The league record is what holds him back.
judging coaches on their silverware alone is never a wise idea. winning is extremely important of course, but some of the greatest coaches in the history of the game haven't really won many trophies in their carreer (think of Sacchi, just to mention the most impressive example).
besides i wouldn't even agree with your statement about ancelotti's domestic titles pedigree. he's won the league in 3 different countries. he's won every domestic league title he partecipated in, except in spain, where he remained for 2 seasons only though.
and whereas his titles in france and england were somewhat "expected of him" (being chelsea and psg clear favourites for the title), in italy he also managed to do something very few top class coach can boast about: winning a domestic title with a team which was NOT the favourite (milan 2004).
and speaking of merits few top class coaches can brag about, carletto also did a spectacular job, coaching low tier clubs such as reggiana, which he lead to a historical and unprecedented promotion to serie a (just to put things in perspective, reggiana making it to serie a is pretty much as impressive as barnet making it to the premier league!)
he also coached a mid class club such as parma, which he built up to be a title contender (2nd place in serie a in 1996....best result in parma's history.... and mind u, we're talking about 1996, when serie a was a pretty competitive league...)
carlo is the real deal: he's the record holder for champions league finals, he's won titles in 4 different countries, and (wich is something almost unique among title-winning coaches) he always has his teams playing beautiful football.
also, and that's something that really fascinates me, carletto never plays the same football. all the coaches obsessed with the aestetic aspect of football always have their team playing the same kind of football and try to import that brand of football wherever they go. that's not necessarily a bad thing... it's just something theese coaches have in common (zeman, bielsa, van gaal, spalletti, wenger): each one has his own "signature" and they try to apply it (with a few variations) to every club they work for.
Ancelotti instead has never played the same brand of football twice. the football his parma played was completely different from the football his milan played... and so it goes for chealsea, psg and real madrid. his versatility allows him to not have a signature at all and to adapt his football to the players at his disposal (finding the right formula for them, rather than trying to force on them his brand of football). infact the only thing his teams have in common is that they always play beautiful, entertaining, bold football.
to quote arrigo sacchi: "
carlo ancelotti si living proof that u don't need to act like a guru or a diva to become a star, living proof that u don't have to act like a jerk in front of the cameras to gain your players' respect, that u can mantain a modest, low profile attitude and still display all the confidence and the charisma a coach needs to have a firm grip on his team. he's living proof that u can can win AND play nice football at the same time".
yep, big fan of carletto here
then again, we're talking about a man who turns small clubs into midclass clubs, midclass clubs into title contenders and title contenders into title winners.... he also does it in style.... and he never makes a fuss about it. honestly what's not to love about this guy.
