smiles said:
His very public criticism of our players grates on me more and more, especially now it includes possibly the clubs best servant in VK, a pretty much perfect professional. When he first alienated players i understood it because he was the new guy trying to establish himself and his style on the team. Now i don't know why he'd publicly bash his own guys. I can't believe im saying this less than a year from him bringing us the title but i wouldn't be that bothered if he went. It's obvious big change is imminent now the barca boys are in charge, they're just waiting for the season to end. Lets hope these changes are for the best.
This style of management is almost UNIQUE, and for a very good reason - it has a corrosive effect upon the manager's relationship with not only the players targeted, but the squad and culture as a whole. This is merely a repeat of Bobby's last year at Inter, except that squad collapsed down the stretch to the Scudetto, and wasn't attempting to rally from 15 points behind. Bobby is proving once again that he is a great manager for 2-3 seasons, but things sour quickly once his expiration date is reached. For anyone who is at all familiar with American basebell, he is footy's analogue to MLB's legendary manager, Billy Martin (A's, Yankees). Martin would come into a new club, beat and whip and harangue his charges into shape, win titles, and then find himself with a squad that had simply become exhausted with him, despite great success. His excruciatingly public battles with players, opponents and even his own owner (think Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner) mesmerized American sports media, as managers/head coaches in American pro sports simply never dare to do what Martin did and Mancini does. Martin's career as a manager was marked by multiple short (but successful) stints. I think Bobby is cut from the same piece of cloth and will prove to have the same kind of managerial career that Martin did.
