As a former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti knows a lot about clubs looking for short-term success.
As a manager, the Italian hasn’t stayed in a role for longer than two seasons since the end of his eight-year stint at his beloved AC Milan in the 2000s, and he thinks long-term managers are now a thing of the past.
“When [Arsène] Wenger decides to finish at Arsenal, I don’t think we will ever see a manager stay at the club for so long again,” said the Italian, who is currently enjoying a break from management after leaving Real Madrid at the end of last season.
“But I hope for our job as managers, you can still find clubs whose focus is not always only on the result. I think that Manchester United are focused on different things, Arsenal the same.
“Arsenal did not win [trophies] for many years, but they grew. They built a new stadium and Wenger did a fantastic job during that time in this sense. It is not all about the results, there are other things, and this is the right way.”
There aren’t many who seem to recognise the excellence and importance of the job Wenger and Arsenal have done over the past decade, moving stadium and laying the foundations to become a self-sustainable European power.
We are still waiting for the rewards, but we’ve come out of the most difficult period under Arsène Wenger and are now in a superb position thanks to it. If some fans, journalists and pundits can’t recognise that it’s nice that the men who really matter – intelligent men like Ancelotti – can.
Who knows, maybe one day Ancelotti will even look to benefit from the foundations Wenger has helped lay down. There are few managers worthy of replacing Wenger in north London, but Ancelotti certainly is one of them.