"I'm not someone who types a lot"
For his first interview as LOSC coach, Davide Ancelotti opens up about his human-centered management, in line with that of his father, Carlo, whose legacy he assumes while wanting to chart his own path.
NATHAN GOURDOL
CAMPHIN-EN-PÉVÈLE (NORTH) - While he will lead today (17 hours) his second friendly against the Saint-Gilloise Union in Ostend, the new LOSC coach, Davide Ancelotti, received The Team yesterday in his office on the Luchin Estate, where the book The Coach's Guide to Teaching by Doug Lemov – "on manuel" – rubs shoulders with a quote by Nietzsche and a figurine by Ted Lasso. Arrived on July 7 in Lille, the day after Brazil's elimination at the World Cup, where he was his father's assistant, Carlo, the technician, who turned 37 on Wednesday, detailed his method for an hour and in French, which he masters almost perfectly.
"Did you hesitate when accepting the LOSC proposal?
From the first exchanges, Olivier (Létang) transmitted very clear principles to me: I am there to win, organize the team, think about training, develop the players, and the club takes care of everything else, because it is strong on discipline and work culture. So there are fewer things to manage than elsewhere. It was great to have this opportunity with a team that is growing, playing in the Champions League, has quality players and has a very clear identity. Of course, there is pressure, but it is a privilege for me. As an assistant, I have always worked in places where it was a tragedy not to win, so I know.
How will you manage your relationship with President Létang, whose role is very broad?
We're forming a team. I really respect his role and that of the coach. Olivier is not my partner, he does not make tactical choices (laughs). We have clearly defined things, we have a human relationship that allows us to exchange on many things. Even thought we were going to have difficult moments, because this is football. The president is number 1, he will be able to speak with the players, but on one condition: prevent me. One day, at half-time, in Botafogo, a sports director started talking in the locker room, and I didn't like it at all. Olivier has the ability to be convincing, persuasive, and if he needs to talk, it can help us.
“I have the ambition to take a new step, with an organized offensive football, a team that knows how to adapt to the opponent
It seems that it is also your father who taught you the interest of Lille…
Yes, he called me one day at two in the morning, because Olivier had asked him for my number. He told me that a team was interested in me. I told him: ”Don't tell me who, just tell me if I have to go or not,“ and he replied: "Of course.”After, of course, we talked. Olivier has been talking regularly with my father for years. I remember that in Madrid, this was the case, because we were interested in Leny Yoro.
Have you been able to speak with your predecessor, Bruno Genesio, who is also a great admirer of your father, and how do you envisage his succession?
We didn't have the opportunity, alas, but everyone here has a very positive opinion of Bruno. A lot of things were done well, I don't want to change everything. There is a defensive organization, a strong team. I have the ambition to take a new step, with an organized offensive football, a team that knows how to adapt to the opponent too. If he wants to give you a high pressure or a numerical tie, have mechanisms to come out and to have control of the ball. I want a dynamic football, with energy, attacking spaces, betting on technical players in midfield. Here I am lucky enough to have a lot of them, and that is crucial in modern football. In Madrid, we had Kroos and Modric, and we won a lot, we saw it more recently with PSG, Spain or Argentina…
You won 19 trophies as your father's deputy. Why didn't you stay in this role?
It is the natural evolution of Macarrière to become no 1. At the end of the last four-year stage in Madrid (2021-2025), I already felt ready. First of all, because I don't want to be a deputy to someone other than my father. He decided to start a life as a coach, we had the goal of making the World Cup together, but I don't think he's going to coach clubs after Brazil. I don't know, but I think that then he will stop. The elimination at the World Cup (in the knockout stages against Norway, 1-2, on July 5th) was Macarrière's biggest disappointment, because it was surely the last competition together with my father, and in Brazil, the World Cup is life. But coming here right after, it helped me a lot, I moved on.
Your first number 1 experience in Botafogo lasted only five months…
Five months there is like two in Europe! People didn't understand if I was fired or not. But in fact, after five months, there was no longer a president because John Textor was leaving. I had no more indication of what to do next, so I decided to resign. They didn't fire me, since there wasn't even a president to do it (laughs). The experience was good, because despite all the difficulties, departures, injuries, we had good results. But the expectations were too great compared to the framework that had totally changed. John Textor trusted me, and I will always thank him, but then there were a lot of conflicts and I was too lonely.
When you are an assistant, you have a closeness with the players, but head coach is also having the wrong role sometimes. How are you managing this transition?
I don't want to change the relationship with the players. Of course, there is this distance which is a little greater because now I make decisions, but communication, the human relationship, is my functioning. I said it from the very beginning here, I'm human, I can get it wrong, I'm going to be responsible for my mistakes, but I have to decide for the good of the club.
This closeness is your father's trademark…
I have a character very similar to his. I saw the way he manages humans. It's very important to be empathetic, because you have to understand everyone's emotions, but without showing too much of yours. Football is an amplifier of emotions, but I always try to control them so as not to disturb my choices. I had this education. The staff helps me with this, I ask them to let me know when it's time to type because I'm not someone who types a lot. With my children, it's the same, I don't get very upset.
“My name is not a weight, I am the one who decided to be a coach, it is my responsibility. If I were a lawyer, I wouldn't be told about it.
To develop your slides with players, you sometimes offer them books…
I'm a fan of Hemingway, Steinbeck and Scorsese's cinema, but I have a reference in the way people are managed, it's Phil Jackson (legendary coach of the Bulls and Lakers). I like everything he said or wrote. And as him, I believe that the coach must teach, leave something, in the game as in the human relationship. Of course, the goal is to win, but why am I coaching? Because I like to see people evolve, not just to win.
Why did you stop your playing career at the age of 20?
Because I was no good! I was far from the level of Milan (he played a friendly match with Alexandre Pato in particular), I played in the Fifth Division, I could make a career at that level. But I was already thinking about my future, and I saw 34-year-old teammates who had nothing in their hands. So I decided to quit to go to university, already with the idea of becoming a coach. I had the example of Jose Mourinho, who had studied physical preparation, so I did the samechoseand today when I speak with the head of the perf (Benoît Delaval), I have knowledge about physiology, the methodology of training.
How did you manage to get accepted in the big locker rooms that you worked alongside?
At first, it was complicated because I was the coach's son. Today I am still Ancelotti's son. But I have fourteen years of experience, I was lucky enough to win a lot, to know the greatest players, so it's a little simpler. But I still want to show that I have the skills. You gain trust with the requirement that you have. Some players can't understand that being very close to them doesn't mean that I'm not demanding. My father had the sameproblemin his career. But everyone should know that there is a red line that should not be crossed.
The comparison with your father, she will always pursue you?
I live with that. I am very glad that I learned with the best. My name is not a weight, it's me who decided to be a coach, it's my responsibility. If I were a lawyer, I wouldn't be told about it. If there are things that I don't know how to do, I will ask him, because he will have necessarily experienced this situation. I had other influences. Klopp, Guardiola, DeZerbi, Emery, for me one of the number 1, Luis Enrique ... In rugby, I admire Rassie Erasmus a lot.""I have known Zizou since I was 8 years old, because he was my father's player at Juve," recalls Davide Ancelotti, who then saw him again when ZZ was his father's assistant at Real Madrid (2013-2014). "You could already see that the players had a lot of respect for him. He is a very humble person, who doesn't talk much, but whenever he speaks, everyone listens to him. He has a lot of aura, charisma. After Deschamps, he is the best successor that the French team could dream of having," notes the technician, who could soon exchange with him about the Blues.
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