Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini seems to go out of his way to get on the wrong side of people. Maybe it’s the pressure that comes with such high expectations at his club but he seems to be getting a reputation for creating needless confrontations. He has only been at Eastlands for ten months yet in that time Mancini has had run ins with Robinho, Craig Bellamy, Stephen Ireland, Emmanuel Adebayor, Shay Given and what he himself describes as a “ballsy” dressing room argument with his captain Carlos Tevez last week.
The Italian is now risking whatever civil relations may exist with Sir Alex Ferguson by virtually discounting Manchester United’s chances of success, describing Chelsea and Arsenal as being technically superior to his side. Speaking to the local media in Italy, Mancini hailed Chelsea as the Premier League’s top side with only Arsenal matching them in terms of technical ability and United never even getting a mention when asked to name England’s best teams. Has the man completely lost the plot or is he simply trying to take on Ferguson in his famous mind games?
If he is, Mancini is doing so at his own peril and someone should remind him what happened when former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez tried the same thing a couple of years ago. United went on to win the title that season and it was all downhill for Benitez after that.
“Chelsea are the strongest team in the Premier League” Mancini reportedly told the media “Technically, only Arsenal are on a par with them but Chelsea have greater physical power. That is the only difference and what gives Chelsea the edge.”
Mancini also revealed he had barely spoken to fellow countryman Fabio Capello since he took over at City despite the England boss including so many of his players in his squad. “Capello and I have never exchanged phone calls since I have been in England” he admitted “We have met maybe two or three times, that’s all.”
Not exactly the best way to win friends and influence people Signor Mancini
Is the pressure starting to get to Mancini?
Nope the pressure isn’t getting to Mancini. Strange that when Ferguson plays mind games the same accusation isn’t leveled at him. I think Mancini simply doesn’t fear Fergsuon or United.
Ferguson’s mind games impress reds and a few fawning journalists-nobody else is taken in anymore.
And Red nose has lots of friends LOL
as a die hard red, I hate all things City, but he’s got a point, there is no way in the world we will win anything with the current squad we have (and the complete lack of funds to make it any better)
change your blog to trulyobsessedwithcity……..what an absolute non article…..Your manager hasnt got the class, dignity and style of a very respectful Mancini. He is a true gentleman and always gracious in defeat. Fergiescum is an obnoxious, hypocritical bully who tells lies lies and more lies. Quite simply if he doesnt get his own way he cant handle it. Look at his recent behaviour in cancelling his press conference because the papers had written something he didnt like, his comments about scoring 10 against Liverpool when it was his own teams inadequacies that let them back in the game. Hodgson spoke with dignity despite his embarrassing, goading comments. Our game will be so much better off when this vile man disappears. The rags have had an unfair advantage for too long because of the influence of this man and his intimidation, bullying and manipulation of the FA. They say there wont be another one like him, well lets hope so. He hasnt been a true great either as he has massively underachieved in Europe with the teams he has built over the years. A style of football only suited to the PL, get the ball wide, put crosses in and hope for the best. Year after year they have been found wanting technically and tactically in Europe only recently achieving some success due to the dominance of the PL.
Typical aragant rags , is that same feguson
I read or herd the other day mention the so called top
Four and totally dismissed city as title challengers
Even though were 2nd in place , is that the same
Alex furguson who said city don’t have any class
Who called us noisy neighbours , I could go on ,
The man shows little respect to anyone who dare
Challenge him ,
A nolan
Mancini has a valid point by not including The Rags
Financially they are ruined and the squad is not getting any younger or better
Chelsea, Arsenal and ourselves will be the main force in the PL in coming seasons
Nonetheless, it is a tad early to dismiss Man Ure as you still have a spalttering of decent players and should still be top four this season and probably next, but beyond that I can only see mid table at best.
How ridiculous. Fergie’s idea of a mind game is completing a jigsaw. The man is an amateur built up to have an intellect, where none exists. If he keep off the strong stuff he might have a chance of passing on something bordering on the remotely clever, but alas, too late, Alcoholic dementia has already set in.
Believe me, Fergie holds no fears for Mancini.Fergie from Black Eyed Peas is more of a challenge.
@mcfc1975, how can you call Mancini a true gentleman?? basically ruining shay givens career at city, getting rid of your best player from last year (bellamy). and if you are talking about fergie, how has he ever manipulated the FA? the FA treat united players and management staff as a joke, handing out stupid fines and bans. and the thing he doesnt like with the press is that they slated his son beyond belief, fair enough? really all you said in your comment is absolute bullshit and so is your club, good day sir
Can’t believe you wrote a “story” on a couple of soundbites translated into English from Italian to try and build some sort of conflict between the gentleman that is Roberto Mancini and the classless Ferguscum. BTW Mancini was one of, if not the, longest serving Inter Milan manager ever so I think he knows a thing or two about media relations.
So much bitterness from so many Blues. I suggest you talk to the players mentioned above to find out about “the gentleman that is Roberto Mancini” and remember, Signor Mancini did not resign from Inter, he was sacked. That’s something that even at his age, Sir Alex has never experienced in his long managerial career.
Ryder 91…what do you know about our club? Hart better than Given ask any City fan, tough decision for him but Shay is a big boy and will be ok. Bellemy our best player?!haha, do me a favour, Carlos Tevez anyone!!!! Mancini IS a gentleman, class and dignity that Slur Alex can only dream of. Plus he was a top class footballer and doesn’t need to bully and intimidate people to try and earn their respect. Your manager has a history of bad sportmanship, how many times when you have lost has he refused to do interviews. The thing with the BBC and his son is an embarrassment and sums him up perfectly. Get this man out of football now so we can have a party!!
United fans… Bless em, they keep trying to hang on. City or Mancini are not remotely interested in Utd, so anything you read is not designed to condem you, it’s just stating the fact you are not in our league. City’s true rivals are only Chelsea, that’s our big game of the season, Utd are nothing more than a local derby. Don’t try and flatter yourselves, just accept you are far more concerned about City than what City are concerned about you.
lol. man u concerned about blues more than blues concerned about us? thats aculi pretty funny. Blues haven’t been winning us since last year. lol i doubt they can do it this season. You guys have money, but dun have shit. We have the quality that doesnt’ need the money.
Don’t worry fellow blues. Bacon Face will be dead soon anyway. We are the future. Yoonited will soon be jumping on the scouse bandwagon, banging on about history whilst busily winning cock all.
ManU are in the red. Nuff said.
Its a joke to compare Sir Alex with that other fellow from the wastelands. Ferguson has rebuilt united single handedly from scratch without illegal oil money from a sugardaddy. What has mancini achieved as a manager? Some league titles after Juventus were relegated! City are a deluded bunch. Money can’t buy class. Just ask chelsea. Talking about the future, lets wait and see in the next two years when Mancini is sacked, tevez retires and the other average footballers in the city team can’t hack. They remind me of Liverpool only the have no history. United can’t be wished away and especially not by city. Stupid!
So it starts with an idiot who gets a few quotes and probably wrong quotes from the italian media and you lot start slagging each other and each others club off. I think the journalist who wrote this very poor article has acheived what he set out to do. The fact still remains he has no idea why the above mentioned players were left out or moved on and is it not true that apart from Shay, they have all been troublesome at some stage. So Mancini doesn’t suffer fools lightly, GOOD because I don’t want trouble causing players at my club and with regards to not mentioning Man Utd is this so called EXCLUSIVE re-quoted and probably exaggerated interview in the italian media. Is simply because unlike Arsenal and Chelsea they do not play attractive and exciting football, they don’t seem to be able to defend a lead and are quite simply not the Utd of old. There is no fear when teams visit or get visited by Utd and this i’m affraid is fact, Manchester United are not the best team in the PL and will be hard pushed to regain this title again, until they have some serious changes. So maybe stop slagging each other off and start hitting back at crude insignificant journalism, which these days seem to be all of it.
Another piece of “Anticity drivel” – Fuck me you can smell the fear!
Really let’s put differences aside and take a reality check that will reveal the actual situation.
The Glazers bought ManU to squeeze money out of the club, whereas the Sheik bought ManCity to put money into the club.
The Glazers own empty shopping malls in a failing economy, the Sheik controls a country full of oil wells.
Old Trafford area cannot be expanded (of course the Glazers have no money or inclination to do so), whereas Eastlands in a couple of year will expand to a ‘sport-city’.
The Glazers will take the next opportunity to cut and run with a carpet bag full of all the cash they can get, whereas the Sheik will regard it as a matter of honour to follow through on his declared plans.
The Glazers are fans of the bottom line, whereas the Sheik actually is a soccer fan.
So, ManU has ‘a history’, but ManCity has ‘a future’.
@Frank – St Mirren. Check your facts before you spout your sh!te
Isn’t it funny that the same people who went on and on and on and on about all the “big egos” at City are the very same now slating the manager for dealing with them.
Nothing Mancini’s said about United recently even warrants further discussion. Chelsea ARE by some distance the best team in the division and will walk the title. Lots of my friends are United season ticket holders and every single one of them would have no qualms in admitting that the current Chelsea side is much stronger than their own.
This article doesn’t really SAY anything, it’s just a badly-worded, feeble and unecessary attempt at a wind-up. I wish these sorts (all clubs have them, we have several) would stop behaving like kids. Let’s just concentrate on the football, ffs. Sadly, any idiot can now start one of these blogs when their opinions are often not worth the time it takes to read them.
As a City supporter, i’m delighted that United fans can’t stop talking about us. I’m old enough to remember when they really couldn’t care less.
Truth is (& I am a Man U Fan big time)City are on the way up & with our finances and Fergie not long for the job now, we are on the way down. Can you handle the truth ?
Very pedantic dwse. The Guardian published an interview with former St Mirren chairman Willie Todd on 31 May 2008. Todd confessed that when he ‘sacked’ Ferguson all those years earlier, the reason was a breach of contract relating to Ferguson having agreed to join Aberdeen. Do you REALLY call that a Ferguson sacking?
To mcfc1975,who thinks mancini is gentleman.The same gentleman that told tevez “go f**k your mother” proper gentleman alright he is.The scarf is getting tighter round his neck and he will be sacked early next year.
I’m afraid that you’re being taken in by the glitz at Eastlands Eddie. The truth is that Manchester United has been built purely on football for over 100 years while City’s future is dependent on nothing else but oil. How long will it be before the Sheik’s liquid gold dries up? When City fans claim that the clock is ticking they’re correct, it’s ticking on the short term dependence their club has on its owner’s funding.
Frank you really are a plank! Do you not remember old man Edwards selling condemned meat to schools, and also hoovering up shares bought back on the cheap from old folks who were told, ‘they ain’t worth much, we’ll do you a favour.’ Then the PLC (sod the fans, let’s bathe ourselves in money!), not to mention doing absolutely toss all for the Munich survivors or the families, whilst trading on this for over 50 odd years. Baconface couldn’t even be arsed spitting his chewy out during the 2 minutes silence (some gentleman?). Yes real class!
As you say (and keep saying) you do have a history, but we have the future. That really gripes with you lot doesn’t it?
@Frank
A sacking is a sacking, technical breach or otherwise, but why would a red let a fact stand in the way of a good story.
Surely City has also been built on football as well, the oil money has only recently arrived so that’s yet another idiotic comment, you’re on a roll.
If you’ve been built on football and let’s face it you’ve been very successful over the years, then why the debt?
The funding isn’t and won’t be short term, for the very reasons that CCcracker stated earlier. Owners with honour, money and the clubs interests at heart, what you’d give for that eh?
The only reason we are to beleive old bacon face has a fearsome reputation and is the master at mind games is because of journalists like this clown who are constantly up taggarts arse.
Fergie has done wonders as a manager no qualms about that one. But integrety,charm,whit,sporting,pleasant and clever DO ME A BLOODY FAVOUR !
TICK TOCK
FRANK, united have had a great run and its about to come to an end.The only way from up is down.
While city are living off oil the roots are already growing and just remember you would not have a history if not for the unfortunate munich air disaster that planted the seeds for your world wide sympathy and enticing fans from afar.
Mancini hasn’t taken on SAF or Manchester United – he hasn’t even mentioned us. What a load of tosh this article is.
I bet Blackpool aren’t upset at not being talked about by Mancini – and they have more money / less debt than us.
I am sure Mancini is quaking in his gucci shoes that the rags are so obsessed with City that they can think of nothing better to say than talk about the noisy neighbours.
Lets recap.
Your club has MASSIVE income yet because of its MASSIVE debts has MASSIVE outgoings which led to a loss 0f 83 million. Note not from buying excellent young talent as City have done but servicing debts. Discuss.
Your club used to contribute 80 million to the Exchequer in this country. Now nada. Discuss.
Ferguson can no long buy titles as he has done in the past and is restricted to signing hopefuls he hasnt even seen and free transfers. Discuss.
Who is going to be next out of the revolving doors at the Swamp? Rooney? Vidic and quite honestly cant think of anyone else you have that would raise any real money. Discuss.
What has happened to your youth policy? Discuss.
What are you going to do about replacing your fast ageing squad? Discuss.
What happens in 2017 when the Glazer loans have to be repaid? After all you are not touching the capital just paying the interest. Discuss.
What happens to your club after you drop out of the top four which you will. Discuss.
How will debt ridden United meet UEFAs new rules? Ignore them? Discuss.
So you can probably see there are lots of important issues you could write about but you cannot resist talking about City? Are you trying to convince us you bitter, very bitter, green with envy rags, are really closet City fans? Its the only explanation I have for your obsession with our wonderful club Tick tock.
Really looking for to your Cup Final against us.
Cockney Red. Well said that man. Not all rags are as lacking between the ears as this blogger.
It really takes very little to get under the skin of so many Blues doesn’t it? Just a couple of comments and the frustrated responses start to roll in. From condemned meat to chewing gum, bullying, alcoholic dementia, wishing ‘bacon face’ dead and on and on. Then there’s the wishing and hoping. Wishing for United to disintegrate, to go bankrupt and to disappear. Hoping to win a trophy – any trophy, so that the 34 year drought can finally be broken. For all the millions he has spent, HOPE is the only thing that the sheik has provided but don’t worry. Little boys have always looked up to their big brothers with envy, it’s just human nature.
@Symphony in Blue – That’s a load of FALSE claims you want to ‘DISCUSS’ mate. EXAMPLE “Your club used to contribute 80 million to the Exchequer in this country. Now nada. Discuss”
What you are therefore admitting yourself is that the PAPER loss of 83 million just announced would have been paid to the Exchequer instead – IN CASH. Which do you prefer?