PREMIER LEAGUE:Manchester City bosses obviously expected too much of Mark Hughes, who didn't deserve sack
ROBERTO MANCINI is apparently something of a James Bond devotee, and that might be no bad thing. A little background knowledge in how to extricate oneself smoothly from apparently doomed situations should come in useful as he prepares to work for employers who were not satisfied by a league record that featured just two defeats and a first cup semi-final in over two decades.
That said, given the choice between being lashed to a table and having a laser beam pointed at your groin or taking over at Manchester City, even Sean Connery – Mancini’s favourite Bond – might consider Eastlands a risk not worth taking. When it comes to ruthlessness, Blofeld has nothing on Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Should we be surprised? Not really. Given his outlay of over €225 million since August 2008, a 10th-placed finish in the Premier League, Uefa Cup quarter-final and progress to the last four of the League Cup was never likely to stir the Sheikh, regardless of how little he knows about English football.
There are Bedouin tribes wandering the Arabian deserts who would consider that a rather meagre return for that kind of outlay, so nothing – and certainly not an eccentric victory over Sunderland on Saturday – was likely to hand Hughes a reprieve.
It is difficult to feel too sorry for Hughes, who walks away with a seven-figure compensation settlement and will doubtless be back in meaningful employment in the time it takes to arrange an indiscreet meeting in an overpriced west London Italian restaurant.
Yes, he deserved better than the shabby send-off he was granted by City’s cack-handed executives on Saturday but given the way the club routinely handles its affairs – even before its petro-dollar revolution – it should hardly have come as a surprise. While some clubs complete their transfers of power with grace and dignity, City have always favoured the excruciating approach. It must be something they put in the contracts up there.
Besides, Hughes was always fighting the intractable problem that he was not hand-picked by City’s new owners. The Welshman was the legacy of Thaksin Shinawatra and not the valuable kind which might be featured on a reasonably diverting daytime television programme; instead, Sheikh Mansour clearly viewed him as the equivalent of Aunt Doris’s collection of porcelain puppies, something to be junked at the earliest opportunity.
Hughes is a fine manager and his habit of standing up to the austere figures of the Premier League’s managerial establishment – a sort of footballing Scrappy-Doo, all bright eyes and flailing fists – was enjoyable. His cheeky wave at Arsène Wenger as the Frenchman flounced down the tunnel following the League Cup quarter-finals should feature on any end-of-season highlights reel.
But City’s owners have not frittered the best part of a quarter-of-a-billion pounds merely to cock the occasional snook at the top flight’s glitterati and it might just be that Hughes simply lacked the kind of kudos that sort of outlay demands.
He certainly appeared to struggle with some of the more dysfunctional members of the City family and while few would begrudge his attempt to seal Robinho in a rocket and blast him to Barcelona, the owners could retort that the playing symbol of City’s transformation needed to be treated rather more sensitively.
Hughes always appeared more comfortable surrounded by players cast in his own sweaty-browed image, the likes of Craig Bellamy, Shay Given and Gareth Barry.
Maverick talents such as Robinho or Elano remained something of an infathomable conundrum but it is players such as these that give a club its stardust. As much as it must grate with managers of the old school, they must be indulged.
Mancini, as a graduate of the Internazionale school of insanity, should be well versed in handling a combustible mix of egos, although whether he can suitably impress Bellamy and Given – City’s stand-out players this season and staunch Hughes loyalists – is another matter.
The first few weeks will be crucial, not just in attempting to establish a semblance of harmony at a squad clearly riddled by divisions but also in proving that he can elevate City to the next level.
Progress to the League Cup final would send a pointed message, particularly as it would come at Manchester United’s expense, and a benevolent looking fixture list in the new year appears to offer an ideal opportunity to position the club on the shoulders of the Premier League leading pack.
Of course. it might be that City’s powerbrokers would only be appeased if Mancini returns the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and World Cup to the Eastlands trophy cabinet next summer. In which case he is going to need a few vodka martinis before his inaugural press conference today.
