Good article in the DM
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Vultures: People running Manchester City have shown they don't deserve to be involved in English footbal
Vultures. That was the nickname certain members of Manchester City's coaching staff gave to Garry Cook and Brian Marwood when they sensed something was up. When they sensed, a few weeks ago, that the two men behind the sacking of Mark Hughes, and the pursuit of Roberto Mancini, were planning something drastic.
For City's chief executive and his 'football administrator' sidekick, it was a case of kill or be killed. A case of terminating Hughes before the club's Abu Dhabi owners turned their sights on them.
It was Cook, after all, who convinced his new bosses to stick with Hughes when they took over and so allow him to spend the best part of £250million. Cook who presented himself and the much-respected Welshman as the dream team.
Between them they would deliver the success Khaldoon Al Mubarak so desired, in much the same way Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill had at nearby Old Trafford.
But Cook lost his nerve and proved, yet again, just how ill-suited he is to the role he believes he is performing - not just turning City into one of the most successful clubs in Europe but one that commands respect.
To do that, you need a bit of class, a bit of style. But the manner in which Hughes was dismissed, indeed the manner in which Cook has conducted himself since moving from Nike to the City of Manchester Stadium 19 months ago, would suggest he is seriously lacking in such qualities.
This is the man who referred to Thaksin Shinawatra as 'a nice guy to play golf with'. The man who responded to Kaka's decision not to join City from AC Milan by accusing one of the greatest clubs in Europe of 'bottling it'.
Cook had to send a written apology to fans when he welcomed Uwe Rosler to the 'Manchester United hall of fame', and sounded just as ridiculous when he declared that 'Richard Dunne doesn't roll off the tongue in Beijing'.
What do you make of the goings on at Manchester City? Were the ambitious club right to axe manager Mark Hughes so ruthlessly after a 4-3 victory over Sunderland? And is relatively inexperienced former Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini the right man to take the Eastlands hot seat? TELL US WHAT YOU THINK Cook was referring to the need to bring in stellar signings to sell shirts around the world and establish the club, rather like United, as a global brand. What City would give to have Dunne at centre half now. At Aston Villa this season he has been magnificent.
Cook made those around him cringe by embracing Carlos Tevez with a bearhug in front of television cameras when the Argentina striker moved from United, and managed to offend Ferguson when he authorised that 'Welcome to Manchester' poster with Tevez's image splashed across it.
There was yet more embarrassment last week when Guus Hiddink's agent revealed how Cook had been in touch about the Dutchman.
Recognising how little experience he had in football, Cook brought in Marwood earlier this year. Hughes didn't want the former Arsenal winger around, fearing he would become the type of director of football figure modern managers so loathe. But Cook ignored those concerns and went ahead with appointing his former Nike colleague.
Cracks began to appear in the relationship between Cook and Hughes from the moment Marwood arrived, and at no point was Marwood ever embraced by Hughes and his staff.
After that recent defeat of Chelsea, Marwood is said to have declared 'We've cracked it' in the company of Hughes and his assistants. 'No,' came the reply. 'We've cracked it.'
Hughes was never given time to crack it. Never even given a straight answer to the question of what was expected of him this season. Top six was how Hughes understood it. But as Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the League Managers' Association, revealed yesterday, 'the goalposts were moved'.
After two wins in 11 games, Hughes was under pressure. But he could also boast just two Barclays Premier League defeats this season and he clearly thought his employers recognised delivering the kind of success City crave could not be done overnight.
Hughes did not deserve to be sacked when the 4-3 win over Sunderland left his side within touching distance of the Champions League places, and he did not deserve to be treated the way he was on Saturday, either.
He was humiliated, and that does not reflect well on the two men who were the architects of his dismissal, just as it does not reflect well on the club's owners. They stripped a great servant of the English game of his dignity, and in so doing did themselves untold damage.
And for what? Roberto Mancini, an Italian coach who won titles with Inter Milan at a time when Serie A was in the midst of a scandal that saw Juventus relegated and Inter's other big rivals given points deductions.
Mancini was already in Manchester when Hughes led his team for the final time on Saturday. It was suggested yesterday that Mancini was being hidden away in Cook's house. Some would say they deserve each other.
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