john68 wrote:On the subject of targets, why all of a sudden should we have patience with a stranger who we don't know (whoever he is), when patience was patently missing from the treatment given to Mancini who had already won us the League.
The lynch mob on here can't be allowed double standards, can they? Mancini was heavily criticised on here for not winning the Prem with what his executioners said was the best squad. Mancini had no excuse for coming 2nd. If we strengthen further and bring in a BETTER (?) manager. Not only would I expect to win the League, I will fucking demand it or his arse on a platter...with veg of course.
Just a thought about all this...how was it Sorry and Trixie trusted Mancini with a long contract only a few weeks ago, yet only trust their new guy with 2 years?
The whole thing stinks to high heaven.
well, from what it seems ... Mancini himself made a power grab after the title winning season, which isn't unreasonable, but I think it did highlight that he isn't always going to play nice, and he probably is not the right person to head an organization that wants consistency and understanding throughout the entire setup.
I would say the damage he (his team, lombardo) did to the youth setup/development would probably be enough to get someone moved on really. I don't think the importance of a productive youth system can be emphasized enough. Beyond that Mancini seemed to have lost it with the players, and kept strange habits and employed friends and even his sons in our reserve team.
With scum-face retiring, the board probably had a sit down to evaluate how to best attack this opportunity, and the end result was 'not mancini.'
Maybe it's because he couldn't get the most out of the players they brought in, so should they be gung-ho about bringing in more with him there? What if we buy isco and he flops and it's because of Mancini? We don't want to create a galacticos team here, we want a fully functional, integrated, high level team. Do the scum have massive stars in each position? Jesus, I don't even rate half their players, and the other half are not any better than what we,chelsea, arsenal or even spuds have at our disposal (with the exception of RVP, which was a coup for them). There are different reasons why they won the league by a margin, and whatever Mancini's talents are as a coach, I don't think man management and cooperation are among them.
SO how to proceed? Do you throw your lot behind Mancini, who by reports, has a fractious relationship with our key players AT BEST .. or do you stick with Tricky and Sorry, and reboot the manager position into an integrated team.
Let's not forget that this is a key point in our transition from Rich team -> Title winners -> perennial powerhouse and dynasty. A good plan (our club development plan for example) executed poorly and slowly is much much much worse than a decent plant executed quickly and decisively.
I think everyone can see the merit in the system that we want to set up (ala Barca integrated club blah blah) ... so why not execute now? I think people are right when they say that we always knew what we were getting with Mancini, and that was someone focused on short term success, and by any measure, achieved that. He was never the person to develop our youth, or be a 5, 10, 20 year manager. Maybe we saw him being around and winning a bit more over the next couple of years, but looking back on all of it, and what i've heard recently, and our stated aim of developing youth, I don't think the plan was to ever have him here for more than 5 years. Maybe that was accelerated by certain events, hard for any of us to say ... but I think the decision was made for us to move on to the next phase of development, and that phase never involved mancini on any level from the get-go.
I see Pelligrini as also being a transitional figure by design. a 2 year deal, an older, savvy coach ... comfortable with a set up behind him where he isn't necessarily tied into the daily running of the club, or transfers ... just gameday and prep.
Mancini wanted control of everything, he was never going to have that, and we were right not to give it to him.
Bright days are ahead, I can see pelligrini coming in for a few years, possibly beyond the 2 contractual ones, and winning ... then stepping down and Vieira stepping into the role and being our Pep. I think that's a pretty clear progression plan. And I like it.
