Carlo Ancelotti is unveiled as Everton manager in December 2019
Carlo Ancelotti is unveiled as Everton manager in December 2019
One of their own or just a silver-tongued flatterer who is a masterful elder statesman of European football politics, Evertonians could be forgiven for not quite knowing where they stand with Carlo Ancelotti after his latest proclamation that he remains a True Blue. The only Everton manager to triumph at Anfield since the new millennium, the 65-year-old is back across Stanley Park this evening for Real Madrid’s Champions League group stage clash with Liverpool and ahead of the match, he told reporters: “I am still an Evertonian.”
Ancelotti added: “Of course I follow Everton. I follow the club, I follow the results. Call me tomorrow after the game and I will talk to you about this.”
Last week, members of the ECHO sportsdesk were asked to choose the luckiest and unluckiest Everton manager and this correspondent picked Ancelotti as the latter because most of his reign ended up behind closed doors because of the global coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a strange environment. There weren’t any fans present to witness that aforementioned Merseyside Derby victory, 2-0 on February 20, 2021, the Blues’ first success at the home of their neighbours since they partied like it was 1999 (because it was), after Kevin Campbell’s strike.
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It also begs the question whether results like that – or Everton’s only win at the Emirates Stadium to date, also achieved under Ancelotti – would have even happened had capacity crowds been in the stadia like under normal circumstances. Instead, especially what’s come since with relegation battles and Sean Dyche now being the club’s eighth manager in as many years, Ancelotti’s Blues tenure in many ways feels like some weird covid-induced fever dream.
Other than a near-eight-year stint coaching Milan, the club where he enjoyed the most-successful spell of his playing career (incredibly, generation gaps are such that it’s understood Richarlison didn’t initially realise his Goodison gaffer turned out in back-to-back European Cup successes as a midfielder), over almost a quarter of a century across continental dugouts, Ancelotti had never stayed in any other coaching post longer than two years. Yet hopes were high as Farhad Moshiri gave him a bumper four-and-a-half year deal and Evertonians were toasting the arrival of their early Christmas present in the shape of European football ‘royalty.’
On his announcement as Everton manager, he declared: “This is a great club with a rich history and a very passionate fan base. There is a clear vision from the owner and the board to deliver success and trophies.
“That is something that appeals to me as a manager and I am thrilled at the prospect of being able to work with everybody at the club to make that vision a reality.”
Following his abrupt exit barely a week after the 5-0 drubbing at champions Manchester City on the final day of the following Premier League season, returning to a Real Madrid outfit that had sacked him six years earlier, those words sounded very hollow indeed.
Like Ronald Koeman, despite both of them proving to be relative failures at Goodison, Everton proved to be just another convenient port of call on CVs that spanned across Western Europe. The brusque Dutchman, choosing not to cut short a holiday for his unveiling, which took place at his Portuguese villa and causing a festive faux par with the red decorations on the Christmas Tree in his Alderley Edge mansion, never made much attempt to hide that and remained a distant figure among Evertonians because of it.
With the veneer of Italian manners, Ancelotti’s charm proved deceptive though. The only Everton manager in the 21st century to choose to make his home on Merseyside, he seemed enjoy life by the sea and as well as regularly being spotted walking his dogs by Crosby Beach he would regularly pop up looking at ease in locations such as Bootle New Strand or a garage, decked out in his club apparel.
Unlike so many of his predecessors, Ancelotti’s appointment was met with almost universal approval from the fanbase and this was borne out by the fact that he became an instant hit with match-going supporters as the first Blues boss since Roberto Martinez to have his name sung at games. But just 67 days after his first game in charge – a 1-0 Boxing Day victory over Dyche’s Burnley – the 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United proved to be a pivotal moment.
The game finished with Ancelotti being showed a post-match red card by referee Chris Kavanagh after confronting the Greater Manchester official over the decision to rule out what would have been a stoppage time winning goal by Dominic Calvert-Lewin. At the time, Gwladys Street patrons appreciated what looked like a show of Latin passion and proof that the man they dubbed ‘Carlo Fantastico, Carlo Magnifico’ was now one of them but with the 20/20 vision of hindsight, perhaps Ancelotti was just playing to the gallery?
This was the last game at Goodison before lockdown and the whole world, never mind Everton, was never going to be the same again. The remainder of Ancelotti’s reign ended up being a mostly behind-closed-doors affair with any blossoming relationship with those passionate fans he spoke about at the time of his appointment, quickly wilting.
Starting with a tepid Merseyside Derby stalemate in the first Project Restart fixture after the coronavirus-induced delay to the end of the 2019/20 campaign, the Blues matches in empty stadia predictably proved to be distinctly sterile on the whole. There was the impressive start to the following season that saw Everton as the early Premier League leaders and still second in the table as late as Boxing Day but a dramatic second half slump and wretched home form (despite the temporary boost of just 2,000 fans for the December fixtures against Chelsea and Arsenal producing back-to-back victories, they’d lose nine games at Goodison) saw them plummet to finish 10th and miss out on their goal of European qualification.
Perhaps, Ancelotti’s ‘non reaction’ in one of the few thrillers at an empty Goodison, showed more of his true self. As Bernard struck an extra-time winner to defeat Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur 5-4 in the FA Cup, the Blues boss calmly blew on his cup of tea while those around him on the touchline – including assistant Duncan Ferguson – went berserk.
Carlo Ancelotti calmly blows on his cup of tea to cool it after Everton went 5-4 up in extra time in an FA Cup thriller against Tottenham Hotspur in 2021
At the time, Evertonians lauded the coolness as an act of a wise footballing sage who had seen everything in the game over his long and successful career. But maybe he just didn’t care as much as the others within the camp?
However, now back in his natural habitat of massaging the egos of galacticos rather than having coach lesser-talented individuals at Finch Farm, Ancelotti has enjoyed his lengthiest tenure outside the San Siro with a stint back at Real Madrid, which is already over twice as long as his fleeting stay with Everton and includes another brace of Champions League successes.
And there’s the rub. While in some respects, Moshiri could not be blamed for hiring the best in the business when Ancelotti became available following his sacking at Napoli, for all the fans’ enthusiasm with their chants – along with Frank Lampard, he’s the only Blues boss appointed by Moshiri to have his name sang by the supporters – it was perhaps always destined to end in tears.
On coming back to the Goodison Park hotseat, club legend Howard Kendall described his previous employers Manchester City as a “love affair” but Everton being like “a marriage.” However, it seems as though the Blues were just an opportune grab under the mistletoe for Ancelotti, hired on December 21, 2019, after he fell victim to the caprice of eccentric Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis, who just weeks before his sacking, had threatened to put the entire first-team squad up for sale after they balked at the prospect of attending an abruptly arranged training camp.
The man from Reggio Emilia certainly talks a good game, and from time to time, he’ll deliver a few bouquets like his remarks in the pre-match press conference at Anfield. However, actions speak louder than words.