Re: Who should City get to replace Mancini?
I'd prefer Mancini to succeed and take us forward but he seems to be his own worst enemy at times. If he has to go, it needs to be someone with a good footballing mind. My order of preference would be...
1. Jose Mourinho - I don't think he is as perfect as some make out, the first El Classico this season proving that, but he is the best manager in the world alongside Baconface (as much as it pains me to admit). He would improve us and is the only manager we could get I feel confident in saying that about. Players would live and die for this man as they have in every team, and if they didn't conform, he'd put them in the reserves no matter how much they're on. But the risk is Mourinho is he can get bored quickly and move on to his next "project".
2. André Villas Boas - Ooh, this would be a huge risk that could pay off or not, but there is something about this man that gives you the same impression as his teacher, Jose Mourinho. Just like Mourinho, he has turned Porto into a machine both in the league and Europa League (where they just destroyed Spartak Moscow). However, Mourinho did the same but with the Champions League instead of Europa, meaning he was more proven before getting the Chelsea job. Boas is 33, younger than at least one of our players (Vieira), but has the suaveness of Mourinho that would fit the club's new image. Has a great tactical mind and knows how to make his team work as one. He'd probably bring Hulk with him.
3. Pep Guardiola - He's managing the best club team in history right now. I don't care how good the players are, you still have to be able to make them play that well and he has improved on the excellent Barca team that Rijkaard had and drilled into them an even stronger mentality than before. He also had the b@lls to ditch the likes of Ronaldinho and Deco, allowing Messi and other younger players to flourish. The big question mark about Guardiola is if he's one of those one team managers, would he be able to have the same impact somewhere else... he'd have us playing nice football, that's for sure.
4. Guus Hiddink - Not the most fashionable manager for our "new money" project that seems to be built around younger managers in their 40s, but one of the better tacticians out there. That said, most of his success in the 2000s has been at international level except his stint at Chelsea, where he had the best squad in the Premier League. Still, you have to be able to assemble the components and make the team work. One thing I'm wary of though is his performances as a manager seem to be faltering - he failed to take Russia to WC2010 and only has a 50/50 record as Turkey manager so far.
Others worth considering: Jürgen Klopp (unlikely to get him with Dortmund in CL next season), Luciano Spalletti (an Italian who likes to attack), Didier Deschamps, Unai Emery (maybe pushing it with him, I love what he has done at Valencia though with no money)
No to: Martin O'Neill, Frank Rijkaard, Fabio Capello, Marcello Lippi, Rafa Benitez, David Moyes, Harry Redknapp
