Ancelotti fends off the rumours.

On what should have been a relatively important day for Chelsea, it was another Premier League story that marked the unveiling of Carlo Ancelotti as the new headman at Stamford Bridge. There was no definitive end to the ongoing speculation that John Terry will be going to Manchester City at the end of the month as the Italian fended off the question with a mixture of nerves and broken English.

There is no doubt that this man has a presence. It was almost as if the world had come to a complete stop when he strolled into the press conference room to take his seat and answer the first few media questions that were thrown in his direction. Needless to say the Terry issue was one of the first and the message that came across was probably not the one that Chelsea’s new boss desired.

Ancelotti’s opening comments were all very cliché: “Roman and I have the same objectives. To do very well this season and to win. I would like to have a team that plays well, plays good football, creative football, and naturally that win. It's important to win but also to be a team with good characteristics, to play well and with organisation.”

Chelsea fans would have been looking for a defintive sign that this would be the man to take them back to the success that they are experienced during the Jose Mourinho era. It is clear that at times yetserday he wanted to say certain things but because he was speaking in borken English he could not always get his message across.

This may well have been the case with the whole John Terry story. He insisted that Terry would be captain of the club next season but this is all that he said on the matter, he gave very little away. It is important not to read too much into this because the Italian is a very smart person who has been in the game for a very long time. Sometimes managers like to toy with the press a little bit as so many have stated in the past their dissatisfaction at media intrudement.

The Italian has a clear sign and direction that he wants to take the club towards and he clearly recognises that he needs his best players committed to the future of the club if he is able to do this. It is important to remember that Ashley Cole has still not signed a long term contract on top of his current deal with the club. So there are clearly questions hanging over one or two players.

The point is that Ancelotti is not a stupid person he knows better than just to toy with an issue such as the John Terry affair that is floating around at the moment. He probably tried to get his message across in as clear and as positive a nature as he possibly could. However, because he is not a native Englishman it is slightly harder for him and therefore the speculation will carry on.

What Chelsea really need is for John Terry to stick his head out into the open for five minutes and commit his future. This would take a lot of pressure off of the gaffer who has only just got in through the door. Ancelotti would have been expected a heavy media element in his Premier League way of managerial life but he probably didn’t expect it to be so dominant on the very first day that he officially took up the top post at Chelsea.

Chelsea as a football club have publicly stated their discontent at being so far behind Liverpool and Manchester United last season. The appointment of Ancelotti is a statement of intent that they intend to compete both domestically and on the European front when the new season starts up again. It is because of this that it would be non-sensical for the club to let their captain leave or any other high profile player, because it would completely contradict the managerial appointment they have just made.

It can only get easier for the manager from this point on because there probably won’t be a bigger or more important player linked with an exit from the club. Once this story brushes over, as Terry surely must stay at Chelsea, then it will allow the club to develop, get better and start winning trophies again.

If Terry continues to say nothing and just puts more pressure on the manager then there will come a point when all parties would have had enough. A Terry exit to any other club but one in the top four would be truly bizarre and would leave many questioning the ambition and logic of a player that has turned himself into an England and Chelsea legend over the last four or five seasons.

All in all though Ancelotti made a very good first impression as Chelsea’s new manager and head coach. As with so many managers when they come into a new position they all state the same thing but Ancelotti clearly has the calibre and the respect of the players in order to make these statements a reality. He knows what it feels like to win the Champions League as he won it at AC Milan and he knows what it takes to win a very tough domestic league.

It is extremely hard to guage someone like Ancelotti because he gives so very little away but he has a good basic grasp of the language and the culture of this country. He seems intent for the long haul and seems intent that all of his players share the same vision and rive as he does if Chelsea are to rediscover their success.

Chelsea could have done a lot worse but the hard work starts here. They will have to ignore and fight off many tempting bids for a lot of their star players but they cannot give in to any of these if they want to fulfil on the ambition that Ancelotti has just displayed, to do otherwise would efy logic.