Once bitten, twice shy. If only Paul Merson had heeded that when it came to Everton.
Given that today is the first anniversary of Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment at Goodison Park, it’s also a year on since lightning struck twice in terms of ‘Merse’ aiming an ill-judged verbal volley in the Blues direction.
Maybe the former Arsenal player was stung by the legendary Italian boss – who had also been linked with the Gunners vacancy – not ending up back in the capital after a previous spell in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge but 12 months on, his comments appear churlish and once again, way off the mark.
When questioned on Sky Sports by Jeff Stelling about Everton unveiling Ancelotti as their new manager ahead of their goalless draw with Arsenal at Goodison on December 21, 2019 – while soon-to-be Emirates gaffer Mikel Arteta also watched on from the stands – Merson couldn’t hide his contempt.
He told Soccer Saturday’s viewers: “If you’ve look at the teams he’s managed, your Chelseas, your Bayern Munichs your Milans, now you’re coming in here.
“When they go out and buy someone, you’re looking down the bottom half of the table.
“You’ll be looking at players at Southampton and Watford, people like that.
“He ain’t going to be able to bring in world-class players. This bloke’s been winning trophies.
“I don’t get it. That’s me, I think it’s one of them – big wages – I’ll take that.”
Let’s get things straight.
Of course Ancelotti is quite rightly being handsomely rewarded with a lucrative contract at Everton befitting his status but by all accounts his salary seems to be the going rate for a manager of his stature.
Given all that he has achieved in the game, if at 60 the three times Champions League winner had wanted to get himself a cushy number for some easy money then he could have joined others on the Chinese Super League gravy train.
Could it be that after having his fingers burned at Chelsea – with whom he was sacked at Goodison Park before he’d left the building on the final day of the 2010/11 season a mere year after he steered them to a Premier League and FA Cup double – Ancelotti felt that he had unfinished business in England and he was hungry to show he still had fire in his belly with an ambitious project?
Anyway, 12 months on from his appointment, a 2-1 win over Merson’s old club Arsenal puts Ancelotti’s Everton five points off the Premier League summit, some 12 points and 11 places better off than the Gunners and indeed above their north London rivals and southern media darlings Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur who we keep being told are making a title tilt this term.
As for the recruitment of ‘world-class’ players, the acquisition of Real Madrid ‘Galactico’ James Rodriguez, superstar Golden Boot winner at the 2014 World Cup finals is not too shabby.
But Ancelotti – who persuaded Allan, a player who dubbed him ‘The Professor’, to follow him from Napoli – knows that when you’re assembling a football team you’ve got to get the right blend of craft and graft.
So he has also returned to Watford – who Merson so conveniently name-checked – to land the hugely impressive box-to-box midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure.
You see the Hornets of course were also the providers of another inspired Everton signing, Richarlison, the player who forced Merson into an embarrassing climbdown.
When the Blues snapped up the Brazilian in the summer of 2018, Merson complained the deal had “spoiled the [transfer] window.”
Before his debut season at Goodison was out, Merson admitted Richarlison had “proved to be good value.”
Perhaps today might be an opportune time for him to say sorry again to Everton – and Ancelotti?
