Voted the best Paris Saint-Germain manager of all time despite his relatively short stint there, Carlo Ancelotti left quite the mark in the French capital.
Now at Everton, where the Goodison Park club are reaping the benefits of this appointment in their own way, the Italian head coach continues to have an impact wherever he goes (except maybe Napoli).
With Thomas Tuchel struggling to fully command the respect of the media and those above him, Le Parisien look at how difficult it is to be Paris Saint-Germain manager, with many coming and leaving relatively quickly, such is the pressure in the job.
The French newspaper had a chat with an ex-manager of the club, Laurent Fournier, about it, who said: “It’s crazy the number of people who think they can manager Paris Saint-Germain or Marseille. Everyone gives their advice, even the ex-players who’ve never managed a day in their life”.
Jérôme Alonzo, who was the club’s goalkeeper for seven years, added: “Take the Marseille managers, over the past 20 years, they’ve all lost it. I remember the first interviews of André Villas-Boas a year and a half ago: all good looking, well shaven… Fu… These days he looks like a Corsican shepherd”.
The big issue for most of them has come when they’ve said things, which have then ended up being twisted or used against them either by the media or those at the club, but for Paul Le Guen, only one man has walked away with his head held high, and that was the current Everton manager.
He said: “The master remains, for me, Ancelotti. I watched him at Chelsea or elsewhere and I told myself: ‘Wow, he’s good!’. He never tried to go to war against a difficult question from a journalist. He kept it to himself and always started his answer with ‘You’re right’, and then gave his speech. He bluffed me”.
Commanding respect wherever he goes, the Everton manager is stamping his own mark at Goodison Park, and it’s translated to the pitch, with the Toffees starting the season well, even if they’ve encountered a few recent hiccups.
Getting the best out of his players while rarely causing off the pitch trouble tends to be the sign of a great manager, and that’s exactly how Ancelotti is seen as throughout the footballing world, even from those close to a club who perhaps never fully appreciated what they had until he was gone.
