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Manchester City sack Mark Hughes and appoint Roberto Mancini as manager
Roberto Mancini has been plotting a pathway to the Premier League for months and last night the former Internazionale coach was appointed by Manchester City to replace Mark Hughes.
The Welshman was sacked by a club who felt he could not meet their target of a place in the top four despite being given £200m to spend on players and further huge investment in training facilities and other infrastructure at the club.
Hughes, well aware he was about to be sacked, stood impassively in the technical area throughout City's 4-3 win at home to Sunderland yesterday and waved to the crowd at the end as well as shaking hands with every City player. He gave an emotional farewell address to his squad in the dressing room afterwards and a deputation of players, led by the goalkeeper Shay Given, is said to have visited the boardroom to express unhappiness at the sacking.
The victory, combined with Liverpool's 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth, actually strengthened City's chances of a top-four finish but Mancini – the winner of three straight Serie A titles with Inter – rather than Hughes, will be the beneficiary.
Roberto is a hugely experienced manager with a proven track record of winning trophies and championships, said City's chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak. What is absolutely clear is that Roberto believes in Manchester City's potential to achieve at the highest level and importantly in his own ability to make this happen.
Mancini, who is believed to have been at Eastlands yesterday, is understood to have a three-and-a-half-year contract. Brian Kidd, a former City striker with extensive coaching experience, has stepped up from a role with the club's youth team to assist the Italian, who has been out of work since leaving Inter in May 2008.
Hughes and his coaching staff had recently begun to feel that Garry Cook, the club's chief executive, and Brian Marwood, the football administrator, wanted them dismissed. However, City sources insisted that Mubarak, the appointed chairman of the club's owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, was responsible for the decision.
The sacking of Hughes, who arrived 18 months ago, and the appointment of Mancini were announced by City about an hour and a half after yesterday's game. Mubarak said results had failed to meet expectations set after a huge summer outlay on players such as Carlos Tevez, Kolo Touré, Joleon Lescott and Roque Santa Cruz.
A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set, he said. Sheikh Mansour and the board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change. This is a particularly difficult announcement given the personal investment over the past 15 months on all sides and we would like to put on record our respect for and thanks to Mark Hughes and we wish him the best in his future career.
Following a run which included eight straight draws in the Premier League and a 3-0 defeat at Tottenham last Wednesday, Mubarak had reached the conclusion that Hughes and his coaching staff were not realising the potential of the players City had assembled.
While the club underwent structural changes in all other departments, the coaching methods and personnel remained constant. This included Hughes's long-term assistants, Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki, Kevin Hitchcock and Glyn Hodges, all of whom also left the club last night.
Mubarak flew from Abu Dhabi to watch the recent matches against Hull and Arsenal, with increasing concern about City's form under Hughes. He saw a team a team widely recognised as failing to gel, with weaknesses particularly in defence, and the view hardened that Hughes was not going to pull things round.
Mancini is expected to work with several specialist coaches, possibly including Mancini's former Lazio colleague Sinisa Mihajlovic. Kidd has been selected for his Premier League expertise, including assisting Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and managing Blackburn.
City have lost just twice in the league this season and are looking forward to a Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United. But a series of debilitating draws, many the result of defensive lapses, saw Hughes's side fail to establish themselves as genuine Champions League contenders.
The club's ownership in Abu Dhabi have always claimed they are thinking long term and will do things differently from other boards and they remained loyal to Hughes, whom they inherited, until they felt that his position was untenable. They have acted quickly to enable Mancini to invest during next month's transfer window, if he deems it necessary.
Prior to the current season beginning, with significant investment in players and infrastructure in place, the consensus between the board and coaching staff was that appropriate agreed targets should be set for the 2009-2010 season, Mubarak said, expanding on why Hughes had been dismissed.
The targets were agreed as a result of the player acquisition strategy of the club being radically accelerated in the summer as a result of very favourable conditions for any buying club. It was also based on the fact that the infrastructure of the club had been overhauled completely at great cost in order to create the best possible environment for the team.
Other successful managers City may have considered, including Arsène Wenger, José Mourinho and Guus Hiddink, are all under contract. Mancini's immediate availability, proven record of success, intense desire for the post and acquaintance with Mubarak are understood to have swung it for the Italian.
Mancini's teenage son, Filippo, had a spell on loan at Eastlands from Inter last year, his interlude in the youth team having been been instigated by Sven-Goran Eriksson, Hughes's City predecessor and Mancini's long-term mentor. Although Filippo has returned to Italy, his stint in north-west England may have opened doors for his father.
Mancini's track record is impressive, that trio of Serie A titles at San Siro supplemented by silverware including Italian Cup triumphs with Inter, Fiorentina and Lazio. But his appointment represents a gamble as the 45-year-old has no experience of managing in England.
Moreover, despite reports that Mancini has recently been taking English lessons, Chelsea and Sunderland were previously concerned about his inability to speak the language when he made brief appearances on their managerial shortlists. The former Italy striker has experience of English football as a player, from a brief spell on loan at then Premier League Leicester City in 2001.
At Inter he became the club's most successful coach in 30 years but European glory proved elusive and in 2008 he resigned after a Champions League defeat to Liverpool as he wrestled with a bitterly divided dressing room, only to rescind that decision, restore squad harmony and win Serie A again. It was merely a temporary truce, though, and he soon found himself replaced by Mourinho.
Mancini had hoped to find a route to the Premier League via Chelsea or Sunderland. Now he has his chance with City.
อ้างอิง http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/19/mark-hughes-roberto-mancini-manchester-city
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