Mansour shakes things up and Hughes is not allowed to make his mark.

I received a text on Saturday from a Manchester City fan, it read ‘’City won, United lost, Hughes sacked....the greatest day of my life!’’

Mark Hughes has lost just 2 games this season, put this into perspective by looking at the teams above them in the league in the table, Chelsea have lost 3 games, Manchester United 5, Arsenal 4, Aston Villa 3 and Spurs have lost 5. Every single club above City have lost more games. On the other side of the coin, two wins in eleven Premier League games is also unacceptable, the problem was the volume of draws and the clear inability to win these games.

You can buy players but not trophies, you can buy individuals but can’t make them play together. Without doubt a winning team needs to be built and nurtured. That aside, I can’t help but think that in City’s case if they continue to throw money at the transfers to the song of £200+ million a year, eventually they will win silverware, there is nothing surer. However, it must be frustrating for anyone associated with the club to sit and watch an expensively assembled team under-perform week in week out. What Hughes needed was more time. I feel he will go on to be a great manager.

I recently read an article about the young Gunner’s and how from the youth team upwards, all the players are encouraged to do things at pace. They must move the ball quicker, speed everything up and thus an on the pitch mantra has been developed by Arsene Wenger ‘faster faster and faster’. This very notion has been adopted by clubs like City, not on, but off the pitch, where the new owners are totally consumed with instant gratification.

The fans appear to have mixed opinions on the matter, particularly on the manner in which the Welshman was sacked. Hughes himself claimed the indecent speed of Mancini’s appointment underlined City’s hierarchy had been working behind his back for weeks, even though he was on course to meet the club’s top-six target agreed in pre-season. Garry Cook refuted this in his press conference and cowardly refused to answer any questions, instead read a well prepared statement and hid behind a blonde female PR officer saying there were no conspiracy theories.

Installed in place of Mark Hughes, former striker Roberto Mancini, winner of three successive Serie A titles. His record is impressive, he has won trophies with each of the clubs he has managed namely Fiorentina, Lazio and Inter. The 45 year old definitely has impressive credentials and a winning mentality, that combined with the players already at the club and the bottomless pit of money must surely equal success sooner rather than later.

Tevez shows John whose Terry-itory it is and Manchester is United

When Carlos Tevez scored the free-kick that won the match for Manchester City, who would have thought that both sides of Manchester would roar in celebration in unison. City have ended their 7 run goal-less streak and momentarily Hughes is God. It is exactly this kind of performance that keeps mangers their jobs and for Sparkie it couldn’t have come at a better time. However, let’s not forget that Chelsea still sit at the top of the table with 2 points to spare and apart from yesterday have been in prolific form.

After Liverpool only managed a draw against Blackburn, I sense there is a shift in allegiance towards ‘Rafa out’ amongst the Kop. Down to 7^th, Rafa happy to leave £20million of talent warming the bench and insistent in bringing off key man Benayoun...once again most are baffled by Benitez!

Aaron rams it in for Arsenal (I’ve always had a secret penchant for this player) and Wenger’s boys look back on top of their game. Andrey Arshavin seemed to plug some of the gap that Van Persie has left, but there is no doubt Arsene will have to splash the cash in the January window, with a fine Bordeaux vintage by the name of Marouane Chamakh on the list of candidates and most likely to get the nod.

Hull’s key man Jimmy Bullard has suffered a massive set back again, after only just recovering from a cruciate knee injury, JB hobbled off in agony as Hull were thrashed by an over powering Villa. If this turns out to be long term it will devastate not only Jimmy himself but the team too, for Mr Bullard is the Lion amongst the Tigers, the king of his domain, until yesterday that is. Could this blow prove too much for Phil Brown and see Hull slip back into the drop zone.

Bolton had their 5^th defeat in 6 games and are second bottom. Gary Megson doesn’t feel under pressure but will the boardroom push Megson out and put the bolt-on the door? Results need to happen and quick, the transfer window couldn’t come quicker for the fans but is there any money?

Domestic league aside there was plenty of excitement surrounding the World Cup draw, which was quickly diminished when the ceremony itself got underway. It was painful to watch the beautiful Charlize Theron pretending she had a clue about football, she was more convincing as a serial killer in ‘Monster’ than she was attempting to masquerade as a football fanatic, nevertheless she did look great.

England’s group on paper looks like a casual Sunday morning stroll in the park compared to other groups, but in typical fashion there’s no doubt that drama will unfold during the group stages. England currently 9^th in FIFA’s world rankings face USA who are 14^th in the world, Algeria 28^th and 33^rd ranked Slovenia. The US could potentially trip England up, with Beckham’s Galaxy team mate Langdon Donovan as their danger man. The 27 year old has 120 international caps and 42 goals for his country to his game and can play up front, on either wing or as an attacking midfielder. Hopefully Becks knows how to keep this player in check so he doesn’t run riot.

Ironically for Mr Posh, England’s first fixture is against the USA on June 12^th in Rustenburg, which is also the most likely place for their base camp too. Everything seems to be in England’s favour but yet somehow even under Capello, I am not convinced we can win it. You see this is the problem with all of us England fans, we tend to move between the polar opposites of ‘England are a shambles’ to ‘We’re gonna win the World Cup’ and it seems at the moment I am drinking from the half empty cup. No doubt, I think we will get a good run for our money, possibly even a semi out of it, but as for lifting the formerly named Jules Rimet Trophy ,I remain sceptical. Injuries aside, I generally have every faith in most of the outfield players, however there is concern surrounding the goal keeping situation and the ongoing debate of whether Gerrard and Lampard will perform well together. Based on that I think it’s fair to say I wish Shay was Given an English passport and that Paul Scholes comes out of International retirement! Fingers crossed we do the business because I will be out there to witness it!