Ancelotti claims winning trophy not "all important"

marcteng SG

Carlo Ancelotti has claimed that if Chelsea fail to claim a trophy this year he can still consider the season a success despite two of his predecessors, Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari, receiving the sack for being unable to provide a winning team.

Chelsea's new head coach takes his side to Wembley this afternoon to face Manchester United in the Community Shield, a match Ancelotti wants to win to establish immediately the correct tone for his tenure at the club.

Yet while the Italian, who has never played or coached at the national stadium, has been hired by Roman Abramovich to bring the Premier League or Champions League trophy to Stamford Bridge, he is adamant that he will not be measured by silverware.

Asked what would be his own gauge of the team's accomplishments at the close of his first year in charge, Ancelotti said: "To win a trophy, to do the best I possibly can." But pressed if no trophy by next May would equate to a failed season he said: "No, this is not my [measure] – for the season is not all important to win, it is important that Chelsea do the maximum of the team's possibilities."

And the 50-year-old was unconcerned when it was suggested to him that if head coaches fail to not win anything at Chelsea then it generally means they are told "Goodbye". With a smile Ancelotti replied: "Goodbye? No problem. I am here to stay, I want to win, and to start on Sunday."

Ancelotti, who won a single Serie A title during eight seasons in charge of Milan, believes the Premier League will be more difficult to win. "For sure. It's a very competitive championship, there are a lot of great teams that can win it," he said.

Ancelotti also believes that despite the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez from Old Trafford, Manchester United will still be the same force. "The [quality] of the team is not any one player but their teamwork. United remain a great team without Ronaldo." When it was suggested that any team would miss the World and European player of the year, he replied: "I don't know because I think there remains very good players there – Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Berbatov. They are all great players."