Things which have disappointed me this week

[Marvin]

The Sheikh all day long for me Dave, the fact that he was mentioned in the official statement makes me believe he made the ultimate decision on Hughes, thankfully....

I believe that. Wouldn't be surprised at all if it was against Cook's wishes

On the basis of what?

The only comments I've seen about the decision-making were that it was a collective managerial decision to change manager, and once that decision had been taken they moved as quickly as possible to make that change. Additionally Hiddink's agent says Cook contacted him.

 

[Kirkstall Blue]

High level discussions held in Abu Dhabi over Mark Hughes' exit from Manchester City

Reports in Abu Dhabi today have claimed that Mark Hughes’ days as Manchester City are numbered.

The owners of Manchester City are disappointed after placing much faith in Hughes, City are struggling to keep up with the chase for a Champions League spot.

It now believed that if City do not show signs of improvement in the final matches of 2009, Hughes will be sacked and replaced in time for the January transfer window.

Mark Hughes’ takes his side to Spurs tomorrow before further Premier League matches against Sunderland, Stoke and Wolves.

City have drawn eight of their last nine Premier League games and the City hierarchy in Abu Dhabi are becoming impatient after a summer spending spree that brought Carlos Tevez , Emmanuel Adebayor , Gareth Barry , Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott to the club.

There was a high level meeting in Abu Dhabi about Dec 14th to discuss the manager, copied the post as I couldn't post the link, if! any truth in the report then the sacking came from the owner.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Despite my post about how the press conference SHOULD have been handled I have to stick up for Cook. He is a million miles better than that slimy, lying, turd of a bean counter Mackintosh and he actually cares about us fans.

He does need to learn to be a bit cleverer with the media (and I've heard that Vicky Kloss wasn't involved in that statement which she should have been) but he'll hopefully learn. But let's not let his apparently disappointing performance get in the way of all the good things he's done for us.

 

[bizzbo]

I wouldn't call the Sheik a coward, far from it. but he pays the bills and calls the shots. and from my take understanding, despite making the decision on Wednesday, Khaldoun didn't fly over till the Saturday to tell Hughes, leaving the three day gap for rumour to build. Then as soon as actually does the deed, he buggers off back to Abu Dhabi without issuing any statement whatsoever. I'm not calling that cowardice, although many of the papers did. I'm saying it was unfortunate. He effectively dropped the club in it and dropped Cook in it (although Cook did a good job at making things worse). Now look at the coverage again....'City' get the flack on sunday, on monday articles questioning the owners start to appear, by the end of monday, it's all about Cook's PR performance. that's pretty much how it happened post-kaka. in the build up the line was 'these owners know nothing about football', immediately afterwards it was 'city have egg on their face, a club like that could never attract kaka'. and the day after it was all about cook's comments.

that's why I'm grateful Cook is there, because once again he has deflected the criticism away from us and away from the owners. he is always the one who is left in the firing line. as long as they criticise him, they are not criticising us, they are not going after the owners (which would be a potential disaster).

for goodness sake's you can't let the press dictate to the club. by going on so much about this you are playing their game, carrying on the story further than it has to go, upping the stakes even further. you are saying not only did they win on Monday, but it was so bad that the management of the club is compromised. and if you think it would stop there..... we've just lost the manager. IMO we'd need a hell of a better reason than a bad PR performance to justify changing the CEO at this point.

leave it now, file it away and talk about it in the summer.

 

[m27]

excuse me, but how does kenyon have a better image than cook?

different, yep, but better?

Kenyon has an image as a self-satisfied, slimy tw@t, but one who knows how to run a successful major football club. Cook is regarded as a buffoon whose public utterances are full of w@nky David Brent-esque jargon. If our owners want to be successful, there's not much doubt which is the better image for the CEO to have.

Thinking of alternatives to Kenyon from within the football industry. Karren Brady is currently out of work - ran Birmingham competently but not remotely what you'd call fan friendly. David Dein, perhaps, if Kroenke takes Arsenal over (Dein having thrown his lot in with the rival Usmanov camp)?

David Dein would be the perfect appointment and I'd be amazed if this hasn't been discussed.

On top of the fact he has proved he can do the job brilliantly, I am sure he would be able to get hold of the media and manipulate them in a way that Cook is incapable of doing. Dein has many allies on Fleet Street and this could be very attractive to our owners.

Personally, I'm not sure he'd come, but if he showed an interest, I would get him in a heartbeat.

 

[Bellamy's Caddy]

Despite my post about how the press conference SHOULD have been handled I have to stick up for Cook. He is a million miles better than that slimy, lying, turd of a bean counter Mackintosh and he actually cares about us fans.

He does need to learn to be a bit cleverer with the media (and I've heard that Vicky Kloss wasn't involved in that statement which she should have been) but he'll hopefully learn. But let's not let his apparently disappointing performance get in the way of all the good things he's done for us.

Come on mate ''he'll hopefully learn'' the CEO of our club shouldn't have to learn how not to make a complete idiot of himself and the club. He hasn't got the right manner/way with words to make public appearances and promote City in a positive light. He rubs people up the wrong way and his business spiels and buzzwords don't go down well with a football audience. I'd be amazed if he survives the fall out from this debacle and to be honest he's been on thin ice for a while, given his history of mishaps... If you aspire to be one of the top teams in the world it simply doesn't cut it to have someone in that role who is a liability, which all to often he is. He wasn't appointed by Khaldoon/ADUG or any of this hierarchy, they've shown with Hughes if your performances aren't up to their standards they'll replace you. Has Cook done enough to impress, only they know, if he's still here at the start of next season then presumably the answer is yes.

 

[skinhead123]

i dont think for one minute cook made the choice to get shut of hughes .marwood is the eyes and ears of the owners and i think he is the one who got shut of hughes and put the boot in. cook is a front man and a poor one at that.i have already posted before that currently marwood is doing the hiring and firing and mancini is breifing with marwood on wjo is first team and who isnt

 

[Corky]

No one gets sacked without warning without and no complaint. Also if you are then you are entitled to compensation. Denying that hughes is right to receive compensation makes the OP look vendictive.

Cook should learn tha Manchester City is not a brand. Branding was for slaves and cattle, despite how we get treated at some away matches, we are neither.

The fact is that Mancini had only just been paid off by Inter two months earlier, and the marketing men just waited for the next loss to appoint him. This is depsite the target of 6th and the 'new secret target' of 70 points still being easily achievable.

 

[1961_vintage]

I'm delighted Hughes was sacked, happy with his replacement, happy with the potential short-term nature of it and not bothered particularly about "the way" he was sacked. If the club had not had a new manager in place before the sacking I would have been disappointed in them. That's what any business does, despite the mock-indignation and media outcry.

I'm not that bothered about the way the story leaked, either, although it is now obvious that there are plenty of leaks again at the top in City. Word was out for a couple of weeks that this was coming.

However a few things have really pissed me off this week, and I'm finding Bluemoon a depressing experience at the moment because of them:

1) That bloody press conference. If that had been handled properly things wouldn't have been anything like as bad in the media. Cook should have sat down and told the truth, basically, as much as he could. Any business makes contingency plans, City have been doing for a couple of weeks, City have not come to this decision lightly, we are sorry the way the news leaked, good luck to Mark Hughes. That would have lanced the boil and he could have taken questions and answered them honestly. Instead Mancini had to sit and get grilled and the press easily trapped him by asking had he met the Sheikh. Then Cook gave his embarrasing rant, making things worse.

2) The way a section of City fans have reacted to this news. Hughes failed abysmally. He had the resources and freedom and things were going worse, not better. ADUG realised that and got rid. Great.

3) This outrage towards the media. True, the tabloids will bend the truth to get an "angle". True, the tabloids will stir up the shit to get a good headline. But they don't just do it about Manchester City. They do not have an "agenda" agaisnt bloody City. We're not that important. They do it to every football club. They do it to every celebrity. They do it to every news story. If you don't like it, don't buy the fucking tabloids because they only do it because it sells papers. I bet more than half of those clowns on that cringeworthy banner thread yesterday buy a tabloid every day. Can't you see the irony?

4) Hughes's attitude. He's clearly been whingeing to all his media pals about the way this had been handled and it looks like he's going to put together an unfair dismissal claim. Whilst I didn't rate him as a manager, I did feel he had some dignity. Now I don't.

In summary, for me, Hughes had to go. The negative headlines will be gone by boxing day. This kind of coverage comes with the territory as a top club. However ADUG should look very closely as to why the tabloids went to town and us and if they need to make further changes, make them quickly. Then the club will be truly theirs.

Quality post.

 

[Anonymous]

no City fan would call The Sheikh a coward seeing as he has spent upwards of 500 mil on our club.

simples.

spending money isn't a big deal for the likes of him mate. You weigh up how much money you have spent following the blues over the years and it will be a lot more (proportionally) than that man, who has NEVER worked a day in his life (born into wealth like the majority of that corrupt bunch) ever has.

Definite anti-Sheikh agenda. Either a rag or a journo, or worse still, both.