Meh. I think this sacking will prove to be a mistake. The season's failures had far more to do with the state of their squad and its entrenched "leaders" than Ancelotti.

Their superannuated stars won't want to be benched and won't want to be moved on, and they already have the habit of thinking out loud in the press.

agree with gurgen and burnwinter. big mistake sacking ancelotti, they won't get a better performance from their manager.

in my fantasy world, i'm hoping villa-boas said he's staying at porto for another season because he believes the arsenal job will be open then.

If I was a new manager coming in, I'd make the termination of this "advisory" role for Hiddink my first condition.

Burnwinter wrote:

If I was a new manager coming in, I'd make the termination of this "advisory" role for Hiddink my first condition.

Why bother. What has harm has this actually done Ancelotti? He'll have made a few million and his reputation remains in tact, in fact its probably even higher than it was before he joined Chelsea. Possibly the best job in football.

It's a good job. You are assured a great squad of players. You sign a long contract. You don't see it out. You collect compensation and can take some years off or go to another job and make more money. And people will always be sympathetic to you because you didn't get a fair shot

Rumors abound that van Basten will take over, with Hiddink assuming a Director of Football-type role.

I'd be happy with that.

This probably adds another 10 million to Chelsea's annual losses too.

Wenger should go there. It would be a great experiment to see Ancelotti and Wenger switch roles for three years

Ancelotti would be great here, but considering Chelsea have an ancient team that is way over budget, Wenger would be great there too. I'm quite looking forward to watching them try to re-adjust.

qs! wrote:

Why bother. What has harm has this actually done Ancelotti? He'll have made a few million and his reputation remains in tact, in fact its probably even higher than it was before he joined Chelsea.

Caligula wrote:

It's a good job. You are assured a great squad of players. You sign a long contract. You don't see it out.

Speak for yourselves I guess ... I'd take getting sacked rather more personally than that.

I reckon Big Phil would probably disagree too.

How is van Basten an upgrade on Ancellotti? Hiddink possibly is, but not van Basten. I give him a year. Silly people over at the bridge.

I think Ancelotti deserved to go. He's a classy guy and all, but one CL knockout win in 2 years? That's the competition he was brought in to win, and he's got nowhere near. I've never rated him too highly. Hiddink is the safest pair of hands, I'd expect them to win the league with him in charge next season. Van Basten would be quite funny, hope they get him.

But that's not completely inside control, is it?

They were playing Inter, who went on to win it, and United, who are now in the final and better than Chelsea anyway. But yeah you're probably right.

I find Chelsea's hunt for the CL quite amusing actually. I mean we're crap but Chelsea are DESPERATE.

The way I see it is Ancelotti took Milan to a couple of Champions League titles.
Just because his Chelsea team lost to really good teams does not mean that he was not up to leading them to European glory. The guy finishes 1st with the FA Cup, and then 2nd with an injury-depleted squad; and they fire him? I believe in holding managers accountable, but Abramovich, as Tony says, is so deseperate to win the Champions League that it is leading him into counterproductive actions.

Are you saying that three month slump should be enough to fire Ancelotti? What about the three month, 15 points in 15 games we endured? Is that enough to lead to a manger's dismissal, Ricky?

Ancelotti was always going to get sacked; that's how Chelsea do their business. Who cares?