by TheCrazy58 Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:28 pm
You could say Hughes was unfortunate; had City not become a money laundering vehicle (under Shinawatra), and then an investment /PR opportunity for people with more money than football smarts, then he'd have done a perfectly decent job for a top 10 club with occassional Europa League pretensions. But once that happened, he was always going to be way out of his depth. He wasn't used to spending the kind of money he was given and not used to managing the kind of players that brought, and never had the experience or the capabilities to manage, let alone satify, the kind of overinflated expectations entertained by his employers. (IMO only a very few managers have the capacity to do this, incl Capello and Hiddink). He looked utterly devasted leaving the pitch after the match today; as someone commented, he's basically a timid man and it may take him a while to get over this.
I'm rather surprised Mancini has been signed on a long contract - I'd have thought City'd wait for Maureen or Hiddink to become available in the summer. Also the timing of the sacking seems a bit daft amidst the Xmas fixture logjam and a couple of weeks away from the Carling Cup s/f (though I can see they might win that now
). Not sure exactly what it is that Mancini can do significantly better for the rest of the season that Hughes might have done.
btw, the team must have known before the match, right?
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