What Does The Future Hold For Man City?

After letting the dust settle over the past 24 hours, I feel it’s time to put the Hughes debacle to one side for the moment, and to concentrate on the rest of the season. Irrespective of what many people think, Hughes has left the club in a better position than when he took over. We currently lie sixth in the Premier League with a game in hand, and have reached our first semi-final in donkey’s years. So we should be aiming high …

Former Lazio and Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini has replaced the Welshman and much is expected of him as he aims to guide us towards the promised land of Champions League football. He has a plethora of funds available to him if he decides he needs to enter the transfer market, and with a high-quality squad already at his disposal, we should be looking to break into the upper echelons of the Premier League.

In his statement released today, Hughes detailed how targets agreed with the owners in the summer included a top six finish. Although seemingly on track for this, the goalposts moved and the owners, desiring success quicker than many think possible, acted hastily in appointing Mancini. Whether he can deliver the success craved by the owners and fans alike remains to be seen, but the Blues faithful must support the Italian in his actions and fully back the team.

Naturally, I’m sceptical of Mancini at the moment, as he is totally unproven in the English game, but having won a couple of Seria A titles and thrice been victorious in their version of the FA Cup, he brings a winning pedigree to our club. Along with Brian Kidd, our newly appointed assistant manager, we have two men at the helm of Man City who demand respect from the football fraternity, two men whose achievements in the game are to be greatly admired. Until he delivers success, I will remain cautious about Mancini and refrain from setting extraordinarily high demands of him, but with all the resources available to him and hopefully with the full backing of both fans and Sheikh Mansour, I hope he is the man who is finally able to restore our beloved club to where we feel we belong.

Mancini will hope to provide the spark that our owners felt was lacking under  Hughes

My cautious nature dictates that I still have a number of queries about the new man, which I will pose to you and you may be able to soothe my nerves.

o Will Mancini suddenly be able to turn both Robinho and Adebayor into the world-beaters they can be
o Will Craig Bellamy, our outstanding performer so far this season and someone whose loyalty to Hughes stretches beyond the realms of normality, be able to produce his devastating form for a manager he has never worked with
o Will our fans, many of whom had the deepest of respect for Hughes, be able to support Mancini fully
o Can Mancini deliver the success which our owners crave
o What will happen to Mancini if we don’t finish in the Champions League places – will he get the sack?

The last of those bullet points is the one that concerns me the most. As proven by our neighbours down the road, stability is the key. Clubs can’t expect to be successful by chopping and changing their manager every two seconds. There has to be a reasonable amount of patience from all concerned parties.

My hope is that Roberto Mancini can be the man to lead City to endless successes and to restore pride to our club. If he fails in this mission, he may suffer the same consequence that befitted Hughes, and nobody would want that to happen.

Thanks for reading. Please given me your opinions on how Mancini will cope with the pressure, expectation and demands of being the Blues’ manager. What does the future hold for Manchester City?