Mancini interviewed by Micah

That's a lovely interview. I enjoyed it a lot.

Unlike what I suspect is a large majority on here, I felt that Mancini left us at the right time. IMO, in club football, his confrontational methods have a shelf life and I viewed him as having pretty well reached the end of it by the summer of 2013. I also supported the direction in which the ownership wanted to take the club as evidenced by the hiring of Soriano and Begiristain, and I seriously doubted whether Roberto would have fitted comfortably into that set-up.

I took quite a lot of stick for voicing those views on here at the time, but regard myself as basically vindicated by subsequent events. However, don't think for a minute that it means I didn't and don't love Mancini or that I disrespect what he achieved at our club.

Now in my fifties, I attended my first senior competitive match at Maine Road as a kid almost exactly two months before we won the League Cup in 1976. I have a vague recollection of watching the highlights of the final on TV the next day, and for years I'd look longingly at my Piccadilly Radio Soccer Annual 1976, published a few months later, with its extensive full-colour selection of photos of the occasion. Like many of my vintage, for most of the following 30-odd years, I thought that would be the last I'd ever witness of City players cavorting round Wembley with silverware.

I love (absolutely the right word) everyone who contributed to ensuring that wasn't the case, including players who had only a bit-part role in the triumphs. But Mancini, as the manager, was the figurehead and leader of the team that restored us to a position of winning trophies, and as such he claims the greatest share of my affection.

In those days, so many managers of other clubs seemed cowed by the juggernaut that was Ferguson's United, but I adored Roberto's obvious relish of taking the fight to that rancid institution and its bully of a manager. I can well imagine that the Italian wasn't the easiest bloke to rub along with inside the club, but my lived experience is that high achievers in all walks of life can be awkward to deal with on a personal level. As a fan, I appreciated his willingness to try to connect with the support base and found him immensely likeable as a result.

I also think his period at City is seriously underrated by the wider football world. Most outside observers seem to me to think that, with the eye-watering sums then being invested in the club and made available for player recruitment, pretty well any vaguely competent manager could have rocked up and taken us to the top. That's an absolute fallacy.

It's perfectly reasonable to suppose that we could have hired a different head coach (for the sake of argument, let's say Frank Rijkaard to name one who'd have been a realistic option then and whose appointment would have been regarded as a coup in many circles), provided him with the same resources, and not have prospered to the degree Mancini did. Achieving top-four finishes with that backing would have been one thing, but making us the best team in the country within the timeframe in which he did so took considerable skill and he deserves to be lauded for it.

Roberto speaks in that interview about having secured his place in our club's history and he's got it spot on. Whoever's updating the seminal works of Gary James when those of us posting on this thread are long gone will undoubtedly record him as a bona-fide MCFC legend. I'd love see him with Italy at the World Cup later this year, too. If we do, I'll be hoping for him to succeed there should England not manage to.
 
Almost got a lump in my throat reading that.

We’ve gone on to play some inconceivably brilliant football in recent years under Guardiola but what Mancini did for this club - turning us from laughing stock into one of the most feared sides in the world, and putting the Salford filth back in their box in the process will never be matched.

I don’t care that he fell out with the kit man and was rude to the tea lady. I don’t care that ultimately there was a mutiny and the club hierarchy and a number of players got him booted out. Not remotely arsed. What that guy did for my club, it’s hard to do express in words how it makes me feel. He restored pride not felt since The Mercer / Allison days, which I am far too young to have experienced first hand.

I think it’s an insult that he’s not been properly recognised by the club since he left. An absolute disgrace on Khaldoon and his chums. Mancini needs a statue.

I was gutted that England fell short at the last hurdle in the Euros but absolutely buzzing that it was Mancini who beat us. He’s done with Italy what he did with City after their failure to qualify in 2018.

The bloke is a legend.
 
Johnny Mars Bar said:
Almost got a lump in my throat reading that.

We’ve gone on to play some inconceivably brilliant football in recent years under Guardiola but what Mancini did for this club - turning us from laughing stock into one of the most feared sides in the world, and putting the Salford filth back in their box in the process will never be matched.

I don’t care that he fell out with the kit man and was rude to the tea lady. I don’t care that ultimately there was a mutiny and the club hierarchy and a number of players got him booted out. Not remotely arsed. What that guy did for my club, it’s hard to do express in words how it makes me feel. He restored pride not felt since The Mercer / Allison days, which I am far too young to have experienced first hand.

I think it’s an insult that he’s not been properly recognised by the club since he left. An absolute disgrace on Khaldoon and his chums. Mancini needs a statue.

I was gutted that England fell short at the last hurdle in the Euros but absolutely buzzing that it was Mancini who beat us. He’s done with Italy what he did with City after their failure to qualify in 2018.

The bloke is a legend.
Click to expand...
Totally agree mate, the man is an absolute legend ..
 
Johnny Mars Bar said:
Almost got a lump in my throat reading that.

We’ve gone on to play some inconceivably brilliant football in recent years under Guardiola but what Mancini did for this club - turning us from laughing stock into one of the most feared sides in the world, and putting the Salford filth back in their box in the process will never be matched.

I don’t care that he fell out with the kit man and was rude to the tea lady. I don’t care that ultimately there was a mutiny and the club hierarchy and a number of players got him booted out. Not remotely arsed. What that guy did for my club, it’s hard to do express in words how it makes me feel. He restored pride not felt since The Mercer / Allison days, which I am far too young to have experienced first hand.

I think it’s an insult that he’s not been properly recognised by the club since he left. An absolute disgrace on Khaldoon and his chums. Mancini needs a statue.

I was gutted that England fell short at the last hurdle in the Euros but absolutely buzzing that it was Mancini who beat us. He’s done with Italy what he did with City after their failure to qualify in 2018.

The bloke is a legend.
Click to expand...
Absolutely love the guy for what he did to my club and always will.
Great post mate,BUT the scum are not fucking in Salford.
 
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