A sincere apology to the Mancini outers.

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

There is absolutely no need to apologise to anyone or to don the sackcloth and ashes. Roberto Mancini brought the FA cup and PL title to this club. There is now only Arsene Wenger left in the PL who has actually done this at their club. Most of the "outers" wanted simply that - Mancini out. Those who had the vaguest idea of a replacement went in the large part for Mourinho in the belief that eye gouging was the kind of motivational skills our manager needed. Klop, who refuses to leave Dortmund for anyone, was the second favourite. There was simply no "Pellegrini in" group until he emerged as the clear choice of the board. Now, the "in" and "out" question is no longer an issue since Pellegrini is "in", and I've been impressed with his work and pronouncements so far. I stress that my loyalty is to City and no particular individual, but it is very, far too, early to judge. And in the euphoria at the quality of our play at times in some of our pre season matches we have to remember just how superb we were for by far the greater part of the '11-'12 season. I add also that we have had a good transfer window - and it may get even better - but that 3 of the players bought were targets before the managerial change. This window is, of course, very different from last summer, and that was not Mancini's "fault". Let us see how the season goes, when the real games begin.

Had Mancini got his way we would have drafted in two players who would now be approaching their 30th brithday and both on 200k+ pw. Navas would not be here and that is absolutely for sure, he is not a Mancini type of player.

Mancini's cheif scouts identified messrs Savic and Garcia, whilst both players played alongside Nastasic and Witsel. For that they want sacking alone. On both occasions they bought the wrong player and the 'right player' was playing beside them!

Mancini did a great job but Europe has been his downfall once and it's ended up being it twice. People talk about our first campaign with 10 points but 6 points were against a team that ended up being relegated and the other 3 points against a team already qualified when our future was guaranteed 3rd, Napoli was our arch-rival that campaign and we managed 1 point over two legs. Last season we had the worst group I have ever seen but the crime was against Ajax on both legs. 1 point vb the groups whipping boys is poor, a team built for the same as we paid for Scott Sinclair, an unused and unwanted player ffs.

Very selective again Nip. You know as well as I do who our targets were last summer but they went elsewhere, and none of them did so because Mancini was our manager. Garcia was a last minute signing and it's clear that whoever wanted some of our signings Mancini didn't appreciate them. Maicon was a Mancini man but the great criticism of Maicon is that he was injured soon after he arrived and never really played. Savic wasn't good but he was fourth choice and never played in Europe which is your real complaint about Mancini. Mancini also picked Nasti. Again in Europe you go on about Napoli, but that game actually shows how fine the margins can be - Ya Ya hit the bar and Sergio the post. Last year the group was as hard as any anyone has known, and we did perform badly in Amsterdam, and for the first half hour at home. But Ajax had won at OT the season before, and we had a good goal disallowed and what I believe a certain penalty turned down. That ref was incompetent or bent...but were weren't good enough to come out of that group, I accept. Klop had had a similar experience with an easier group the year before. And things went wrong for Pellegrini inEurope at Madrid.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I'd be more worried if we had a manager that everyone agreed on.

I think we've got one now mate - or at least until the first league defeat :)))

I meant half the fun on here the last few years has been the Hughes/Mancini In/Out arguments.

 

[Blue Til Death]

It might be early days but I have to say that Manuel Pellegrini has completely won me over.
I would like to apologise to all the BM members who I've attacked on here for having the belief that Mancini wasn't the right man.

I feel you were right and Pellegrini will be a massive step up and we are on the cusp of something great.

Any views fellow blues?

Err how has he won you over exactly? He has not done anything yet. I did not want Mancini to go but as I have said previously I couldnt give a shit as long as City are winning, Pellegrini will be judged at the end of the season, he has the squad the fans and all he needs at his disposal to mount an assault good enough to win the PL and get us to the latter stages of the CL..
Mancini was up there with the best managers we have had at the Club, Pell has a lot to live up to IMHO

 

[Aytoun]

It is certainly very early in the piece to get carried away. However the recent performances, especially last night, are not to be considered unusual for teams prepared by MP. He will do very well for us this season but the sparks will really begin to fly next season once he has got his feet fully under the table & replaced our gang of championship quality players.
Mancini etc. were unbelievably naive & squandered the ability of some of the finest players on the planet e.g. Nasri as well as many other things they got wrong on a regular basis. They had to go.
You never got the impression that the drink ravaged old goat across town ever got seriously worried about Mancini, even in the face of 1-6.
However, things have changed & I like what I see so far.

 

[hgblue]

Read the quips made about the two spaniards on vairous threads. Where is Bob Klulesski? I miss is parables of drivel about why were are all wrong and how he was handed a 5 yr deal and the 2 spaniards made a pigs ear out of it all.

Do you and others now see that the reason it was messy is because Barca leaked it because we got Pellegrini and he was their choice to take over from Tito. It was messy because it was beyond our control. If we weren't careful and assertive we would and could have ended up with a David Moyes :(

I think you mean Benito Nip, Tito was quite a different cove.

Benito Bob, that has a ring to it :)

Tito was ill, Barca made plans and their plan was Pellegrini. We got Pellegrini as well as tapping up some people I can't mention and they reacted by leaking info at a bad time which proved fatal on a football level. The rest they say is history, just like Bob, thankfully :)

Anyway, we move on. It's all about Manuel now. I could not care about anything other than our future really. I genuinely think we will win the league and I think we will be the team we are capable of being.

I hope for last 8 of CL,
League winners,
Do as well as possible in Cups but for youth to be a focus in both comps.

Jovetic will be the signing of the summer imo. The other three are all great too but Jovetic will be special for us.

Navas mate. Thinking of having a few quid on him to be player of the season. Reminds me of Overmars.

 

[Anonymous]

It is certainly very early in the piece to get carried away. However the recent performances, especially last night, are not to be considered unusual for teams prepared by MP. He will do very well for us this season but the sparks will really begin to fly next season once he has got his feet fully under the table & replaced our gang of championship quality players.
Mancini etc. were unbelievably naive & squandered the ability of some of the finest players on the planet e.g. Nasri as well as many other things they got wrong on a regular basis. They had to go.
You never got the impression that the drink ravaged old goat across town ever got seriously worried about Mancini, even in the face of 1-6.
However, things have changed & I like what I see so far.

Just out of interest, which players are they?

 

[Petetheblu]

A few knew more about what was happening behind the scenes, the rest of us didn't and here lies the problem.

.....

Yep. Although the signs were there on the pitch too for anyone who looked closely enough.

Loves blind though Billy...

 

[The Flash]

I won't apologise for standing by the most successful manager we've had in a generation.

I have already apologised for calling members of the cabal.

I like what I've seen so far under Pellegrini, but will reserve judgement until the end of the season.

 

[Anonymous]

A few knew more about what was happening behind the scenes, the rest of us didn't and here lies the problem.

.....

Yep. Although the signs were there on the pitch too for anyone who looked closely enough.

Loves blind though Billy...

Haha. When it came to Mancini I'll go with blind deaf and dumb. Certainly since Sept of last year when the final nails were going in the coffin.

 

[Jumanji]

I don't think it's early days. The players never complimented Mancini em masse like they're doing for Pellegrini.

All they could say about Bob was that 'he wants to win'.