Friday, July 10, 2009

Ancelotti: I can be special too



New Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti insists he can be as popular as former boss Jose Mourinho.
The Italian is the fourth manager in the Stamford Bridge hot seat since Mourinho left in September 2007 - having won every domestic competition.
Only the Champions League crown eluded the 'Special One' during his successful spell at Chelsea.
Since then Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Ray Wilkins and Guus Hiddink have all taken turns in charge.
Now Ancelotti is determined to become as popular and as successful as Mourinho and is not afraid of the challenge ahead.
"I think Mourinho is a great coach because he won a lot of trophies but it's not a war between Mourinho and me," said Ancelotti.
"It's normal that he is popular in Chelsea because he won the Premier League but I also want to win it. I also want to be popular with the fans.
"I'm not sure if the period of time here will be long or short but I want the people to remember me."
Ancelotti's most immediate chance of winning over the fans is to end the uncertainty over the future of his captain John Terry.
The defender is still being courted by Manchester City although Chelsea insist that he is not for sale at any price.
City have already had a £30million bid rejected by the Blues but are expected to return with an even higher offer if they feel relations between Terry and the club become strained.
Terry returned from his summer break yesterday and held talks with Ancelotti at the club's Cobham training ground.
He is also believed to have spoken with club director Eugene Tenenbaum, although chief executive Peter Kenyon and owner Roman Abramovich were not in attendance.
Chelsea have already scoffed at suggestions that they failed to keep Terry in the loop over City's interest and insist there has been no major change to the player's stance since City first declared their interest last January.
A month later, Terry issued a statement saying he wanted to remain with the club for life and thanked Chelsea for their support.
The Blues do not feel there is any reason to issue another statement, a view seemingly shared by Terry, who has so far remained publicly silent on the issue.
It is difficult to see Terry giving up another chance to win the Champions League by moving to City and even his alleged anxiousness over the lack of quality additions to the Chelsea squad is unlikely to force him out of the door.
Instead, he is more likely to press Chelsea, via his advisor Aaron Lincoln, to offer him a new, more lucrative contract, with wages closer to Manchester City's much reported £200,000-a-week.
Chelsea remain confident that they will succeed in bringing more quality players to the club before the transfer window closes next month and will start negotiations over a new deal for Terry very shortly.
The club are almost certain to improve the defender's contract before City's billionaire owners return with another bid.
After the FA Cup final victory over Everton last May, Terry said he hoped the club would bring in players of the quality and class of David Villa and Franck Ribery.
But so far, goalkeeper Ross Turnbull, teenage striker Daniel Sturridge and Russia left-back Yuri Zhirkov have been the only additions to a squad that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season and won the FA Cup.

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