Mancini out? (merged)

[blueinsa]

Those three would put £100m on turnover, fill a 60k stadium, kill FFP and get us challenging for the champions league.

First things first look at Jose v Fergieslum head to head.

Look at Europe success and factor in Jose had Chelsea playing 4-3-3

Ronaldo respects Jose and both have Mendes as agent. You could be right Dave. We could end up with Ronaldo and Jose. Amazing.

Aguero going the other way is likely if Ronaldo cones though, people must consider this. Ca Va Niiiii.

Forget Ronaldo - no chance IMO.

Of more interest might be Falcao, another Mendes client. They would go for Neymar I think before Ronaldo, again, Zahavi, has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies.

Dont underestimate the arrival of Nike and the money and power they bring.

They and us would want a Nike poster boy without a shadow of doubt.

A marketing dream!

 

[NipHolmes]

As for United, said it before, that Pep move to Bayern was a holding pattern one for me.

I think he has been promised the job by Ferguson and Bayern is a convenient fit for all concerned for next three years.

Funny, because I always thought Mourinho v Guardiola would occur again in a Manchester Derby, but that Pep would be with us.

Hmm...

It won't happen, if Jose comes to us this summer he'll be long gone before Pep gets the U*d job.

Ditto.

 

[Seosa]

Forget Ronaldo - no chance IMO.

Of more interest might be Falcao, another Mendes client. They would go for Neymar I think before Ronaldo, again, Zahavi, has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies.

Are the Scum trying to lure Ronaldo back via Shrek, etc.?

 

[NipHolmes]

Those three would put £100m on turnover, fill a 60k stadium, kill FFP and get us challenging for the champions league.

First things first look at Jose v Fergieslum head to head.

Look at Europe success and factor in Jose had Chelsea playing 4-3-3

Ronaldo respects Jose and both have Mendes as agent. You could be right Dave. We could end up with Ronaldo and Jose. Amazing.

Aguero going the other way is likely if Ronaldo cones though, people must consider this. Ca Va Niiiii.

Forget Ronaldo - no chance IMO.

Of more interest might be Falcao, another Mendes client. They would go for Neymar I think before Ronaldo, again, Zahavi, has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies.

I'd rather Bale and Wilshere personally ;)

Cavani over Falcao too, although either would make me moist.


This is how it feels to be City, this is how it feels to be poor...

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Forget Ronaldo - no chance IMO.

Of more interest might be Falcao, another Mendes client. They would go for Neymar I think before Ronaldo, again, Zahavi, has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies.

Are the Scum trying to lure Ronaldo back via Shrek, etc.?

There's no way Ronaldo will one here as long as Taggart's in situ.

 

[Seosa]

Forget Ronaldo - no chance IMO.

Of more interest might be Falcao, another Mendes client. They would go for Neymar I think before Ronaldo, again, Zahavi, has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies.

Are the Scum trying to lure Ronaldo back via Shrek, etc.?

There's no way Ronaldo will one here as long as Taggart's in situ.

Exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if Utd try and break some sort of deal for Ronaldo, like Rooney + De Gea + £20m. Might sound daft, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

I thought he'd approached us in late 2011 when it looked like he might get the heave-ho from Madrid?

So did I!!

Seemingly, we have done most of the running, previously. I just assumed, as did other people I speak to, that the ship had sailed.

But his agents don't seem to think so!

One worry for me is if we are now being leveraged against Chelsea, pushing them to arrive at their own decision.

You can't discount the pull of London, the love he has for the club, his friends in the capital.

But with Begiristain and Soriano, would trust they know football politics better than most.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Are the Scum trying to lure Ronaldo back via Shrek, etc.?

There's no way Ronaldo will one here as long as Taggart's in situ.

Exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if Utd try and break some sort of deal for Ronaldo, like Rooney + De Gea + £120m. Might sound daft, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Fixed.

 

[Seosa]

There's no way Ronaldo will one here as long as Taggart's in situ.

Exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if Utd try and break some sort of deal for Ronaldo, like Rooney + De Gea + £120m. Might sound daft, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Fixed.

Lol, I wasn't referring to Ronaldo's worth, I was referring to the audacity of the Scum.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I thought he'd approached us in late 2011 when it looked like he might get the heave-ho from Madrid?

So did I!!

Seemingly, we have done most of the running, previously. I just assumed, as did other people I speak to, that the ship had sailed.

But his agents don't seem to think so!

One worry for me is if we are now being leveraged against Chelsea, pushing them to arrive at their own decision.

You can't discount the pull of London, the love he has for the club, his friends in the capital.

But with Begiristain and Soriano, would trust they know football politics better than most.

There is only one winner if his choice was based on footballing ambition.<br /><br />-- Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:21 am --<br /><br />

Exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if Utd try and break some sort of deal for Ronaldo, like Rooney + De Gea + £120m. Might sound daft, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Fixed.

Lol, I wasn't referring to Ronaldo's worth, I was referring to the audacity of the Scum.

"The Audacity of the Scum".

I might make that the title of my next novel.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

I might as well spill, wouldn't normally, but there might be the odd video thrown in for good measure.
It would appear Duncan Castle's recent report was not too far from the truth.
However, with one important omission, and to be fair, assured it has only happened this week.
For the first time, and we have always done the chasing, before, Jose Mourinho's people have made contact to make it clear he would want our job.
That's quite a come down for the Special One in my own eyes, what we are supposed to know about the man.
I'm sure City will continue to bluff this all out until the season has run its course, but it's clear nothing is off the table, including Mancini moving on.
Jose has fucked us over a couple times, but only when we have been the ones doing the chasing.
It makes me feel a little more comfortable how the tide has turned in recent seasons. Mourinho has strong voices still open to him in Abu Dhabi.
Mourinho also has no issue with Begiristain - although I have no indication in terms of the other way.
Of course, many can call it out as bullshit, but I trust it 100 per cent, as I did with the Mario saga.
If nothing else, as a Jose admirer, myself, it adds to this whole debate, and know it is far removed from what is being reported elsewhere up to this stage.

Has Duncan called it 100% again Tolm?

"Manuel Pellegrini says no to Manchester City job. Jurgen Klopp now first choice to replace Mancini. #MCFC #MGA #BVB
Manchester City have failed in a second attempt to secure a leading La Liga coach as a potential replacement for Roberto Mancini. After losing their first-choice candidate Pep Guardiola to Bayern Munich, City have now received a polite rejection from Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini.

Pellegrini - who has also been sounded out on behalf of Chelsea - informed City that he had already committed himself to a club for next season. The Chilean is highly regarded in European football for taking Villarreal to the last four of the Champions League during his five-year stewardship of the small-town club.

In his first full season at Malaga Pellegrini finished fourth in La Liga despite the Qatar-owned club failing to pay wages as it ran into severe financial problems. This campaign, the 59-year-old has kept a weakened squad in Spain's top four while reaching the Champions League knock-out rounds.

City's recently appointed executive team of Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain have been preparing the ground for Mancini's succession amidst concerns over the Italian's relationship with his players and his failures in European competition. While Mancini has strong supporters amongst the club's Abu Dhabi hierarchy – notably City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak – a failure to retain the Premier League title is expected to lead to an end-of-season dismissal.

As former executives of Barcelona who recommended and championed Guardiola's elevation to coach at the Camp Nou, Soriano and Begiristain had been confident of securing the Catalan's services until it emerged he had agreed a contract with Bayern Munich for next season. Though the most successful manager of his generation, Jose Mourinho, remains on the market and is admired by Abu Dhabi, neither he nor City's CEO and director of football are keen on working together.

Instead, Soriano and Begiristain will now seek to convince Jurgen Klopp to swap Borussia Dortmund's well-balanced team for a City squad the pair will restructure over the summer. That may also prove a hard sell, as Klopp has publicly committed himself to Dortmund for another three seasons.

“I have a contract until 2016,” said Klopp recently. “I have said 20 times I’ll definitely stay until 2016. Everybody thinks I say it, but that if a club like Chelsea or Real Madrid come in for me, I will go. This is something I can’t change but they will see.”

<a class="postlink" href="http://sulia.com/channel/soccer/f/c5075a04-61a5-4af0-8c1c-aafe0dd790f2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sulia.com/channel/soccer/f/c5075 ... e0dd790f2/</a>

He gets stuff wrong, also - but don't we all ;)

I would say on this matter, he seemingly has a decent brief on things.

The only difference is my info post-dates his from the weekend, in terms of where Mourinho may now stand in the scheme of things.

It may well be, as White's article seems to infer, we are running out of options, but this approach is by Jose's agents.

They may have got wind of how the land lays.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I might as well spill, wouldn't normally, but there might be the odd video thrown in for good measure.
It would appear Duncan Castle's recent report was not too far from the truth.
However, with one important omission, and to be fair, assured it has only happened this week.
For the first time, and we have always done the chasing, before, Jose Mourinho's people have made contact to make it clear he would want our job.
That's quite a come down for the Special One in my own eyes, what we are supposed to know about the man.
I'm sure City will continue to bluff this all out until the season has run its course, but it's clear nothing is off the table, including Mancini moving on.
Jose has fucked us over a couple times, but only when we have been the ones doing the chasing.
It makes me feel a little more comfortable how the tide has turned in recent seasons. Mourinho has strong voices still open to him in Abu Dhabi.
Mourinho also has no issue with Begiristain - although I have no indication in terms of the other way.
Of course, many can call it out as bullshit, but I trust it 100 per cent, as I did with the Mario saga.
If nothing else, as a Jose admirer, myself, it adds to this whole debate, and know it is far removed from what is being reported elsewhere up to this stage.

Has Duncan called it 100% again Tolm?

"Manuel Pellegrini says no to Manchester City job. Jurgen Klopp now first choice to replace Mancini. #MCFC #MGA #BVB
Manchester City have failed in a second attempt to secure a leading La Liga coach as a potential replacement for Roberto Mancini. After losing their first-choice candidate Pep Guardiola to Bayern Munich, City have now received a polite rejection from Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini.

Pellegrini - who has also been sounded out on behalf of Chelsea - informed City that he had already committed himself to a club for next season. The Chilean is highly regarded in European football for taking Villarreal to the last four of the Champions League during his five-year stewardship of the small-town club.

In his first full season at Malaga Pellegrini finished fourth in La Liga despite the Qatar-owned club failing to pay wages as it ran into severe financial problems. This campaign, the 59-year-old has kept a weakened squad in Spain's top four while reaching the Champions League knock-out rounds.

City's recently appointed executive team of Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain have been preparing the ground for Mancini's succession amidst concerns over the Italian's relationship with his players and his failures in European competition. While Mancini has strong supporters amongst the club's Abu Dhabi hierarchy – notably City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak – a failure to retain the Premier League title is expected to lead to an end-of-season dismissal.

As former executives of Barcelona who recommended and championed Guardiola's elevation to coach at the Camp Nou, Soriano and Begiristain had been confident of securing the Catalan's services until it emerged he had agreed a contract with Bayern Munich for next season. Though the most successful manager of his generation, Jose Mourinho, remains on the market and is admired by Abu Dhabi, neither he nor City's CEO and director of football are keen on working together.

Instead, Soriano and Begiristain will now seek to convince Jurgen Klopp to swap Borussia Dortmund's well-balanced team for a City squad the pair will restructure over the summer. That may also prove a hard sell, as Klopp has publicly committed himself to Dortmund for another three seasons.

“I have a contract until 2016,” said Klopp recently. “I have said 20 times I’ll definitely stay until 2016. Everybody thinks I say it, but that if a club like Chelsea or Real Madrid come in for me, I will go. This is something I can’t change but they will see.”

<a class="postlink" href="http://sulia.com/channel/soccer/f/c5075a04-61a5-4af0-8c1c-aafe0dd790f2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sulia.com/channel/soccer/f/c5075 ... e0dd790f2/</a>

He gets stuff wrong, also - but don't we all ;)

I would say on this matter, he seemingly has a decent brief on things.

The only difference is my info post-dates his from the weekend, in terms of where Mourinho may now stand in the scheme of things.

It may well be, as White's article seems to infer, we are running out of options, but this approach is by Jose's agents.

They may have got wind of how the land lays.

Just been talking to my old man, who wanted Pep, but would be quite happy with Jose. We were talking about Soriano's comments about him starting fires at Barca.

Take him on, put the fires out, easiest decision of his football career, was our immediate conclusion.

Be cheeky, Txiki. Take him on. Count the trophies. Count the cash. Kill The Scotsman and use the fire extinguisher when you have to. That's what you're paid to do.

 

[George Hannah]

I might as well spill, wouldn't normally, but there might be the odd video thrown in for good measure.
It would appear Duncan Castle's recent report was not too far from the truth.
However, with one important omission, and to be fair, assured it has only happened this week.
For the first time, and we have always done the chasing, before, Jose Mourinho's people have made contact to make it clear he would want our job.
That's quite a come down for the Special One in my own eyes, what we are supposed to know about the man.
I'm sure City will continue to bluff this all out until the season has run its course, but it's clear nothing is off the table, including Mancini moving on.
Jose has fucked us over a couple times, but only when we have been the ones doing the chasing.
It makes me feel a little more comfortable how the tide has turned in recent seasons. Mourinho has strong voices still open to him in Abu Dhabi.
Mourinho also has no issue with Begiristain - although I have no indication in terms of the other way.
Of course, many can call it out as bullshit, but I trust it 100 per cent, as I did with the Mario saga.
If nothing else, as a Jose admirer, myself, it adds to this whole debate, and know it is far removed from what is being reported elsewhere up to this stage.

Has Duncan called it 100% again Tolm?

"Manuel Pellegrini says no to Manchester City job. Jurgen Klopp now first choice to replace Mancini. #MCFC #MGA #BVB
Manchester City have failed in a second attempt to secure a leading La Liga coach as a potential replacement for Roberto Mancini. After losing their first-choice candidate Pep Guardiola to Bayern Munich, City have now received a polite rejection from Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini.

Pellegrini - who has also been sounded out on behalf of Chelsea - informed City that he had already committed himself to a club for next season. The Chilean is highly regarded in European football for taking Villarreal to the last four of the Champions League during his five-year stewardship of the small-town club.

In his first full season at Malaga Pellegrini finished fourth in La Liga despite the Qatar-owned club failing to pay wages as it ran into severe financial problems. This campaign, the 59-year-old has kept a weakened squad in Spain's top four while reaching the Champions League knock-out rounds.

City's recently appointed executive team of Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain have been preparing the ground for Mancini's succession amidst concerns over the Italian's relationship with his players and his failures in European competition. While Mancini has strong supporters amongst the club's Abu Dhabi hierarchy – notably City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak – a failure to retain the Premier League title is expected to lead to an end-of-season dismissal.

As former executives of Barcelona who recommended and championed Guardiola's elevation to coach at the Camp Nou, Soriano and Begiristain had been confident of securing the Catalan's services until it emerged he had agreed a contract with Bayern Munich for next season. Though the most successful manager of his generation, Jose Mourinho, remains on the market and is admired by Abu Dhabi, neither he nor City's CEO and director of football are keen on working together.

Instead, Soriano and Begiristain will now seek to convince Jurgen Klopp to swap Borussia Dortmund's well-balanced team for a City squad the pair will restructure over the summer. That may also prove a hard sell, as Klopp has publicly committed himself to Dortmund for another three seasons.

“I have a contract until 2016,” said Klopp recently. “I have said 20 times I’ll definitely stay until 2016. Everybody thinks I say it, but that if a club like Chelsea or Real Madrid come in for me, I will go. This is something I can’t change but they will see.”

<a class="postlink" href="http://sulia.com/channel/soccer/f/c5075a04-61a5-4af0-8c1c-aafe0dd790f2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sulia.com/channel/soccer/f/c5075 ... e0dd790f2/</a>

He gets stuff wrong, also - but don't we all ;)
I would say on this matter, he seemingly has a decent brief on things.
The only difference is my info post-dates his from the weekend, in terms of where Mourinho may now stand in the scheme of things.
It may well be, as White's article seems to infer, we are running out of options, but this approach is by Jose's agents.
They may have got wind of how the land lays.

I think we should forget about Mous, Klopps, Peps etc and all us brothers & sisters in blue should reconcile ourselves to the invincible and incorrigible truth that
Roberto Mancini is our Man for All Seasons

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Roberto Mancini is our Man for All Seasons

Our man for three seasons, you mean? ;-)

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Im a big Mancini supporter, and whilst he is still our Manager I will be right behind him. I will never forget that he was our Manager when I had my most emotional moment in my long life as a City supporter, and Aguero is right up there too.

But this is modern football, and we need to be realists, not idealists. It's a possibility that Ferguson wouldn't have lasted at scum had his early record there been in the modern age.

Stability is almost always a good thing in football, but look at Arsenal.

Ideally, I would love Bobby to manage us to another title, then another, a Champions League win, then another, I love the man, but realistically I am now beginning to understand that sustained success at this level may just be a step too far for him.

Realistically it would seem, according to Tolm, that Jose is on his way, and a big clearout will probably see Aguero go too. Realistically, in the long run, all this will be beneficial to City as we all want the League, to win the Champions League, and to be THE dominant force in English football and compete with the very best in Europe.

As a Mancini admirer, I feel sad to my stomach. As a realist, I admit to flutterings of excitement.

Why feel sad, mate?

Khaldoon and the new guys are well within their power to say, 'thanks, Jose, but no thanks'.

Nobody has a scooby how this will play out. Taking Jose's agent approaches to one side, it certainly appears to suggest Mancini is under pressure.

Maybe Mourinho's people, like most, thought Pep was a shoe-in here because who was now in charge?

 

[George Hannah]

Roberto Mancini is our Man for All Seasons

Our man for three seasons, you mean? ;-)

at the very least :-)

 

[crystal_mais]

Has Duncan called it 100% again Tolm?

"Manuel Pellegrini says no to Manchester City job. Jurgen Klopp now first choice to replace Mancini. #MCFC #MGA #BVB
Manchester City have failed in a second attempt to secure a leading La Liga coach as a potential replacement for Roberto Mancini. After losing their first-choice candidate Pep Guardiola to Bayern Munich, City have now received a polite rejection from Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini.

Pellegrini - who has also been sounded out on behalf of Chelsea - informed City that he had already committed himself to a club for next season. The Chilean is highly regarded in European football for taking Villarreal to the last four of the Champions League during his five-year stewardship of the small-town club.

In his first full season at Malaga Pellegrini finished fourth in La Liga despite the Qatar-owned club failing to pay wages as it ran into severe financial problems. This campaign, the 59-year-old has kept a weakened squad in Spain's top four while reaching the Champions League knock-out rounds.

City's recently appointed executive team of Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain have been preparing the ground for Mancini's succession amidst concerns over the Italian's relationship with his players and his failures in European competition. While Mancini has strong supporters amongst the club's Abu Dhabi hierarchy – notably City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak – a failure to retain the Premier League title is expected to lead to an end-of-season dismissal.

As former executives of Barcelona who recommended and championed Guardiola's elevation to coach at the Camp Nou, Soriano and Begiristain had been confident of securing the Catalan's services until it emerged he had agreed a contract with Bayern Munich for next season. Though the most successful manager of his generation, Jose Mourinho, remains on the market and is admired by Abu Dhabi, neither he nor City's CEO and director of football are keen on working together.

Instead, Soriano and Begiristain will now seek to convince Jurgen Klopp to swap Borussia Dortmund's well-balanced team for a City squad the pair will restructure over the summer. That may also prove a hard sell, as Klopp has publicly committed himself to Dortmund for another three seasons.

“I have a contract until 2016,” said Klopp recently. “I have said 20 times I’ll definitely stay until 2016. Everybody thinks I say it, but that if a club like Chelsea or Real Madrid come in for me, I will go. This is something I can’t change but they will see.”

<a class="postlink" href="http://sulia.com/channel/soccer/f/c5075a04-61a5-4af0-8c1c-aafe0dd790f2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sulia.com/channel/soccer/f/c5075 ... e0dd790f2/</a>

He gets stuff wrong, also - but don't we all ;)
I would say on this matter, he seemingly has a decent brief on things.
The only difference is my info post-dates his from the weekend, in terms of where Mourinho may now stand in the scheme of things.
It may well be, as White's article seems to infer, we are running out of options, but this approach is by Jose's agents.
They may have got wind of how the land lays.

I think we should forget about Mous, Klopps, Peps etc and all us brothers in blue should reconcile ourselves to the invincible and incorrigible truth that
Roberto Mancini is our Man for All Seasons

Sorry to say - my opinion Thanks Mancini for what you have given. Time to stick the Nitro boosters on and go for an upgrade.

For me has to be Jose even if its short term. While Jose is raising the profile and hopefully bringing the trophies and additional revenue home - the club are shaping in the background and setting about the long term plan with the MCFC way of football -fuck the Barca model this will be our model

 

[OB1]

Im a big Mancini supporter, and whilst he is still our Manager I will be right behind him. I will never forget that he was our Manager when I had my most emotional moment in my long life as a City supporter, and Aguero is right up there too.

But this is modern football, and we need to be realists, not idealists. It's a possibility that Ferguson wouldn't have lasted at scum had his early record there been in the modern age.

Stability is almost always a good thing in football, but look at Arsenal.

Ideally, I would love Bobby to manage us to another title, then another, a Champions League win, then another, I love the man, but realistically I am now beginning to understand that sustained success at this level may just be a step too far for him.

Realistically it would seem, according to Tolm, that Jose is on his way, and a big clearout will probably see Aguero go too. Realistically, in the long run, all this will be beneficial to City as we all want the League, to win the Champions League, and to be THE dominant force in English football and compete with the very best in Europe.

As a Mancini admirer, I feel sad to my stomach. As a realist, I admit to flutterings of excitement.

Why feel sad, mate?

Khaldoon and the new guys are well within their power to say, 'thanks, Jose, but no thanks'.

Nobody has a scooby how this will play out. Taking Jose's agent approaches to one side, it certainly appears to suggest Mancini is under pressure.

Maybe Mourinho's people, like most, thought Pep was a shoe-in here because who was now in charge?

Who knows, indeed. I hope Jose is serious about City and not just trying to City as leverage.

 

[blueinsa]

Im a big Mancini supporter, and whilst he is still our Manager I will be right behind him. I will never forget that he was our Manager when I had my most emotional moment in my long life as a City supporter, and Aguero is right up there too.

But this is modern football, and we need to be realists, not idealists. It's a possibility that Ferguson wouldn't have lasted at scum had his early record there been in the modern age.

Stability is almost always a good thing in football, but look at Arsenal.

Ideally, I would love Bobby to manage us to another title, then another, a Champions League win, then another, I love the man, but realistically I am now beginning to understand that sustained success at this level may just be a step too far for him.

Realistically it would seem, according to Tolm, that Jose is on his way, and a big clearout will probably see Aguero go too. Realistically, in the long run, all this will be beneficial to City as we all want the League, to win the Champions League, and to be THE dominant force in English football and compete with the very best in Europe.

As a Mancini admirer, I feel sad to my stomach. As a realist, I admit to flutterings of excitement.

Why feel sad, mate?

Khaldoon and the new guys are well within their power to say, 'thanks, Jose, but no thanks'.

Nobody has a scooby how this will play out. Taking Jose's agent approaches to one side, it certainly appears to suggest Mancini is under pressure.

Maybe Mourinho's people, like most, thought Pep was a shoe-in here because who was now in charge?

Who knows, indeed. I hope Jose is serious about City and not just trying to City as leverage.

One thing is for sure, if he leads us on again i suggest a one way trip to the Arabian desert needs to be organised for him ;-)

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Why feel sad, mate?

Khaldoon and the new guys are well within their power to say, 'thanks, Jose, but no thanks'.

Nobody has a scooby how this will play out. Taking Jose's agent approaches to one side, it certainly appears to suggest Mancini is under pressure.

Maybe Mourinho's people, like most, thought Pep was a shoe-in here because who was now in charge?

Who knows, indeed. I hope Jose is serious about City and not just trying to City as leverage.

One thing is for sure, if he leads us on again i suggest a one way trip to the Arabian desert needs to be organised for him ;-)

It's not a lead on, though, if on the other end of the line is called Begiristain, and he simply dismisses the approach out of hand, refuses to engage in a dance.

Not saying he has, or he will, but it has either been put to bed, or...let's hope it's a decent vintage they drink from...


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSQix6XCI_4[/youtube]