the word

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.