ROMAN ABRAMOVICH has found out again that money
cannot buy you everything. He thought his search for a new coach
had secured him Carlo Ancelotti. But, instead, he ended up with egg
on his face.
Why? Because Ancelotti loves AC Milan more than he
loves a buck. Despite the offer of a three-year contract worth
£18million, the 48-year-old Italian spurned Chelsea’s advances and
decided to stay at Milan on £3.8m a year.
It is a bitter personal blow to billionaire Abramovich,
who took on the role himself of finding a replacement for Avram
Grant. Having admitted the mistake of employing his friend Grant in
the first place, Red Rom proudly decided he would make amends. That
vow led him to Ancelotti, who he has known and admired for the last
four years.
Yet it was an incredible whirlwind of a courtship
between the Blues and Ancelotti which began on the banks of Lake
Geneva last week. As SunSport revealed, the two men had dinner in a
restaurant in the Swiss city nine days ago, when Abramovich invited
the San Siro chief to offer him some advice.
The Chelsea supremo was told he should look no further
than Frank Rijkaard or Roberto Mancini in his search for a new
coach. Both men, he told Abramovich, would make a good choice as
coach for Chelsea. Ancelotti did not ask for the permission of his
club officials before speaking to Abramovich, as the discussion was
informal and not a job interview.
After speaking for more than two hours on a whole range
of football issues, though, Abramovich left the meeting convinced
he had just spoken with his club’s new manager. A second meeting
was arranged for last weekend, thought to have taken place aboard
Abramovich’s yacht on the Adriatic. This time the Russian was not
so coy and asked Ancelotti for a blunt assessment of the Chelsea
squad and how it could be improved to win the Champions League.
Supremely qualified to give an opinion — Ancelotti has
won two more European Cups as a coach — the two men talked
seriously. For the AC Milan boss, meeting with another club’s owner
did not seem like betrayal. After all, the Rossonieri faithful who
used to idolise him had turned after a season in which their heroes
did not qualify for the Champions League.
The club’s vice- president, Adriano Galliani, then made
public his knowledge of Chelsea’s interest — even though Ancelotti
had asked him not to. For the embattled coach, it seemed like the
end of a seven-year stint as boss at the San Siro. A call was made
to his lawyer on Monday, asking if the two sides could meet in
Paris to finalise a deal.
No doubt Ancelotti would have cast his mind back to
August 1, 2004 and the first time he came across Abramovich. Their
friendship initially sparked in the tunnel of Lincoln Field
Stadium, Pennsylvania. It was just six weeks since Jose Mourinho
had been appointed Chelsea manager and they and AC Milan were due
to meet the following day in a friendly in Philadelphia.
While Mourinho was busy taking a warm-up, Abramovich
and his then wife Irina stopped to chat with the charming,
grey-haired Italian. It looked a strange meeting between the suave
Ancelotti and the slightly dishevelled supremo of Stamford Bridge
in jeans and trainers.
But language was no barrier to the conversation. Andriy
Shevchenko happily acted as translator. Red Rom and Ancelotti spoke
for more than 10 minutes about all sorts of football topics. The
following day, Abramovich watched his new Portuguese boss lose 3-2
to the Italian master. He congratulated Ancelotti afterwards and
the men exchanged mobile phone numbers.
Abramovich did not use the number for nine months,
until after watching Ancelotti’s men lose the Champions League
final to Liverpool on penalties in Istanbul. The message he sent to
the Italian was: “You did not deserve to lose. It was a great
injustice.”
Having seen AC Milan triumph over Liverpool in Athens
since then, Abramovich became more convinced than ever that
Ancelotti was the man to take his club to a higher level.
Monday’s Paris meeting ended with a cordial handshake
with the Italian and his advisors. Abramovich was convinced he had
his man. Meanwhile Ancelotti returned to Milan with an ultimatum
for the club he loves and was told any demands he had to stay would
be met.
For Chelsea and Abramovich, it is a familiar story.
Alex Ferguson and Sven Goran Eriksson have both said ‘No’ to
managing the club in the past. Abramovich is a man used to getting
his own way. But he might just now be starting to wonder exactly
which top boss does still want one of the most prestigious posts in
football.
Chelsea Statement
CHELSEA last night issued a statement
to deny they had offered the manager’s job to AC Milan chief Carlo
Ancelotti.
The club insisted that they had not approached ANY club
for permission to talk to their manager but claimed their search
for a successor to the sacked Avram Grant was progressing well.
It said: ''Contrary to reports, Chelsea Football Club
has not reached agreement with any individual to become manager,
nor have we sought permission from any organisation to talk to
their manager.
''We are extremely happy how our search is
progressing.''
