Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti has suggested that managers at clubs with U.S. owners -- such as Arsene Wenger at Arsenal -- are not under so much pressure to deliver trophies as long as they turn a financial profit.
Ancelotti was speaking to Spanish paper AS about his sacking by Real Madrid in summer 2015 -- with his dismissal coming just a year after he had delivered the club's long awaited Decima Champions League in 2014.
The Italian coach contrasted the situation at the Bernabeu under club president Florentino Perez with that at other clubs where the owners are less demanding of on-pitch success, using the example of American billionaire Stan Kroenke and long-serving Wenger who has never won the Champions League and last won a Premier League title in 2004.
"I was fortunate to be able to coach Real Madrid, although then the club decided to change managers," Ancelotti said. "That is part of the job, we are exposed to that. In the big clubs it is difficult to stay a long time because the expectations of results are so high.
"It's true that there are other clubs like Manchester United, where [Alex] Ferguson was there many years, and now Wenger at Arsenal. These cases are different, as their owners are from the U.S. and they are more interested in the financial aspect than in who is coach."
Asked if a coach usually only had two or three years at a top club, the one-time AC Milan, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss said clubs with Madrid's history and demands for silverware would always change a manager who ended a season empty-handed.
"It is like that everywhere, not just Madrid," he said. "Madrid has such history and demands that if a coach does not win a trophy, they make a change. You must respect that."
Ancelotti's former assistant Zinedine Zidane won the Champions League at the first attempt, and currently has his side six points clear of second placed Barcelona in the La Liga title race.
"[Zidane] is having an impressive run, going very well in La Liga, and through to the last 16 with the other big teams in the Champions League," Ancelotti said. "I could see then that he could be a good coach.
"The only thing he lacked was experience, but experience you pick up every day training, working and talking with the players. Zidane has know-how, charisma, personality... he has everything. Experience is not the most important."
Bayern have been less consistent so far this season, with the team not running away with the Bundesliga as they had in recent years under Pep Guardiola, however Ancelotti said he was confident everything would come good later in the campaign.
"The club is well organised, the team has quality, the city is nice, the atmosphere is relaxed," he said. "We have done pretty well up to now, although we can improve. We have time to do it.
"The decisive time will be February, March and April. We must be well prepared for then. This is a club with great demands, but also stability due to its good organisation, with former players who are now directors. The atmosphere is fantastic."