da bet vitoria： Football is of course a game of opinions. We rate players differently, we rate games differently, and we have hugely different perspectives on managers. You have to accept that not everyone will agree with you, it’s a broad church and all that, and it partly makes the game what it is.
da apostaganha： But sometimes, you just begin to lose faith in those around you. Sometimes you begin to wonder why you bother.
There has been a groundswell of opinion in (some parts of) the media in the last few weeks that Roberto Mancini was under pressure, with his job at risk, after having a bad fortnight. A week may be a long time in politics, two of them in football can often feel like a lifetime when the knives are out.
Many ridiculous viewpoints have developed over the past year – the main one being the feeling that having spent (very) big we should now sweep all before us aside – this is clearly drivel, as no signings guarantee you success, and many of our signings were not made for short-term gain. Balotelli, Boateng, Kolarov, Silva etc are here to play now, but to develop also – part of their transfer fees is for potential, not for current status. Of all City’s big summer signings, only Yaya Toure is over 24. And needless to say, players often need time to settle – a big price tag does not change that, a fact some struggle to comprehend.
While 34 years of incompetence have given me a certain amount of patience and trust that the good times are going to come at some point soon, our sudden wealth seems to have the reverse effect on some of the City faithful. They seem to expect glory now. Anything less is unacceptable.
The other piece of tripe regularly wheeled out amongst a minority of City fans is that we should get Mourinho in. Or maybe Hiddink, or another random name, who would obviously come, because it’s that simple. We approach Real Madrid, and they gracefully accept we want their manager, and Mourinho thinks about it before quickly realising that City is the only place for him.
That’s the problem usually when certain fans want a manager out – they either have no credible suggestion for a better replacement, or their suggestions are so unrealistic they don’t merit discussion. And let’s face it, if any team could destroy Mourinho’s reputation, the smart money would be on City. He’d end up in a care home, sat in a rocking chair staring vacantly out of a window, muttering under his breath about the time he won the Champions League.
Of course, spending money does raise expectations – that is a given – we should be improving. But the fact is we are – at time of writing we are 4th, 3 points clear of 5th. But no amount of money allows you to go directly to Go. Real Madrid went out of the Champions League in the 2nd round 6 years on the trot. All the money in the world couldn’t get them a league title in recent years. This isn’t an excuse for City to underperform, but to reiterate the point that irrelevant of how much money we spend, City’s growth will be slow and gradual – you cannot build a title-winning team overnight.
There was barely a City fan at the start of the season who thought we would challenge for the title – that’s next year, providing we meet our clear target this year – getting 4th or above. That’s what Mancini will, and should be, judged on. And please don’t suggest that he thinks we’ll win the title because he said just that in an earlier press conference – what do you expect him to say?! No, we’ve got no chance?!
The pro-Hughes camp in the national press have repeatedly reported the fact that Mancini has no more points than Hughes had last year at this stage. Of course this is irrelevant as Hughes wasn’t sacked this time last year – he was sacked just before Christmas after a seemingly endless run of poor draws and a shocking defeat at Spurs, and more to the point, Mancini is the owners’ appointment. They also never mention the points per game average, which is much higher for Mancini. Hughes has won four of his last twenty-four premiership games – make of that what you will.
And then there was the Manchester derby. And the calls for Mancini to go got stronger. Being a glass half-full kinda guy I am always happy not to lose to United – it’s in my genetic make-up. Others weren’t so happy though – the predictable criticisms of “spent £300m and can’t even attack” rang out from City and non-City fans alike.
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Apart from the fact it was a single game, this vitriol partly developed due to another single, steaming turd-like lie that has been allowed to develop over the past year – namely that United are a spent force.
You know, the team currently second in the league, four points behind the team widely expected to walk away with the league this season. You know the team that hasn’t lost a game this season. That spent force. The team that miraculously dragged itself off its collective sick-bed to somehow play 90 minutes football on Wednesday.
The team that will no doubt compete for the league again, get to the latter stages of the Champions League, and maybe pick up a domestic cup as well – this is a team that is a spent force. And many City fans believe this – say it enough times and it becomes fact to them, irrelevant of the evidence.
Of course this is not the strongest United team of the Ferguson era. The Glazer debt has hampered their spending and opportunities to strengthen the team. But to think that they are already a spent force is laughable, and ignorant. Sorry City fans, they’re not going anywhere.
But no, many believed that United were “there for the taking”. That if we had attacked them all match, we would have ripped them to shreds. As I said, laughable.
But the idiots who want Mancini out not only disappoint me, they anger me – I wish they would sod off and support another club, to be perfectly honest. Because let’s face it, if it wasn’t Mancini, it would be someone else. These people are there at every match – every little pocket of the ground has at least one of them. Criticising the team for every misplaced pass, shouting abuse, and of course offering their own expert tactical analysis, because as we all know they could do a far better job themselves. They always have a set scapegoat (or two, or three) as well, who can do no right however well he might play.
Of course no manager is above criticism, and nor is any player. Mancini isn’t perfect, far from it, and has made mistakes. The team has not gelled properly yet, some of the players have been more successful than others, some games have brought disappointing performances. But this blog is not really about that.
I’m not interested in how long it took Ferguson to win something at United, how Mourinho turns around any team instantly, how much we have spent, how many defensive midfielders we have, Mancini’s record against that of Hughes, how much merit his Inter titles had, blah blah blah.
There is only one stat that really needs quoting. Since Alex Ferguson took over the reins at Old Trafford, Manchester City have had 18 (eighteen) managers.
Jimmy Frizzell, Mel Machin, Tony Book, Howard Kendall, Peter Reid, Tony Book (again), Brian Horton, Alan Ball, Asa Hartford, Steve Coppell, Phil Neal, Frank Clark, Joe Royle, Kevin Keegan, Stuart Pearce, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Mark Hughes and of course Roberto Mancini.
Just For Men could make a fortune out of those guys.
After every dismissal, the fans thought the next appointment would be the one that would help City turn a corner, push on, bring in some silverware.
Every manager failed to being in some silverware (pre-season games don’t count, sadly).
All I am interested in is that for just once, my football club learns from its history, and finally decides to stick with a manager, and doesn’t make another regretful decision based on our constant policy of having a short-term outlook because of a media-led campaign and a few pathetic whingers on football message boards. Not that the board have shown the slightest hint of getting rid of Mancini – but if certain journalists and keyboard warriors had their way, he’d be gone tomorrow.
It’s just a shame we can’t do the same with some of our fans. The fans that want our manager to go whilst our team sits in fourth place in the table. Any City fan, irrelevant of their opinion of Mancini, should not want another manager dismissed. Unfortunately, it is those people that always seem to make the most noise. As the stadium announcer says after revealing the crowd each match – thanks for your tremendous support.
Written By Howard Hockin