Character: AC Milan's coach Carlo Ancelotti
in his opening chapter, entitled 'Called up by Abramovich - he
writes of meetings with Chelsea last year. More than once
he compares himself to Super agent 007 James Bond.
Carlo Ancelotti has sensationally revealed the details
of his secret meetings with Roman Abramovich, providing a rare
insight into the clandestine world of Chelsea's Russian
owner.
The Italian has also said he could be confirmed as the new
manager at Stamford Bridge as early as next week, but only if in a
meeting with his AC Milan employers he is told that his services
are no longer required.
Ancelotti was here in Rome yesterday to launch his new
autobiography and it was the stunning revelations in the first and
final chapters, both about Chelsea, that attracted much of the
attention.
Abramovich might consider much of it extremely inappropriate,
not to mention poorly-timed, given one particular passage that
talks of him describing Chelsea as a team without 'personality'.
Not ideal when Guus Hiddink is trying to prepare the players for
Saturday's FA Cup final.
It is an extraordinary book. So florid in its delivery. As
fascinating insight into the 49-year-old Italian as it is
Abramovich. The impression we have of him in England is of a dour,
slightly sour-faced Italian. As the book and yesterday's press
conference in the Via di Ripetta demonstrated, nothing could be
further from the truth.
The man has a vibrant, at times almost childlike imagination,
and a wonderful sense of humour. At one point yesterday he pulled
on his glasses and read a passage about a practical joke that was
played on Mathieu Flamini. Apparently the former Arsenal midfielder
was tricked into declaring a desire to give oral sex to all his new
Milan colleagues.
He does make some incredible disclosures. From his dislike of
Jose Mourinho to his desire to sign Franck Ribery and Xabi Alonso
for Chelsea. From the two years he has spent learning English - on
yesterday's evidence he is not the best student - to the dozens of
DVDs he has watched that has recently left him feeling that, 'on
paper', he is 'already the coach of the blues'.
Whether the book makes Abramovich withdraw his offer remains to
be seen. Whether Ancelotti actually wants to move to London is also
now a little difficult to ascertain when the book could be seen as
career suicide.
He reflects on all the job offers he has received over the
years, declaring yesterday that for as long as Milan want him he
will never leave the club he regards as 'family'. That said, he
also admitted yesterday that he has lied to the press when he has
considered it necessary. Was he telling the truth about not having
met Chelsea since last summer. 'That depends,' he replied with a
wry smile.
In his defence, the book has been written only to raise money
for Stefano Borgonovo, Ancelotti's former Milan team-mate and
someone now fighting the killer disease amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis.
But it will nevertheless be interesting to see how Chelsea react
when they review some of the extracts below. Even if his ghost
writer, Alessandro Alciato, does admit to making it sound
'spectacular'. 'But Carlo is happy with the tone,' he said
yesterday.
In the opening chapter, entitled 'Called up by Abramovich - the
beginnings', he writes of two meetings with Chelsea last year. One
in Geneva and one in Paris. More than once he compares himself to
James Bond. No, really, he does.
He writes: 'The taxi driver (in Paris) is studying my facial
expressions in his rear-view mirror. He's looking for answers but I
can't give him any. At least for the moment. I am somebody who has
left in a clandestine manner looking for love, or at least it seems
that way. A strange sensation, it's not something familiar to me.
'The manager of Milan is on a secret mission. Me, like 007 on my
own, sat behind a driver with the face of a killer. More than a
taxi this is like a time machine, from Milanello to Stamford
Bridge, from yesterday to tomorrow, from one devil to another. And
there I am, in Paris, going to Roman Abramovich, the Russian who
has come from nowhere but above all - as far as I'm concerned - the
rich owner of Chelsea. Who's looking for a new manager.
'Nobody knows this but we've already seen each other once, a
couple of weeks ago. In Switzlerand, in a big hotel in Geneva, just
outside the city centre. I would tell you the name but I swear I
don't remember it. It must be my age.
'I was on holiday on the lake, relaxing by the sweet water after
the bitterness of failing to qualify for the Champions League with
Milan. Abramovich came after me, it's a good thing but how many
bodyguards! They are the ones who accompanied me to the Big Chief
and to Peter Kenyon. Their team was completed by a lawyer and an
interpreter.
'We sat down and greeted each other cordially, and then we
started to talk. Always about football and only about football.
We are in May 2008. Abramovich wanted to know everything about
me, my way of working, my philosophy. He was and is still
looking for a team with a precise identity: "Like Manchester
United, Liverpool, Milan, certainly not like my Chelsea."
'While he was talking, my curiosity perked up. He wasn't the
monster that papers painted him to be. The first thing I noticed
was his timidity. The second his great knowledge of football. The
third his hunger, his bulimia: "Dear Ancelotti, I want to win
everything. Everything." I remembered of another president. He made
a great impression on me. An hour flew by during which we never
talked about money. "Goodbye, see you soon."
'So here we are, back in Paris. The George V, great hotel two
steps from the Champs Elysees, a spectacular terrace with a view
over Paris, and in this case over his London too.
'Me and Abramovich, Act Two. Nobody should know anything, we're
all agreed. I'm wearing sunglasses. I look around and with the
typical expression of a secret agent. I make sure there are no
photographers at the hotel entrance. Yesterday, a few minutes away
from here, Massimo Moratti of Inter Milan met Jose Mourinho.
'I didn't want to have the same end. Road is free, nobody
suspicious, I can enter. But no, f**k. I don't believe it. Just
around the corner I see Federico Pastorello, an Italian agent that
I know very well. I hide. I go to the far end and bump into a very
dear colleague and friend. Another Italian manager who works in a
city that occupies. (Roma coach Luciano Spalletti, who clearly has
also met with Chelsea that day).
'I laugh. "What are you doing here?" "No, what are you doing?".
I laugh again. This improvised refuge is starting to make sense, I
feel like I am in a supermarket. Everyone here to talk to this
chairman, and maybe we're his shopping list. A bench for two, for
three, for a hundred, who knows how many?
'I go to meet him one floor up. He's waiting in a conference
room and has the same people he had in Geneva sat around the table.
I immediately make one thing clear.
"I have a contract with Milan, I'm very well there, and an
eventual agreement with Chelsea can only happen if Milan is also in
agreement".
'Again we only talked about football. How would I make Chelsea
play in case they got me as a manager?
'"President, your team is very physical, you have to put more
quality in the middle of the pitch," I tell him. I gave him two
names, Franck Ribery and Xabi Alonso. Players that would have made
him very happy.
'He thought of a third name, that of Andriy Shevchenko, who was
close to his heart and it was easy to see.
"I can't understand why he's not playing., because since we
brought him to England he's not the real Sheva, he's in
difficulties."
'"President, I can't know the reason myself." We talk and talk
and talk some more.
'I find I can easily chat with Abramovich. He doesn't make me
feel uncomfortable, not even when he says with a low voice: "We've
just lost the Champions League final, and the League, I can't
certainly be satisfied. Chelsea don't have a personality. I have
the ambition of winning every competition in which my team takes
part, a team that at the moment I don't recognise."
'He thinks so much about the results and the beautiful game.
Another forty minutes fly by. "Thanks Ancelotti, we'll meet again."
No financial offer. OK everything clear, for now there's no offer.
'A couple of hours later the phone rings. "Hello this is
(Adriano) Galliani (Milan vice-president). Beautiful Paris isn't
it?" Pause. "How did your elopement go?" He already knew
everything. Like Moratti and Mourinho the day before.
'I said: "I came to talk to Abramovich. When the president of a
club of that important calls you, it's fair to at least go and meet
him."
"Nevertheless, you're not leaving."
City rivals: Milan coach makes no secret of his
dislike of Inter boss Jose Mourinho.
"But I don't want to leave."
'It was my curiosity to meet a man so important in our world,
that yes, but not the fierce desire to leave Milan. At that
moment we were very well together.'
At the end of the book he reflects on even more recent events.
'It was April 1 2009. Up to 7pm that night I was thinking mainly in
English. After lunch that day I gave an interview with Sky Italia.
I remember every word.
'"I have a contract to 2010, so I am staying. You can say I am
staying."
'"How many lies have you told," he asked.
'"A few, just to defend myself."
'"And if I see you again in a few months, will I discover those
lies?" '"In a couple of months, yes."
'It was a safe way of saying I would've left. Surely, I was
starting to put my hands forward to prepare the ground. I had been
taking English lessons for a long time and not by chance. I had
three per week. I was a model student.
'That afternoon I was answering questions with a stern face
because I knew that evening I was going to see Galliani in Via
Turati (Milan offices). It was the same situation as last year. I
had an indecent offer from Chelsea and I started to feel shivers.
That was a surprise.
When we met I said: "Listen, Galliani, I need to tell you
something. I would go to coach Chelsea."
'He said: "No question; you can't talk about that.' It was the
same answer as when I had been going to go to Real Madrid."
"So you want to keep me?"
'He said: "For sure."
'I said: "I will need a definitive decision at the end of the
season, after May 31." 'We looked up at the television and there
was His Mourinhity (Jose Mourinho), comparing himself to Jesus. I
thought "forgive him his sins, he knows not what he is talking
about".
'I was thinking of Chelsea. I confess that at certain points in
2008-09 I watched my DVDs of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier
Drogba. I was already the coach of the blues on paper. I thought,
there are worse things in life than me and Abramovich together. The
worst for him had already been and gone. He had already worked with
His Specialty, Mourinho.'
