a question for ITK's

[KenTheLandlord]

That is incorrect. If Ancelotti had our points total and identical record he would be under pressure. If you manage the top teams in say Spain or Italy and you win the league you can still be sacked and no one raises an eyebrow in surprise. Incorrect, one team. Real Madrid. And as far as i remember City play in England. We do things a bit different here.

Incorrect. Inter Milan sacked Mancini after winning Serie A. Which is why I mentioned Spain and Italy. Yes City play in England. Well done. So, it happening twice is an indication of something that barely raises an eyebrow? (raising an eyebrow). Inter wanted to win the CL, and Mancini didn't produce, thats why he was sacked, nothing to do with the league. You have written it, as though its an every season occurance.

If like City you spend a lot of money in a short space of time with the objective of breaking into the top tier of domestic and European football then we will, inevitably, be judged by top tier standards. So no its 'not only at Manchester City' it is in fact at a handful of elite clubs where you are only as good as your last game and if you don't win consistently (not draw but win) then you are in crisis and the manager is under pressure. Unlike Manchester United who haven't sacked a manager for 22 years, Arsenal for 13 years and Liverpool 5 years. You used Chelsea, as they are the only example. Don't bother with Spuds, Aston Villa, they are not top European teams.

I repeat if you don't win consistently then you are under pressure. Taggert has won consistently - in fact the teams you mention are the 'Top 4' and this maintains their position as managers. Benitez knows he needs top 4 hence his statement. Benitez is not saying he would like top 4 and that is what they are aiming at but that they will get top 4. Wenger needs top 4 but even with that everyone is saying he actually needs to win something as well. Managers at these clubs stay in their job because they win consistently and top 4 is the minimum they have to achieve. We are not elite and haven't been since the late sixties. It will take time to build up the pressure, only headline seeking journalists would print that City should be viewed with the same expectation as the top European teams. A large amount of money is required to get the ball rolling and at the moment, predictably we move two steps forward and one step back, or sideways as this run is taking us.

This mindset is the only way you can get into and maintain your position in the top tier. If the club and its management truly believe that 6th is good enough this season then 6th is what we are likely to achieve. Rafa has stated in the media that Liverpool will get 4th spot. He has no choice and he has no option other than to deliver this target. If we have a choice or have options other than 4th - a comfort zone if you like - then we are less likely to get 4th because each game is not quite so intense, so vital for the cause. Meaningless psycho-babble.

Yes. Like sports psycologists are a waste of time. Tell that to Team GB cycling squad and ask how they did at the last Olympics. Yes they are useless unless the material they are dealing with isn't top class or good enough to win in the first place. As the old Olympic saying says "If you want to win the 100m, choose your parents carefully". Combine the physical and the mental and you will have a winner, but if it isn't there, a psychologist cannot pull it out. The psychologists didn't pick the GB cycling squad.

The fans will adopt this 'winning is everything' mindset as well and in a way its important that they do. If no one at the club, including the fans, tolerates failure or accepts less than winning every game then we will achieve success. The downside is that we become everything we detest in the fans of top 4 clubs. Too late, many have adopted this attitude without having won anything for 30 years.

Yes they have and it will continue to grow. Expectation is a powerful force. It is when there is a base to work on. We have no base. Hughes is working on it. When expectation is justified, probably when we win our first cup, then the expectation and belief can combine to generate the powerful force. Until then, it garners resentment and disaffection. Often seen on these boards.

Oh and this mindset or 'winning mentality' is precisely the sort of thing Hughes was meant to be instilling in the club. The Chelsea chairman said that the best thing Mourinho ever did for Chelsea was instill a winning mentality throughout the club and not just in the players either.
He was so good at it, the chairman sacked him. And they haven't won the league since.

Incorrect. Abramovich sacked Mourinho. Abramovich is not the Chelsea Chairman. Bruce Buck is the man I was referring too. The point i was making, sarcastically, is that Chelsea had it and lost it, league wise. Hughes is building towards it. Two home defeats this year is turning the place into a fortress. He is building it up and the winning mentality is coming, whether anyone likes it or not, it doesn't happen overnight. Any sports psychologist will tell you that. Work SMART and the 4 C's.

Mourinho made everyone a believer. Hughes just makes us into monkees. Monkees? What zoo are you living at? Name me one club in the last 20 years that went from 10th to first in one season. I'm not sure if there are papers in your zoo, but you may have noticed a certain number of players NOT coming to the club. That is because we are NOT as big you feel we are. We need to apply pressure onto the top4 and then break it. That is what we are doing and when we do it, top players will come. Its posts like this that make us look like Monkeys expecting us to win every match. IT AINT GOING TO HAPPEN. There will be defeats and there will be disappointments, but its what you learn and how you develop from those set backs that make you winners.

Oh bad luck. The clue was in the spelling. Rammy will put your straight. I saw the weak pun and developed it.

Now name one club that went from 10th to first in one season. Hmm. No idea. I'll tell you what. Lets be the first. Now wouldn't that be something? How about doing it in two seasons? After all why not? 10th to PL Champions in 2 seasons. Whats to stop us? About two, possibly three better squads, with experience and knowledge of how to win matches, hence, the OT match.

To quote the first black man to become US President...

...Yes we can!

You see there always has to be a first for everything. It just takes a 'special' kind of person to achieve it. I hope we do, and will be very happy if we do, but lets get things in perspective and get something won first.
Btw, who would you have as gaffer, then keeping it realistic.

 

[KenTheLandlord]

Depends, with football being a notoriously precarious job, the chance of a very good stab at the CL doesn't come round often.

So your saying we're not getting into the top 4 this season?

lol, no. I am saying we wont win the CL this year. Barca might and he wants in. It will take us a few years to get into Barca 's postion and he probably wants to hurry it up.

 

[moomba]

I know it's an old thread and all, but it was the one I've been thinking about for the past day or so reading story after story mentioning Marwoods name.

Hadn't heard too much about him before, I wonder if his role at the club has changed at all?

 

[kismet]

i think Marwood is getting more influential..............