Guardian/David Hytner
Ruthless Chelsea sack Ray Wilkins as Carlo Ancelotti seeks fresh ideas
• Coach learns of fate while watching reserve team
• Milan pair Filippo Galli and Paolo Maldini in frame Ray Wilkins has been left devastated by his surprise dismissal with immediate effect from the post of assistant coach at Chelsea.
The 54-year-old knew nothing about his sacking before being called to meet with Ron Gourlay, the chief executive, while watching Chelsea's reserves play a training-ground friendly against Bayern Munich at lunchtime today.
His contract had entered its final months and was up for renewal but Wilkins, who had stood alongside the manager Carlo Ancelotti while the second string took on the German team, did not see what was coming. Gourlay informed him that not only was his deal not going to be continued but that he would have to leave immediately. Sources at the club described the decision as "clinical", but characteristic of Chelsea's ruthlessness in decision-making at executive levels. Chelsea have stressed that there had been no major disagreements involving Wilkins and the other coaching staff or executives but the truth behind his departure lies less with what he did wrong and more towards what he no longer did right.
Wilkins had seen a fundamental part of his responsibilities disappear, or no longer carry quite the same value. When he was hurriedly appointed by the club in the wake of the former assistant coach Steve Clarke's departure to West Ham United in September 2008, he was seen as the man to help the manager at the time, the Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari, adapt to the demands of English football, particularly off the field.
As a former Chelsea captain and coach – he had worked under Gianluca Vialli – Wilkins had no little credibility but, moreover, it was his contacts within the English game and his knowledge of the authorities and their procedures – in short, who knew who and how things worked – that made him appear as the ideal sidekick for an overseas manager.
Wilkins served under Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Ancelotti, and he would even address the media at press conferences on occasion, to take the pressure off the manager, most notably when things began to go wrong for Scolari.
Yet this aspect of his employment had become less important, not least because Ancelotti has settled into England and English football so well – he has learned to speak the language – and, also, because he brought with him his long-time confidant Bruno Demichelis when he arrived from Milan. Demichelis, a sports psychologist who speaks fluent English, has the title of assistant coach but his role is as the club's scientific co-ordinator.
Although Ancelotti praised Wilkins highly in his recently published autobiography, going so far as to say that "without him, we couldn't have won a thing", the coaching dynamics have shifted at Chelsea.
Wilkins was a well-liked member of the staff but perhaps his biggest problem was that, in the eyes of influential members of the squad, he was not Clarke. The Scot was José Mourinho's assistant and he played a vital, if largely unsung, role in the club's Premier League title triumphs of 2005 and 2006.
Wilkins, though a good coach in his own right, lacked Clarke's panache and his input into Ancelotti's training sessions was moderate, largely because the Italian is such a hands-on coach. The bottom line, as Wilkins began his soul-searching, was that if Ancelotti, the club's Double-winning manager, had wanted to keep him then there is no doubt that Wilkins would have been retained.
With Gourlay firmly in control of the club's business plan, it is clear that Chelsea have decided to make an upgrade in the department. The search for a new assistant is now under way, with two early contenders being Filippo Galli, who was one of Ancelotti's assistants at Milan, and Paolo Maldini, the great ex-Milan defender.
Galli has been repeatedly linked with a move to Stamford Bridge and what would be a return to the south-east of England. He spent a season under Vialli at Watford towards the end of his playing career. Gianfranco Zola is currently available, having left West Ham, together with Clarke, at the end of last season. Paul Clement served as the assistant to Wilkins in the first-team coaching structure and, having already risen from the ranks of the academy, he is regarded as a star of the future.
Chelsea announced Wilkins's departure on their website early in the afternoon, with Gourlay confirming that the decision not to renew his contract would "take effect immediately".
"On behalf of everyone at the club," Gourlay said, "I would like to thank Ray for everything he has done for Chelsea Football Club. We all wish him well for the future."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/nov/11/ray-wilkins-chelsea-carlo-ancelottiMAIL
Out of the Blue: Players stunned as Chelsea axe Ray Wilkins
By Simon Cass
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti gave his blessing to the shock decision to dispense
with the services of his assistant and ‘friend’ Ray Wilkins on Thursday.
Ancelotti had previously described former Chelsea, Manchester United, AC Milan and England star Wilkins as vital in helping the Italian lead the club to an historic League and FA Cup Double last season.
They had been sitting in the stands yesterday afternoon watching a reserve game between Chelsea and Bayern Munich at the club’s Surrey training base.
At half-time, around 2pm, Wilkins attended a prearranged meeting with Chelsea chief
executive Ron Gourlay in which he was told his contract would not be renewed.
Wilkins did not rejoin Ancelotti to watch the second half.
Team Carlo: Chelsea boss Ancelotti and his now-departed assistant Wilkins (right)
Suggestions that Ancelotti only became aware of Wilkins’s departure after he had received the bad news were dismissed. In fact, the manager had been part of the consultation process by the club’s board that concluded Wilkins’s role had become redundant.
The Chelsea board took the decision that, having helped Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Ancelotti integrate themselves into English football, Wilkins’s expertise in that regard was no longer required.
But senior members of the Chelsea dressing room are understood to be stunned by the decision to part with such a popular character.
Despite reports, no fall-out with any player, coach or member of the board is behind the decision.
Even so, the timing of Wilkins’s departure is bizarre, with Chelsea flying high domestically and in Europe.
The club have yet to decide whether to replace him from outside — the names of ex-Chelsea players Gianfranco Zola, Gus Poyet and Steve Clarke, the man Wilkins
replaced, are being circulated — or promote from within, with Paul Clement a potential candidate.
Parting of the ways: Ancelotti praised Wilkins, but then he was gone
The fact that Ancelotti was consulted and subsequently approved the decision to show Wilkins the door will doubtless come as a body blow to the 54-year-old.
It is even more remarkable given the glowing assessment Ancelotti gave of Wilkins’s value to Chelsea in his autobiography.
‘One of the reasons I fit into the locker room was thanks to the fundamental role played by Ray Wilkins, my No 2 and my friend,’ wrote the Italian.
‘It’s one thing to translate words but translating feelings is the gift of only a select few.
‘Ray is one of those select few, always present, noble in spirit, a real blue-blood, Chelsea flows in his veins. His heart beats in two languages and that helped me.
Without him, we couldn’t have won a thing and, in particular, we wouldn’t have started the year at supersonic speed.’
Chelsea’s website wasted little time in putting up the news that Wilkins’s contract had not been renewed.
Less than an hour had passed between the Stamford Bridge legend being told his services were no longer required before the world at large got to hear about it in a short statement hardly befitting a man who had enjoyed a 37-year association with the club.
It read: ‘Chelsea Football Club chief executive Ron Gourlay has announced today that the board has decided not to renew Ray Wilkins’s contract. This will take effect immediately.’
Gourlay said: ‘On behalf of everyone at the club I would like to thank Ray for everything he has done for Chelsea Football Club.’
www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1328899/Out-Blue-Players-stunned-Chelsea-axe-Ray-Wilkins.html
