sam-caddick said:
johnny crossan said:
It is difficult to encounter such an extraordinary endorsement of Rafa outside deepest Toxteth or from members of his close family. Your predictions for Mancini's future failure are duly noted but I am grateful that these were your final words on the subject of a man who had your total support until Wednesday teatime. (I would like to hear more from the voices you hear concerning Guardiola's cockney preferences tho')
It's rubbish that he only wants a London club.
Pep wants to be flirted with a project that will give him most satisfaction, this is according to the pundits on Revista.
I don't think he will go to Chelsea in my opinion, Roman is number 1 and demands complete power, plus there isn't really a big big challenge to win the European Cup again compared to a club like us.
Pep could see us as the club who he can win the first European Cup with, he will have all his past Barcelona associates on the board in Soriano etc.. He will have complete power, a good spending kitty, and probably most importantly, implementing the Cruyff total football/ Tika Taka system into our new world class academy - that would be priceless!
I love Mancini, but there are many managers who can win us titles, but only a few who can win in Europe! It is up to the owners to make decisions of course.
Mancini is noisily making the owner's decision for him by continuing to fight his in-house battles (previous medical staff, Marwood and always with his own players) in front of the entire footballing world via the rapacious British footy media. This is not how a classy and generous, but naturally conservative Arab sheik likes to do business. Now he defends Gregucci by saying that AG has only worked with our defenders exactly ONCE since he was hired. If so, why does AG have a title and a wage packet?
Mancini's "my way or the highway" commentary about Micah's foolish public comment is reminiscent of his public slating of Hart, of all people, after his innocent and frankly appropriate comments after the Bernabeu debacle. While it is inappropriate for any player to question his manager's tactics in the media, it seems incredible that Mancini would react the way he did in both instances (Hart, Richards) given that he has humiliated his own players in the media countless times himself. Richards has been Mancini's most vocal defender, time and again, but you can be sure he won't make that mistake ever again. Hart must also have been none too pleased after Mancini teed off on him for no reason. This is all so incredibly reminiscent of how Mancini's tenure at Inter unraveled during his final season. He was sacked by Moratti not only for failing in the CL multiple times, but also because he completely alienated his entire squad. He fought that season publicly with most of his star players, including the ones HE brought to Inter, even Patrick Vieira.
Mancini is like those protagonists in old Greek tragedies, a heroic figure with a fatal personality flaw. In the end, he's always his own worst enemy. The clock is ticking, the fuse is set...
