Source: Daily_Mail
The man who made Chelsea smile! Carlo Ancelotti on reveals the secrets of his Double success
Carlo Ancelotti had been studyingEnglish all afternoon, one of his threeweekly lessons, and was puzzling over thepast conditional tense. [LNB]Soon there wouldbe another Chelsea training session forthe manager to conduct.He is unshaven and looks weary, even though,being an international week, the pressure haseased, if only for a moment. [LNB]Possibly it is thephysical and emotional strain of his regulartravel to Italy, where he returns to look after hiselderly father, Giuseppe. [LNB] Happy times: Carlo Ancelotti at Wembley after Chelsea completed last season's Double[LNB]Just as likely it is the madness of the footballworld Ancelotti inhabits, where, as he puts it, avolcano is forever waiting to erupt beneath him;the permanent threat of being fired. [LNB]And yet there will be no let-up for thisprodigious 51-year-old. Probably no one will evermatch his trophy count as a player and coach, yethe keeps working, apparently oblivious to thefrenzy of pressures that surround him. [LNB]To do so,it seems, is ingrained in his nature, a tenacityinherited from Giuseppe and his mother, Cecilia.They farmed cattle and pigs as tenants of asmallholding in Reggio Emilia, the region ofnorthern Italy famous for its Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and for Carlo Ancelotti. [LNB]'My father and my mother worked every dayand that is where I learned my values,' says theChelsea manager. [LNB] Singing the Blues: Carlo Ancelotti celebrates his side's Double win on an open top rice[LNB]'It was hard then. Now it'seasier because there are lots of machines but atthat time it was very difficult. There was noholiday. Every day you needed to work becausethe cows didn't go on holiday.[LNB]'They alwaysneeded milking, twice a day. At six o'clock in themorning and in the afternoon. In the summer, when I was not in school, Iwould help but not at six o'clock! My fatherwould wake up, take a coffee and work two hours before breakfast with the cows.[LNB]'Then, when hecame back, we had a big breakfast together, animportant breakfast.' [LNB]Nowadays he dines at Cipriani in Mayfair orLucio in Kensington and he once drove 100 milesto a restaurant in Parma with David Beckham toensure the Englishman tasted the best possibleItalian cuisine during his loan spell at AC Milan.[LNB]Ancelotti's core, though, remains rural andsimple. [LNB]Head man: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti[LNB]'I have a very good memory of thatperiod of my (early) life,' he says. [LNB]'There was nota lot of money but the life was very calm, veryquiet, no problem. Just work.' [LNB]And food, of course. Sunday lunch, it seems,was a feast of tortellini, wine and pork. It is anupbringing that has seemingly enabled him towithstand every pressure football has thrown athim. [LNB]When Juventus fans doubted him and insultedhim by scrawling graffiti comparing him to a pig,he took it as a compliment, such was his reverencefor the creature that once providedhis parents' livelihood. [LNB]His successes in football areunique: four European Cups,two as player, two as a coach;four Italian league titles,three as a player, one ascoach; three World Club Cuptitles, two as a player, one as coach;five Italian Cups, four as a player,one as coach; and, of course, the FACup and Premier League Double inEngland. [LNB]Even so, he will foreveroccupy what he jocularly refers toas the 'shaky bench', the permanentthreat of the sack.His first managerial job was atSerie B club Reggiana, his localteam. [LNB]'We had a bad start,' he says. [LNB]'After seven games, we had justfour points. My bench was shaky! Itwas maybe the most importantseason of my career because if youstart your career poorly, you neverget another chance.' [LNB]He recovered, the team werepromoted to Serie A and he movedto Parma, then a force in Italy's topdivision. [LNB]'After seven games we were at the bottom of the league. Mybench was shaking!' he says. [LNB]'I hada meeting and said to my players, 'Ihave my ideas. If you agree withthese ideas, we can stay together. Ifyou don't agree, I don't want to waitfor the owner to say to me Go Home.I will go today. If I don't feel we aretogether, we can finish here andnow'. [LNB]I want it now: Silvio Berlusconi and Carlo Ancelotti during [LNB]'Two players said to me, 'No, Ihope you go home'. But only two.' [LNB]Parma finished runners-up inSerie A and Ancelotti moved everupward to coach Juventus. [LNB]In hisprecarious career he has negotiated life under a serious of exactingowners: Calisto Tanzi at Parma, whowas later sentenced to 10 years'imprisonment for fraud; thelate Gianni Agnelli, head of the Fiatbusiness empire, at Juventus; SilvioBerlusconi, the Prime Minister ofItaly, at AC Milan; and nowRoman Abramovich at Chelsea. [LNB]And yet Ancelotti endures.He smiles as he recalls thedemands of one of thoseowners. [LNB]'When Berlusconibought AC Milan, hisaim was to win, to showgood football and to show a goodimage but as soon as possible. [LNB]'Heasked, 'How long before we win theWorld Club Cup with AC Milan?' [LNB]'Hewas told, 'We need the first year towin the title in Italy, the next year towin in Europe and in the third yearwe can win the World Club Cup'. [LNB]He said, 'It's too much! It's toomuch time!' He wanted itquicker.' [LNB]As an AC Milan player,Ancelotti helped deliver therequired cup on time anddid so under the principalcoaching influence ofhis life, Arrigo Sacchi.However, he perhapsowes as much to hiscoach at Roma, the lateNils Liedholm. [LNB]Not wellknown in England, theSwede was revered inItaly and by Ancelotti. [LNB]'His sense of humour wasabsolutely No 1,' saysAncelotti. [LNB]'I never heardLiedholm shout in five yearsas my coach yet everyone had a lotof respect for him.' [LNB]Like Liedholm, Ancelotti has acapacity for mischief and humour.He once spent three whole nights atan AC Milan training camp preparingthe likes of Beckham, Ronaldinhoand Paolo Maldini to play a complexpractical joke on team-mate MathieuFlamini. [LNB]'It was funny!,' saysAncelotti, chuckling at the memory. [LNB]Could he ever imagine his fellowcountryman, England manager FabioCapello, doing that with his players?The thought provokes Ancelotti tomore laughter. [LNB] Complex relationship: Carlo Ancelotti claims Fabio Capello lacks social skills[LNB]'No! Absolutely not!Discipline is the most importantthing for him,' he says.Ancelotti, who played at [LNB]Milanunder Capello for a season, hashad a strained relationship withCapello. [LNB]In his autobiography,published tomorrow, the Chelseamanager writes: 'He was a master atreading the match and from thatpoint of view I tip my hat to him; butas a human being, well that's adifferent matter. [LNB]'He was a grouch who didn't know how to speak tothe players.' [LNB]But he adds now: 'Capello hada different character to minebut I have respect for him.' [LNB]Jose Mourinho isanother whose styleAncelotti will neverreplicate. When they werethe respective managersat AC and Inter Milan,they traded insults via Pressconferences on a regular basis. [LNB]Sowhen Inter knocked Chelsea outof the Champions League, it wasperceived as a personal victoryfor Mourinho; and when Ancelottiachieved the Double, somethingMourinho never did at Chelsea, itseemed to be a counter-strike inthis battle of egos. [LNB] I'm a winner: Carlo Ancelotti after winning the Champions League with AC Milan in 2007[LNB]But a truce came prior to theChampions League clash withInter, in the tunnel at the SanSiro. [LNB]'I approached him,' saysAncelotti. [LNB]'Our relationship isgood and I want to maintain thisbecause he is one of the bestcoaches in the world.' [LNB]Ancelotti has already achievedmore at Chelsea than his illustriouspredecessor. Abramovich askedhim a more lovable identity to theteam. [LNB]Ancelotti coaxed 103 goalsfrom them in the Premier League,with another 14 coming in threeundefeated games this season. [LNB]'Our aim is to play football togive joy, to give felicity to thepeople, to the fans and not justthe Chelsea fans,' says Ancelotti. [LNB]Felicity to the people; it is not aslogan that you can imagineMourinho using. But it absolutelyfits Ancelotti.[LNB]
