CARLO ANCELOTTI will see out the remainder of the season as Chelsea’s manager but is expected to leave in the summer as the club come to terms with what will be only the third season of the Roman Abramovich era to fail to yield a trophy.
Elimination from the Champions League on Tuesday by Manchester United, whom Chelsea trail by 11 points in the Premier League, prompted Ancelotti to admit it was “not my decision” as to whether he would see out the remaining year on his contract.
The Italian knows he will be compensated for that period if he is sacked and has yet to speak directly with Abramovich about his future. The club’s chief executive, Ron Gourlay, has indicated an assessment will be made only next month.
Abramovich visited the dressingroom following the 2-1 second-leg defeat, urging the players to “keep going” through the run-in, an indication that no announcement on the manager’s position is imminent. Yet there is an expectation within the squad that Ancelotti will depart.
He and his staff, who were back at Cobham overseeing a light training session yesterday, accept such a relatively disappointing season will thrust the focus on their performances.
They, like the players, remain committed to finishing with a flourish.
“We win together, we lose together,” goalkeeper Petr Cech said. “We need to finish the season strongly for ourselves, for the club, for everybody. We are not only playing for the manager or the owner. We are playing for the entire club.”
Chelsea’s planning is not helped by the fact that the sporting director, Frank Arnesen, is due to leave for Hamburg at the end of the season. The Dane would have played a key role in the recruitment of a new manager, but his own replacement has yet to be determined.
The list of candidates would include some familiar names though Jose Mourinho – who still commands fierce loyalty from a faction within the Chelsea squad – has stated his intention to remain in Spain and Guus Hiddink, a previous interim manager at the Bridge, would likely only be available once Turkey’s Euro 2012 qualification campaign is complete. That could be as late as November.
Yet the lack of an obvious and available replacement for Ancelotti will effectively see him through to the summer.
Whoever is in charge over the close season will have to oversee the continued regeneration of the team, with the exodus of older squad members expected to be quickened by the side’s failure to reach the latter stages of the Champions League.
Didier Drogba, Jose Bosingwa, Paulo Ferreira and Nicolas Anelka will be entering the final years of their contracts and will effectively be available.
Younger players – such as Ajax’s Gregory van der Wiel and Anderlecht’s Romelu Lukaku – are on the list of targets.
Chelsea yesterday insisted it was “business as usual” after speculation over Ancelotti’s future intensified.
It is understood there have been no meetings between Abramovich and board members, or between board members themselves, to discuss the manager’s position.
The Russian chose to sack the incumbent manager on the two previous occasions the club finished without a trophy and Ancelotti could be forgiven for fearing the same fate.
But a spokesman said yesterdaty: “It’s business as usual. The most important thing is to win all the games we can in the league and qualify for the Champions League.”
It could be argued this stops short of the kind of backing Ancelotti received at the end of 2010, in the midst of Chelsea’s worst run in the Premier League for almost 15 years.
There was a tacit admission at that time that he was not entirely to blame for the malaise, with the shock exit of assistant manager Ray Wilkins and a major injury crisis hampering his efforts
* Guardian Service
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