achieved on foundations erected by Claudio Ranieri and José Mourinho, then re-established by Guus Hiddink after the interludes of Luiz Felipe Scolari and Avram Grant.
Managing Juventus under Gianni Agnelli and Milan under Silvio Berlusconi, he proved himself adept at negotiating his way through the sometimes whimsical demands of powerful men. But Berlusconi, prepared to accept a return of one Serie A title and two European Cups in eight years, was undemanding by comparison with Abramovich.
Perhaps Chelsea's Russian owner is right and his team should have won the Champions League by now. An investment of £700m over eight years ought to have been enough, having blown the Premier League apart, to conquer Europe as well – as indeed it would have been, but for John Terry's fluffed penalty in Moscow.
Abramovich will undoubtedly feel that Chelsea should have taken advantage of the situation in the Premier League this season, with the other top teams in transition or in turmoil. After the defeat at Goodison Park on Sunday, they retained second place ahead of Manchester City only on goal difference, trailing a Manchester United side who have won the league with a dismal away record that might have been exploited more ruthlessly by their rivals. But Ancelotti seemed unable to consolidate a good start to the campaign or to imbue the side with real consistency.
If Abramovich was behind the decision to economise by allowing senior players to leave last summer while filling the substitutes' bench with academy graduates then he can blame himself for not accepting the reality of Stamford Bridge's own transitional season.
The sudden abandonment of the policy in the second half of the season indicated the lack of sure guidance at a very senior level. But then Ancelotti has never been noted for giving youth its head – at Milan, indeed, he was famous for preserving the careers of illustrious veterans long past their normal retirement dates – and it was disappointing to see the talented youngsters loaned out or sent back to the reserves.
Possibly, too, Abramovich would have respected Ancelotti more had the Italian publicly stood up for himself after the coach Ray Wilkins was sacked last November, in mysterious circumstances which have still not been made public. But Ancelotti's rounded character, civilised attitude to life and sardonic wit have always appeared to be accompanied by a certain passivity. If that makes him a nicer man than one or two of his predecessors at Chelsea, it may also make him a less effective decision‑maker in moments of personal and collective adversity.
Abramovich might secure the return of Hiddink, if Turkey fail to qualify for Euro 2012 this summer – even though, following the failure of Russia's World Cup 2010 campaign, that would mark a second successive blot on the Dutch veteran's copybook. Or he might accept the need to meet the reported £15m buyout clause written into the contract of the 33‑year‑old André Villas‑Boas, who followed in the footsteps of Mourinho, his former boss at Chelsea, last week by guiding Porto to success in Europe's second-tier club competition at his first attempt. The rumoured return of Grant as director of football, to replace the departing Frank Arnesen, would be greeted by Chelsea's fans with rather less enthusiasm.
Ancelotti has enjoyed acclimatising to English football and there must be a possibility that he will stay. If he chooses instead to accept an attractive invitation to return to Roma, he will be missed.
Roman Abramovich made the correct decision in sacking Carlo Ancelotti | Richard Williams | Football | The Guardian