Protest: Banners outside Chelsea's training ground
demanding both manager Carlo Ancelotti and owner Roman Abromovitch
leave the club and another suggesting that none of the players are
fit to wear the shirt
Carlo Ancelotti has seen and heard
far worse than the banners outside
Chelsea's
training ground, one of which called for
his sacking.
It may have been the first evidence of
dissatisfaction among fans but it is nothing
compared to some of the abuse Ancelotti received from
Juventus fans when he was in charge there.
Driving to the club's training ground during
his first week, he noticed someone had daubed 'A pig
can't coach' on the obelisk in the middle of
Turin's Piazza Crimea in disgust at his
appointment.
The Italian was able to shrug off yesterday's protest. 'If
it is only one person then there's no problem,'
said the Chelsea manager, smiling.
It is important for a manager to have the
support of the club, the players and the fans - all of
them apart from one. It's the right way to move
on quickly.'
Two banners were placed opposite Chelsea's
Surrey training complex.
One read: 'None Of You Are Fit To Wear The
Shirt', the other 'Ancelotti + Abramovich
Out!!!'
They were later removed.
What's going on: Chelsea's alarming slump continued in
mid-week, losing to relegation candidates Wolves
Ancelotti said: 'Here it is one person but in
Italy you can find a thousand people outside
the training ground when they are not
happy. It's difficult to fight with 1,000
people. With one, we can manage.'
Ancelotti's customary humour has survived his
team's awful run of two wins in 11 Barclays Premier
League games.
He retains the backing of owner Roman
Abramovich but would welcome a turn of fortune in the
FA Cup, against Ipswich, struggling in the
Championship and fresh from sacking their
manager, Roy Keane.
Chelsea are attempting to become the first
team to win the trophy three years in succession since
Blackburn in 1886 and have not lost in 13 ties since
suffering a 1-0 defeat at Barnsley in 2008.
Last year's final victory at Wembley secured
the club's first Double and assured Ancelotti's place
in history after his first season in English
football.
'It's good for us to play FA Cup because we
don't have a gap to close,' he said. 'We had some very
good memories from last season, the semi-final, the
final, the atmosphere and the celebrations.
Problem solved: Ancelotti believes John Terry and
his Chelsea team-mates can solve their current crisis on the
pitch
'It was fantastic and that could be our
motivation to think we can win again. It is very
important in difficult moments to remember when things
were good. The FA Cup is important to us. We
won it last year, the year before and it would
be good to be competitive this year.'
Ancelotti insists he will pick a strong team
but is likely to rest senior players who are nursing
slight injuries, including Ashley Cole and Michael
Essien.
Youngsters Patrick van Aanholt and Josh
McEachran are likely to deputise. Didier Drogba picked
up a knock in training and could make way for
Daniel Sturridge, who scored five for the
reserves in midweek.