You could well be right. I've never been convinced he is well qualified to turn us into world beaters, but there is a lot of work that has to come before that. I believe his experience and pragmatic nature makes him highly suitable for that.
I know not everyone sees it this way, but I think nailed on steady progress for the next two years is exactly what we need. Comfortable fourth this year, look to pick off Utd or Arsenal. Next year, go all out at Chelsea, at least run them close, and get through the CL group stages. Just as importantly, lose the 'agent's paradise' / soft-centred / perennial-joke-club tags. He'll get his top four comfortably, I've no doubt at all. The likelyhood of a very proper challenge next year will only become clear over the course of this season.
He'll never, ever be 'popular', he never was at Inter... but I do think he'll leave us in a hell of a fitter state. When a club comes into money, the Kevin Keegan 'idealist-populist' type of manager often has more short term success, but once it falters, it's not just that they can't pay the bills, the make up of the playing staff is revealed to be fucked up, the mentality goes south because they don't have anything to fall back on... it was all 'belief' and form, and the underlying 'belief' disappears with the form, meaning the club ends up punching far below their weight. With Mancini, I never, ever feel we are going falter that badly, we're never going to go six without a win, or drop into the bottom half of the table for a couple of months. I admit however, I never feel we are reaching our absolute full potential. It's a trade off - risk/reward/security.
Mancini's nil-nil's, the clean sheets, are something we can always fall back on, even if he left, they'd still believe that they could do it against anyone. And if they can keep a clean sheet against anyone, with the forwards we have, beating most teams should come naturally.
It's an extremely reliable method, very 'professional', if sometimes rather underwhelming. Having a reputation, the culture of being a 'professional' outfit, is a good basis for the next guy to build on, if it turns out that Mancini can't get us to reach the absolute heights.
