With respect, I disagree that Bob K is on the money. He dismisses Pellegrini's stint at Real in a single sentence, saying it "doesn't inspire confidence". In fact, while Real may have failed in the Cups in Pellegrini's only season there, they gained what at the time was the club's record points haul in La Liga. They lost out on the title because what was rated by many as the best club team ever did slightly better. I'd suggest that in terms of showing his ability to handle the spotlight and the pressure, he actually came out of it very well.
In my opinion, it's disingenuous to characterise him as someone who can run a corner shop while Mancini can run Tesco. It's worth noting that he's taken charge of big teams in different South American leagues and won trophies with them all. And let's put his time at Real into some kind of perspective: if Barca had been forcibly relegated for breaches of the rules and Real awarded the title after that season, then been able to buy two top Barca players on the cheap to reinforce their new found dominance, maybe we'd be speaking of his record at Real in the same terms as posters on here laud Mancini's successes at Inter.
I appreciate that Mancini had improved Inter before that first title was awarded. But then Pellegrini in his only season improved Real's points haul by 18 points compared to the previous year, moulding into an effective team a disparate, unbalanced squad full of big egos that resulted from a ridiculously haphazard recruitment policy beyond his control.
So Pellegrini is a coach who's performed well (or better than that) wherever he's been, has a reputation for playing attractive football and for being a highly astute tactician. He has experience of being at probably the biggest club in the world. I'm not arguing that he's in the same league as Mourinho or would give us the same trophy-winning potential that Jose would, but he deserves a bit more respect than he's being shown on here, in my view.
