Soccer

Manchester City ready to part ways with Mancini

FA Cup defeat to Wigan may have sealed manager’s fate

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini leaves the pitch following the FA Cup Final defeat to Wigan at Wembley Stadium. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini leaves the pitch following the FA Cup Final defeat to Wigan at Wembley Stadium. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
Sun May 12 2013 - 15:25

Manchester City are reportedly set to sack manager Roberto Mancini later this week.

The Blues have not commented about the stories, however the Italian has been under increasing pressure over the past couple of weeks amid apparent City interest in outgoing Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini.

Mancini was critical of the club’s handling of his situation after yesterday’s FA Cup final defeat to Wigan, when he stated his belief the City hierarchy should have stepped in on his behalf to end the speculation about his future.

Yet it seems that Wembley loss to a team who could well be relegated into the Championship this season and were assembled at a fraction of the cost of Mancini’s squad has been the final straw.

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Members of Mancini’s coaching team were unaware of an impending change this afternoon.

However, such is the intensity of the reports, City’s decision not to clarify Mancini’s situation appears significant.

Indeed, it has been suggested the Italian will be out of a job before the Blues face Reading at the Madejski Stadium on Tuesday.

Mancini’s abrasive style is known to have upset both members of his backroom team, with some senior players also said to be unhappy.

With a distant second-place finish in the Premier League to Manchester United and yet another group stage exit in the Champions League, it is hard for Mancini to claim progress has been made this season.

And that was before yesterday’s defeat to a Wigan outfit who were 8 to 1 underdogs prior to kick-off, but were the better side and grabbed a last-minute victory thanks to Ben Watson’s header.

“If we find out in a week the things you say are not true, you have written a lot of stupid things in the last six months and more in the last two weeks,” he said when asked about the reports linking Pellegrini with his position.

“If it is true I am stupid because I didn’t understand anything.

“You have been speaking about this for the last six months, and also the last two weeks. It is too much. The club didn’t stop this. I don’t think that was correct.

“I don’t think it is true.”