When Carlo Ancelotti walked into Goodison Park’s directors’ box on 21 December 2019, traditional Yuletide songs were blaring over the public address system and Everton owner Farhad Moshiri looked like a man whose Christmases had all come at once.
This was the moment Moshiri had waited for since buying a major stake in Everton in February 2016 and he was beaming as he stood alongside the “Hollywood” manager he craved. Ancelotti was one of the most respected and decorated figures in world football, one of only three men alongside Liverpool’s Bob Paisley and Zinedine Zidane to win the Champions League in its various guises three times and Everton had landed him.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well Moshiri found out in the space of a hectic 24 hours which saw Ancelotti move on from his stated ambition of leading Everton into their new Bramley Moore Dock Stadium in around 2024, having heard the siren call of his former club Real Madrid. Everton’s hierarchy will have been left reeling by the speed of events which went from Ancelotti talking about long-term planning to telling them he wanted to return to Real Madrid, where he won the Champions League in 2014.
There must be a measure of sympathy for Everton’s board because this is a move that came out of nowhere and only shortly after Ancelotti seemed to publicly suggest his time at Real was firmly in his past. Everton’s moves in the managerial and playing markets have left them open to criticism in the past but it is hard to pin blame on them for this. They will have been left as shell-shocked as their supporters by this sudden, unexpected twist.
