More on Ancelotti and Everton
Well it appears as though we might have jumped the gun a bit as conflicting reports about whether Carlo Ancelotti is moving closer to becoming Everton manager, have muddied the waters somewhat.
I was careful to put the caveat in my earlier piece that information on Ancelotti being on Merseyside to discuss joining Everton, was coming from Sky Sports, who have a growing reputation for being somewhat over eager to claim signings and deals are done!
The BBC say that the Italian wasn’t in the area and in fact other reports seem to indicate he is still in Europe, although preparing to fly to the UK for talks with either Everton or maybe Arsenal.
So the drama continues and we are still waiting for final confirmation as to whether the club have even begun discussions with Ancelotti.
The more I reflect on all this the more uncertain it seems as to whether he will finally be the man who comes in as new Everton manager, or even if he is the right man after all.
The first reason I say this is that Everton are a very different proposition to the kind of clubs he is used to managing. The Toffees are not an already competitive side just needing an extra push to achieve success. At the moment the Blues seems a long way from that position, although things can change very quickly in football.
Also it’s becoming increasingly clear that Ancelotti is very much the choice of owner Farhad Moshiri and apart from anything else, given his track record, that worries me! We all remember that Marco Silva was also his man and look how that turned out.
Silva, (I’m obviously discounting the Sam Allardyce interregnum), came to Goodison Park after Ronald Koeman, who was himself considered to be the right man when he joined in 2016. Well perhaps it will be third time lucky!
Of course Ancelotti represents a big step up in terms of profile, reputation and football achievement from these figures, although it would still be a bit of a gamble. But with his track record of consistent success, surely the Blues would have their best chance yet of breaking that glass ceiling at the top of the Premier League.
Whatever happens, I would want to know that Marcel Brands was also onside with this decision. As the whole point of his being brought in as Director of Football, must surely be to oversee these sorts of situations and then take responsibility for the outcome.
If he isn’t centrally involved in the decision, or doesn’t feel that Ancelotti is right for the job, then that could spell real problems for the club going forward.
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Perhaps, as I previously indicated, Ancelotti realises that he won’t likely get another job on a par with the clubs he is used to being at, and so that’s why he could be interested in taking one that is on the next tier down, so to speak.
After all his last port of call, was Napoli, a club with a fine history and tradition in Italy, but one not regarded as a European giant.
Perhaps that’s part of the attraction. Ancelotti might see Everton as being a bit like Napoli, a big club struggling to revive its fortunes. The Blues are, despite a couple of good results under Ferguson, still mired in the bottom half of the Premier League.
So it could be a really tough few months and results are going to be everything, with style and tactical preferences being put aside. The Toffees need a man really committed to hauling the team out of this situation. The question for Ancelotti is, would that be the kind of environment that he wants to come into, or that he would ultimately be suited to?