His spell as manager is the only time in probably the last decade where I had some genuine hope the club was going to push on and maybe achieve something. Finding out he was leaving was heartbreaking and I don't think we fully got over it until relatively recently.
I think this narrative that he can only manage superclubs with world class players is a bit of a myth. Just look at what he got out the squad he had here. Under him both Keane and DCL became established England internationals, and the likes of Holgate and Davies looked like handy squad players and not Championship-level nomads they actually are. 59 points with that lot. Insane. Most seasons that would get you into Europe. You saw the season after that what the team's actual level was.
With all the hindsight we now have I think it's correct to say him going wasn't the tragic sliding doors moment that it felt like at the time. Had he stayed I still we would have continued to slide backwards, maybe not as quickly, but Moshiri had by that summer already decided not to spend anymore. Carlo surely knew this and was looking for a way out. Ferguson in his autobiography says as much, that in the final few months of the season Ancelotti had massively lost interest and wasn't talking about any future ideas. I'm convinced he was desperately looking for any sort of semi-decent route out of the club and touched lucky that Madrid of all clubs wanted him.
Wish him all the best and have fond memories of his tenure, he achieved some monumental results, but now with the change of ownership it finally feels like we can draw a line under everything and move on. He likely won't manage at club level (least in Europe) again. Hopefully we see him come to a game at Bramley Moore though and he should be given a very warm welcome if so.
