Txiki Begiristain...

[CityCTID]

Iron Man
Rob wins power battle with Marwood

STRIFE OF BRIAN ... Roberto Mancini has publicly blamed Brian Marwood for transfer failures

ROBERTO MANCINI has won his power battle with Brian Marwood.

Former Barcelona coach Txiki Beguiristain has brought in by Manchester City to work directly with manager Mancini over player recruitment.
Marwood has been moved from his role as Football Administrator to become the Managing Director of City’s Academy.

Beguiristain takes the role of Director of Football — the job he did at Barca with City’s new Chief Executive Ferran Soriano.
He said: “I am very pleased to have been offered such an exciting opportunity.
“The progress at City is plain for all to see and I am honoured to have been asked to contribute to its future success.”

But the Barcelona connection does not mean there is any extra pressure on Mancini with ex-Nou Camp boss Pep Guardiola waiting in the wings.

Mancini has long been frustrated with Marwood’s work in the transfer market.
And his annoyance grew this summer as a number of marquee signings including Robin van Persie and Eden Hazard slipped through City’s fingers.
The Italian publicly pointed the finger at Marwood for those failures.


Read more: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4614766/Roberto-Mancini-wins-power-battle-with-Brian-Marwood.html#ixzz2AgibzhCP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sp ... z2AgibzhCP</a>

 

[Franny Lee's Barrel Chest]

I think it's odds on that Guardiola would be here if Mancini starts to lose the plot. Then again, it could be the exact opposite if Guardiola didn't actually get on with our new CEO and DOF. If RM did go at the end of the season and Pep was installed, there would only be one piece of the Barcelona jigsaw to add...

 

[MC ID]

I think it's odds on that Guardiola would be here if Mancini starts to lose the plot. Then again, it could be the exact opposite if Guardiola didn't actually get on with our new CEO and DOF. If RM did go at the end of the season and Pep was installed, there would only be one piece of the Barcelona jigsaw to add...

Half time Paella instead of chips?

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I think it's odds on that Guardiola would be here if Mancini starts to lose the plot. Then again, it could be the exact opposite if Guardiola didn't actually get on with our new CEO and DOF. If RM did go at the end of the season and Pep was installed, there would only be one piece of the Barcelona jigsaw to add...

The weather?

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

"The Manchester City ­manager is ­determined to root out the dressing-room dissenters who are undermining his position at the Etihad with their ­reluctance and inability to ­follow his tactics.
Mancini now wants talks with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and new chief executive Ferran Soriano to establish whether he retains their full support as he looks to reassert his authority."

This is from Simon Mullock's "Back Me Sack Me" article in the Sunday Mirror.Mullock is a well connected pro City journalist, despite his dubious employer, and the story is timed to coincide with the announcement of Cheeky's arrival. The readiness of this source to push the "Fearless Mancini" line seems to indicate that in reality Bob suspects his access to and influence on Khaldoon may be ebbing.

Mullock is a big blue.

 

[Anonymous]

"The Manchester City ­manager is ­determined to root out the dressing-room dissenters who are undermining his position at the Etihad with their ­reluctance and inability to ­follow his tactics.
Mancini now wants talks with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and new chief executive Ferran Soriano to establish whether he retains their full support as he looks to reassert his authority."

This is from Simon Mullock's "Back Me Sack Me" article in the Sunday Mirror.Mullock is a well connected pro City journalist, despite his dubious employer, and the story is timed to coincide with the announcement of Cheeky's arrival. The readiness of this source to push the "Fearless Mancini" line seems to indicate that in reality Bob suspects his access to and influence on Khaldoon may be ebbing.

A I said the other day, there are now two very powerful buffers between Mancini and Khaldoun. It's going to be interesting to see what Mancini's demeanour is going into January. Since his arrival at the club he has complained vociferously every January about needing money to spend and more players. This is at absolute odds with the culture fostered by Begiristain and Soriano at Barcelona.

 

[Braggster]

"The Manchester City ­manager is ­determined to root out the dressing-room dissenters who are undermining his position at the Etihad with their ­reluctance and inability to ­follow his tactics.
Mancini now wants talks with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and new chief executive Ferran Soriano to establish whether he retains their full support as he looks to reassert his authority."

This is from Simon Mullock's "Back Me Sack Me" article in the Sunday Mirror.Mullock is a well connected pro City journalist, despite his dubious employer, and the story is timed to coincide with the announcement of Cheeky's arrival. The readiness of this source to push the "Fearless Mancini" line seems to indicate that in reality Bob suspects his access to and influence on Khaldoon may be ebbing.

A I said the other day, there are now two very powerful buffers between Mancini and Khaldoun. It's going to be interesting to see what Mancini's demeanour is going into January. Since his arrival at the club he has complained vociferously every January about needing money to spend and more players. This is at absolute odds with the culture fostered by Begiristain and Soriano at Barcelona.

Yeah. He'll be onto a loser if he complains too much (in public - what he does in private is a completely different matter). I think over time I've probably been one of the more "pro Mancini" posters on BM but his griping about the availability of funds irritated me no end. He's the manager and is employed to do his job within set parameters. If he's got issues they should be dealt with internally. (The only counterpoint to that is that (IMHO) dealing with Marwood has been a frustrating experience and I think Mancini is entitled to feel that Marwood has not really been up to the job - though that is my inference and speculation only, certainly not based on any special insight into what goes on).

What I do find encouraging though, on a wider level than how the current first team manager will interact with the senior management, is that I now feel confident that we have people in place with the right skills, experience and contacts - which I did not feel was the case before.

 

[sam-caddick]

I think it's odds on that Guardiola would be here if Mancini starts to lose the plot. Then again, it could be the exact opposite if Guardiola didn't actually get on with our new CEO and DOF. If RM did go at the end of the season and Pep was installed, there would only be one piece of the Barcelona jigsaw to add...

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah. He'll be onto a loser if he complains too much (in public - what he does in private is a completely different matter). I think over time I've probably been one of the more "pro Mancini" posters on BM but his griping about the availability of funds irritated me no end. He's the manager and is employed to do his job within set parameters. If he's got issues they should be dealt with internally. (The only counterpoint to that is that (IMHO) dealing with Marwood has been a frustrating experience and I think Mancini is entitled to feel that Marwood has not really been up to the job - though that is my inference and speculation only, certainly not based on any special insight into what goes on).

The Mancini/Marwood dynamic comes down to identifying talent. There are three players Mancini lobbied for which Marwood was dead against. Mancini won the battle, but didn't win the war because all three players haven't lived up to expectations, and a new director of football has been brought in to have final say on transfer dealings. I suspect Mancini is going to end up in the same power struggle with TB he had with BM simply because Mancini is not a man to be dictated to, which is exactly what a DoF will do over time.

What I do find encouraging though, on a wider level than how the current first team manager will interact with the senior management, is that I now feel confident that we have people in place with the right skills, experience and contacts - which I did not feel was the case before.

Totally agree. Appointing FS and TB is probably the beginning of the final phase of our development which will end with us being England's answer to Barcelona in five years time IMO.

 

[Braggster]

Totally agree. Appointing FS and TB is probably the beginning of the final phase of our development which will end with us being England's answer to Barcelona in five years time IMO.

Agreed. Exciting times ahead..

Oh and of course, you're quite right that RM will have a tempestuous relationship with TB. Just like he has a permanently tempestuous relationship with his players! A bit like Rafa in that regard..