and more, importantly owner Roman Abramovich -- its sense of fun back.
With a major investment needed this summer to freshen up a squad that is in grave danger of growing stale, that could make or break Ancelotti's hopes of halting the dizzying merry-go-round of managers at Chelsea.
The Italian finally brought the curtain down on his lingering, inevitable departure from AC Milan this weekend.
After eight years at the helm of the club he previously represented so diligently as one of his generation's most intelligent midfielders, the Italian signed off with a 2-0 victory over Fiorentina that guaranteed Milan second spot in Serie A and automatic qualification for the Champions League group stage.
Good, but not that good.
Abramovich will certainly expect more bang for his buck when Ancelotti finally puts pen to paper and formalizes his new position.
And what the Russian wants most of all is for a line to be drawn under the Jose Mourinho years that have quickly become a millstone around the club's neck.
Ancelotti's exit from Milan was hastened by Mourinho's success in maintaining AC's city rivals Internazionale's position as Italy's outstanding team.
Having been overshadowed by the Portuguese manager at the San Siro, the 49-year-old Ancelotti now seems certain to be charged with the job of surpassing Mourinho's achievements in his first two years at Chelsea.
Make no mistake, that is a big ask.
Mourinho himself failed to deliver and was sacked after failing to maintain the conveyor belt of silverware that briefly made the Blues the dominant force in the Premier League. It was certainly beyond Mourinho's successors, Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari.
In fact, the only person who has come close to emulating the heady days of 2005 and 2006 has been Hiddink.
The Dutchman arrived as a temporary stop-gap, and returns to the Russian national team with his place in Chelsea's history now secured.
Granted, a solitary FA Cup triumph is hardly the stuff of legends, but the Dutchman delivered much, much more than that.
He pitched up in January with Chelsea in free-fall as the reign of Luiz Felipe Scolari imploded on the back of a combination of dressing room discontent and tactical intransigence. At that point, Ferguson's preseason suggestion that Chelsea's squad was aging fast rang horribly true.
In came Hiddink to instill basic levels of discipline, organization and no small measure of belief. Suddenly, the Blues were within a whisker of reaching the Champions League final before signing off the season with the Wembley win.
With that victory came clear evidence that Abramovich is back on board.
The Russian oligarch grew tired of Mourinho when he began to believe his own myth and failed to deliver success with style.
For all his cash-fueled shortcuts to success a few years ago, Abramovich has shown he wants more than silverware.
He wants Chelsea to be loved for the football they play. He wants style and panache for his cash, and when it wasn't being delivered, his interest wavered.
No longer was Abramovich seen at every game. In fact, his mere attendance became a newsworthy event. Instead, the Russian was far more likely to be seen supporting girlfriend Dasha Zhukova's interests in art and fashion design.
But Hiddink changed that, and with his friend seated in the dug-out, Abramovich was once again hooked. Anyone who doubts that he is back on board need only look at the pictures that emerged from victorious dressing room at Wembley.
There was Hiddink, smoking a large cigar, and there was the normally poker-faced Abramovich, dancing while taking snaps on his mobile phone.
The owner, it seems, is a starry-eyed fan again.
"It was extraordinary in the dressing room, we had a party," said Hiddink. "We have a multi-cultural squad with players from South America to Europe to Africa and we all had a beautiful dance party.
"Abramovich danced with with us all as well, he enjoyed it, he was in the middle."
League titles aren't normally won and lost on the back of a couple of middle-aged guys dancing in a locker-room. But after Abramovich's indifference coincided with a couple of years of caution in the transfer market, the billionaire now seems ready to resume the project he first started when he bought the club in 2003.
Cash is needed to bring the average age of the squad down and bring in a more reliable core of players who won't go hiding as too many did under Scolari.
And if Ancelotti is to finally escape the shadow of Mourinho, the sound of the winners party at Wembley will have been music to his ears.
Ian Winrow is a London-based football journalist and a columnist for GlobalSoccerCenter.com.
