There was more than a twisted irony in Sparky’s final City bow today, as the big-name, big-money apathy was finally replaced by grit and dedication all too late. The qualities of Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz, so well-known to Mark Hughes from his Blackburn Rovers days, combined to ensure a match-winning performance in the 4-3 victory over Sunderland.
Emmanuel Adebayor and Robinho dropped to the bench, their recent lacklustre performances away to Spurs indicative of the couldn’t-care-less culture Sheikh Monsour’s era seems to have spawned at the Stadium of Manchester. Hughes’ talent in forging great team spirit, illustrated in his time as Wales boss and at Ewood Park managing Blackburn, simply didn’t work with many of the squad members tempted by the billionaire owner’s wages.
Roberto Mancini, installed on a three and a half year contract, will be looking to inject a sense of enthusiasm into a team that currently sits six points off the Championship League spots, albeit with a game in hand. The 45yr old Italian will wave ta-ta to Kolo Toure and Adebayor after FPL gameweek 20, as the pair head off to the African Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast and Togo respectively. The absence of the two ex-Arsenal stars will undoubtedly afford the new manager, backed by the Abu Dhabi money men, carte blanche in the January transfer window.
Mancini is the type of high-profile name the club has been linked with ever since the current owners took charge, and his experience as boss of Inter Milan suggests not only is he familiar with working in a pressure-cooker environment, the three Serie A titles, 2 Italian Cups and 2 Italian Super Cups won under his stewardship illustrates he knows how to get the best out of world-class charges.
With an upcoming fixture list that looks, on paper at least, full of winnable matches -Stoke (home) Wolves (away) Blackburn (home) Everton (away) Stoke (away) Portsmouth (home) Hull (away) Bolton (home)- the new boss certainly has the chance to endear himself to the home faithful almost instantaneously.