BigJoesArmy wrote:
Possibly one of those. BUT if big Joe didn't get us out of league one then we wouldn't be where we are today! Also Mercer didnt win the league on the budget we did! As my gramps says "he did it by hard graft!"
City spent as freely as anyone, but wiser than most, during the Mercer-Allison era.
You could also argue that Joe came in when City were in the old First Division (now Championship) and when he left City after a relegation, two promotions and another relegation were still in the same Division.
It took Mercer-Allison three years to win the League Championship, four years to win the FA Cup and five years to win the League Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup. They also got out of the (then) Division Two in their first season.
Manchini took eighteen months to win the FA Cup and two and a half years to win the Premier League. He needs to deliver at least one more domestic trophy and one European cup (preferably the Champions' League) within the next two years.
Manchini has a great team, as had Mercer and Allison. The question remains can he manage the transition better than Allison did in the early 1970s. Fortunately the current team is comparatively young so this is not an immediate priority.
Next year, the target must be to retain the Premier League, progress to at least the semi-finals of the Champions' League and win a domestic Cup. However Mancini will eventually be judged on the teams' success or otherwise in the Champions' League.
Season five: Domestic and European Trophy.
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