Carlo Ancelotti returned to Liverpool for a Champions League game at Anfield with his Real Madrid side and it was rumoured that he had been given a tour of Everton’s new stadium
Some True Blue hearts fluttered when Carlo Ancelotti returned to Liverpool this week and declared: “I am still an Evertonian.” And they started to beat a bit faster when a rumour spread around the city that the former Goodison Park gaffer had been given a tour of the club’s new stadium on Tuesday night.
Like the one that got away, the partner who was perhaps out of your league, but you loved and lost, it seems some still dream to be reunited with the stylish, and of course, successful 65-year-old from Reggio Emilia.
Farhad Moshiri, whose first of eight managerial appointments in as many years, Ronald Koeman, was the blockbuster name to compete alongside Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola and Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho in what Everton’s now wantaway majority shareholder described as “the new Hollywood of football,” has always been enticed by glamour and the lure of splashing the cash on Ancelotti when he became available was too strong to resist.
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The decision ensured that the return of David Moyes, who unlike the period of churn, profligacy and chaos of recent years, had previously presided over more than a decade of progress and stability with the Blues did not happen, despite the club’s most-successful manager in the Premier League having gone on record to reveal that he had negotiations to return, before instead going back for a second stint at West Ham United, which would lead to the Londoners’ first major trophy in 43 years.
The ECHO understands that reports of Everton rolling out ‘the blue carpet’ for Ancelotti and taking him on a tour of their 52,888 capacity future home are wide of the mark, though. A senior club official said: “We think he might have walked down from the Titanic and had a look under his own steam… but to my knowledge, he definitely did not have an official tour.”
As written by this correspondent only a day ago though, while Blues legend Howard Kendall described his previous employers Manchester City as a “love affair” but Everton being like “a marriage” when he returned to the Goodison Park hotseat, it seems as though the club were just an opportune grab under the mistletoe for Ancelotti, who was unveiled just before Christmas 2019.
With the veneer of Italian manners, Ancelotti’s charm proved deceptive. The only Everton manager in the 21st century to choose to make his home on Merseyside, he seemed enjoy life by the sea and as well as regularly being spotted walking his dogs by Crosby Beach he would regularly pop up looking at ease in locations such as Bootle New Strand or a garage, decked out in his club apparel.
However, with the majority of his Everton reign ending up being played behind closed doors due to the global coronavirus pandemic, Ancelotti’s only full season in charge saw the team slump from being second in the table on Boxing Day to finish 10th and miss out on their goal of European qualification, before he swiftly defected back to the Bernabeu. Now back in his natural habitat of massaging the egos of galacticos rather than having coach lesser-talented individuals at Finch Farm, Ancelotti has enjoyed his lengthiest tenure outside the San Siro with a stint back at Real Madrid, which is already over twice as long as his fleeting stay with Everton and includes another brace of Champions League successes.
Despite these triumphs in his second stint with Los Blancos, Everton News collated a series of online posts on X from angry Real Madrid fans – referencing the Blues – following their side’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield last night.
“Ancelotti believes he is at Everton. Everything has seemed fine to him,” @clubsiglodeoro said. @jalessandro8 wasn’t happy: “Ancelotti must be fired, he is thought to be at Everton playing defence.”
@VlogMadridista stated: “It’s very difficult to get into the top 8. You have to get into the top 24.” Someone please explain to Ancelotti that this is Real Madrid, not Everton.”
@BSilochi mentioned: “Well, maybe it’s Ancelotti’s fault that he sees Mbappe doing nothing and doesn’t change him; maybe it’s Ancelotti’s fault that he sees Modric not contributing anything in these games and puts him in. Maybe it’s Ancelotti’s fault that the team plays like Everton, closed in at the back and without ideas, maybe eh.”
@TsubasaMisaki11 was ruthless: “Someone remind Ancelotti that he is not at Everton, that he is coaching Real Madrid, that if he wants to play like a small team, he should go back to Everton.” @Moru84_cb commented: “Ancelotti should be sacked today. We seem like a small team. Everyone is at the back. He has returned to Liverpool and believed that it was the derby and that he was still at Everton.”
