I'm a little sad for Roberto, but he won't be sweeping the streets anytime soon so I won't be going overboard with any incantations of indignation. He has his health, he is a wealthy man: there are many people in this world far more deserving of my sympathy.
I will have almost exclusively positive memories of his time at the club. Any City fan of my vintage cannot, or at least should not, fail to understand what winning the FA Cup two years ago meant to this club. Last season is an experience that will never be surpassed and we are taken far more seriously as a club now under his watch.
I do have to say however, that as supporters we have to trust the people who own the club, who have delivered all we could have expected in a little under five years. Their plans for the club demonstrate a degree of long term planning that gives them every right to be given the benefit of doubt on this matter.
We can all form our views on Mancini's player recruitment, tactics and media skills, but there are many things we cannot know with any certainly, especially his ability to manage those who play under him and more importantly, at least as far as his job is concerned, those above him.
As to Pellegrini, we'll have to see, but there were plenty of City fans who questioned replacing Hughes with Mancini, a view which demonstrates knee jerk reactions to dismissals are not usually the most reliable. Our owners have been proven to be totally correct in getting rid of Hughes and surely the fact of the dismissal is, ultimately, far more important that the way it is handled. And poorly handled this appears to have been.
We need, as supporters, to get behind the new manager, which once the dust has settled I'm sure we will. Managers come and go, but the club is all that matters, or at least it's all that should matter to supporters. The cult of the personality is a modern trait which rears it's head on here too frequently, on both sides of the debate.
The reality is, the world will keep turning and we will continue to grow as a club and the people who have transformed Manchester City from a national joke to a genuine force in world football deserve our trust and support that they continue to make the right calls about the future direction that this club takes.
