Post by QPR Report on Dec 29, 2009 7:50:52 GMT
David Conn/The Guardian
No sympathy for Mark Hughes as fans buy into Manchester City's new look
Manchester City fans believe the club's Middle Eastern owners have done the right thing by bringing in Roberto Mancini
In the deluge of criticism for the way Sheikh Mansour ruthlessly dispatched Mark Hughes into Manchester City's extensive list of former managers last week some drew a comparison with the firing of Peter Reid after three games in August 1993, despite finishing fifth in the league twice in the previous three seasons. "Same old City," went the line but the fans' reaction, as Roberto Mancini made his suave entry to Eastlands on Sunday, could hardly have been more different.
Back then the atmosphere awaiting not so much Reid's successor, Brian Horton, as the club's chairman, Peter Swales, can fairly be described as murderous. "Swales Out" chants enveloped Maine Road, born of frustration with a man widely felt to have drained City of their stature over 20 years while putting nothing in himself. Mass protests led finally to Swales's ousting but City nevertheless declined, relegated to the third flight five years later at Stoke, who went down with them.
Outrage over Hughes's sacking had dominated the football news all week, it being portrayed as the betrayal of a proud football man by an absentee billionaire and his corporate-speaking lackey, the chief executive, Garry Cook. Yet at Eastlands it was all eerily quiet. Yesteryear's anti-Swales firebrands are today's 40-something family season card holders, arriving with their kids in alpine hats, not bearing ready sympathy for Hughes.
"I think it's excellent," said David Beech, 42, outside the stadium with his friend Alan Walker, 43. "Mark Hughes underachieved, we had too many draws and now we've got a manager who's won trophies." But what of the way it was done, Hughes sent out to manage last Saturday, despite a deal having been concluded with Mancini? "I don't see a problem," Beech replied. "It's the nature of football now."
That attitude was by far the majority view outside the ground, not the football world's bewilderment at the Abu Dhabi regime sacking Hughes with City in the semi‑finals of the Carling Cup and sixth in the Premier League, having lost only two matches this season.
Inside, opposite the directors' box where the chairman, Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, sat pointedly shoulder to shoulder with Cook, the banner proclaiming "Manchester Thanks You, Sheikh Mansour" was very definitely still up, an embrace never enjoyed by the unloved Swales. When, at four minutes to three, Mancini was finally announced as Manchester City's new manager, the applause rippled around, welcoming and hopeful. There was, all afternoon, not a hint of protest.
Stoke, complete with Reid himself, now Tony Pulis's assistant, returned into City's history as the club ordained to show Mancini what English football is all about. They played that role as scripted; tackling heftily in midfield, working hard and wafting long balls to the twin strikers, Tuncay Sanli and Mamady Sidibe.
The 2-0 scoreline, City's first clean sheet at Eastlands since the season's first home match, a 1-0 win against Wolves in August, suggests that Mancini rode those challenges and ironed out the defensive panics which littered too many of Hughes's draws for Mansour's liking. This game, however, also illustrated the old sporting truth about the fine line between success and meltdown. Tuncay should have scored after 19 minutes when City's centre‑backs, Kolo Touré and Vincent Kompany, had a parting of the ways, but the Turkish striker, Stoke's only creative threat, failed to place his finish, giving Shay Given the chance to block bravely.
Nobody will ever know whether City's team, missing several players through injury and with that makeshift defence, might have flapped if they had gone 1-0 down in front of their new manager and a full Boxing Day crowd but, saved by Given, mostly they asserted themselves. Touré and Kompany concentrated hard enough for Pulis ultimately to give them the satisfaction of substituting both Sidibe and Tuncay within 14 minutes of the second half. The midfield four of Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong, Stephen Ireland and Martin Petrov demonstrated assured, complementary skills although not always understanding. The industrious Carlos Tevez has perfected the art of running with the ball while always looking as if he is about to fall over it and he made City's first goal and scored the scrappy second.
When Robinho, a galáctico with his head in the clouds, was called off by Mancini, the City crowd stood to acclaim the substitute Craig Bellamy. It felt like more than self-interest, applause for a player the fans would not want to leave; they seemed also to be showing approval for the protest Bellamy made last week on behalf of Hughes. It was as if the fans were applauding Bellamy partly for acting as their conscience, even as they move eagerly on to this European stylist of a manager they hope will bring them trophies.
Football has grown more clinical in the 16 years since Reid's sacking. The fans with their season cards seem surprisingly close in sentiment to Sheikh Mansour, whom they thank for putting millions into the club. They want success, they feel they are paying for it and they felt, whatever everybody else told them last week, that Mark Hughes was not going to deliver. Whether Mancini can is still an open question.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/dec/28/premier-league-manchester-city-stoke-city
No sympathy for Mark Hughes as fans buy into Manchester City's new look
Manchester City fans believe the club's Middle Eastern owners have done the right thing by bringing in Roberto Mancini
In the deluge of criticism for the way Sheikh Mansour ruthlessly dispatched Mark Hughes into Manchester City's extensive list of former managers last week some drew a comparison with the firing of Peter Reid after three games in August 1993, despite finishing fifth in the league twice in the previous three seasons. "Same old City," went the line but the fans' reaction, as Roberto Mancini made his suave entry to Eastlands on Sunday, could hardly have been more different.
Back then the atmosphere awaiting not so much Reid's successor, Brian Horton, as the club's chairman, Peter Swales, can fairly be described as murderous. "Swales Out" chants enveloped Maine Road, born of frustration with a man widely felt to have drained City of their stature over 20 years while putting nothing in himself. Mass protests led finally to Swales's ousting but City nevertheless declined, relegated to the third flight five years later at Stoke, who went down with them.
Outrage over Hughes's sacking had dominated the football news all week, it being portrayed as the betrayal of a proud football man by an absentee billionaire and his corporate-speaking lackey, the chief executive, Garry Cook. Yet at Eastlands it was all eerily quiet. Yesteryear's anti-Swales firebrands are today's 40-something family season card holders, arriving with their kids in alpine hats, not bearing ready sympathy for Hughes.
"I think it's excellent," said David Beech, 42, outside the stadium with his friend Alan Walker, 43. "Mark Hughes underachieved, we had too many draws and now we've got a manager who's won trophies." But what of the way it was done, Hughes sent out to manage last Saturday, despite a deal having been concluded with Mancini? "I don't see a problem," Beech replied. "It's the nature of football now."
That attitude was by far the majority view outside the ground, not the football world's bewilderment at the Abu Dhabi regime sacking Hughes with City in the semi‑finals of the Carling Cup and sixth in the Premier League, having lost only two matches this season.
Inside, opposite the directors' box where the chairman, Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, sat pointedly shoulder to shoulder with Cook, the banner proclaiming "Manchester Thanks You, Sheikh Mansour" was very definitely still up, an embrace never enjoyed by the unloved Swales. When, at four minutes to three, Mancini was finally announced as Manchester City's new manager, the applause rippled around, welcoming and hopeful. There was, all afternoon, not a hint of protest.
Stoke, complete with Reid himself, now Tony Pulis's assistant, returned into City's history as the club ordained to show Mancini what English football is all about. They played that role as scripted; tackling heftily in midfield, working hard and wafting long balls to the twin strikers, Tuncay Sanli and Mamady Sidibe.
The 2-0 scoreline, City's first clean sheet at Eastlands since the season's first home match, a 1-0 win against Wolves in August, suggests that Mancini rode those challenges and ironed out the defensive panics which littered too many of Hughes's draws for Mansour's liking. This game, however, also illustrated the old sporting truth about the fine line between success and meltdown. Tuncay should have scored after 19 minutes when City's centre‑backs, Kolo Touré and Vincent Kompany, had a parting of the ways, but the Turkish striker, Stoke's only creative threat, failed to place his finish, giving Shay Given the chance to block bravely.
Nobody will ever know whether City's team, missing several players through injury and with that makeshift defence, might have flapped if they had gone 1-0 down in front of their new manager and a full Boxing Day crowd but, saved by Given, mostly they asserted themselves. Touré and Kompany concentrated hard enough for Pulis ultimately to give them the satisfaction of substituting both Sidibe and Tuncay within 14 minutes of the second half. The midfield four of Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong, Stephen Ireland and Martin Petrov demonstrated assured, complementary skills although not always understanding. The industrious Carlos Tevez has perfected the art of running with the ball while always looking as if he is about to fall over it and he made City's first goal and scored the scrappy second.
When Robinho, a galáctico with his head in the clouds, was called off by Mancini, the City crowd stood to acclaim the substitute Craig Bellamy. It felt like more than self-interest, applause for a player the fans would not want to leave; they seemed also to be showing approval for the protest Bellamy made last week on behalf of Hughes. It was as if the fans were applauding Bellamy partly for acting as their conscience, even as they move eagerly on to this European stylist of a manager they hope will bring them trophies.
Football has grown more clinical in the 16 years since Reid's sacking. The fans with their season cards seem surprisingly close in sentiment to Sheikh Mansour, whom they thank for putting millions into the club. They want success, they feel they are paying for it and they felt, whatever everybody else told them last week, that Mark Hughes was not going to deliver. Whether Mancini can is still an open question.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/dec/28/premier-league-manchester-city-stoke-city