Darren Norris
THE ruthless manner in which Chelsea parted company with Carlo Ancelotti on Sunday exposed everything that is wrong with the west London club. It proved once again the club is run on the whim of its owner Roman Abramovich and lack vision and a real identity.
The club will begin next season with its seventh manager in just eight years since Abramovich's takeover. The absence of any sort of continuity in personnel in the dugout and in policy means the club will struggle to ever truly join Europe’s elite. Instability is never a good thing.
It’s been obvious since their Champions League exit that the Italian was a dead man walking but Chelsea’s handling of his dismissal was utterly devoid of class. Ancelotti deserved better.
In his first season of the club he led them to the first double in their history playing a type of swashbuckling football not seen in West London since the days of Cooke and Osgood. More impressive still, Ancelotti made Chelsea popular with the neutral, a feat beyond even Jose Mourinho.
His second season clearly wasn’t as successful but Ancelotti, though he made mistakes, was fatally undermined from interference from above. First, squad players such as Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack, Deco, Juliano Belletti and Joe Cole were allowed to leave without being replaced.
Chelsea explained that the exits were a cost-cutting exercise and it was reported that Roman Abramovich had declared the big spending days over. Chelsea would now bring through players from their youth system. This represented a major change in policy.
It would not be first or the last time Abramovich had made a massively significant decision on a whim and it was a call that would have major consequences for Chelsea’s season. While they started the season in imperious form – beating West Brom and Wigan 6-0 in their first two games - Ancelotti was now managing a significantly depleted squad.
However that didn’t seem significant in the early part of the season as Chelsea crushed opponents at will. Then Abramovich intervened again. Much has been said about Ray Wilkins departure in November with many pinpointing it as the moment Chelsea’s season unravelled. That may bestow a disproportionate level of importance on Wilkins, but what is indisputable is his departure coincided with a six-match winless run. Equally clear was the fact that Ancelotti did not want Wilkins to leave. Wilkins’ exit meant Ancelotti’s authority was now unnecessarily holed below the waterline.
To add to Ancelotti’s woes, injuries now began to bite. Frank Lampard had been out since August and would not return until December. John Terry picked up a leg injury while, bizarrely, Didier Drogba contracted malaria. Chelsea’s lack of strength in depth meant both would be forced to play through the pain. Chelsea’s form suffered as a result.
Come January Abramovich performed the season’s biggest U-turn. Chelsea would not rely on bringing through players from their youth system; the days of big spending were not in fact over. Fernando Torres and David Luiz were signed for a combined fee of £75m on transfer deadline day.
Accommodating Torres into the team would prove an impossible task but Luiz was an instant hit as Chelsea, despite lacking fluency to their play, started to put wins together. Improbably they could have gone top had they beaten United in the third last league game of the season.
They couldn’t do it though, losing far more comprehensively than the 2-1 scoreline suggested. United were also far too good in the Champions League quarter-final. The season would end trophyless and it was typical of the man that Abramovich would make Ancelotti the scapegoat for the problems he himself had largely and needlessly caused.
The final insult was putting Ancelotti up for Sunday’s post-match press conference after the defeat to Everton, blissfully unaware he’d been sacked and telling the assembled media he’d meet the Chelsea hierarchy later this week to discuss his future.
‘‘I am now on holiday - but I am not sure how long my holiday will be,’’ he joked. ‘‘We haven't arranged any meeting but I think in the next week, now the season is finished, the club can address my job and they will take a decision.
‘‘I have to wait and see what happens. I don't have to say anything to the club - they can judge me on my job for two years.”
Ancelotti was sacked shortly afterwards, a club statement arguing ‘‘this season's performances have fallen short of expectations’’ but unlike his now former employers, the former AC Milan boss can walk away with his head held high.
Chelsea, meanwhile, retain the dubious honour of the club everyone loves to hate. While Abramovich’s millions can buy most things, class or sound judgment appear out of his reach.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/2V-B_IqsBvs/post.aspx
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