No More Sparky!!

mark_hughes

It is nothing new to see a faltering manager being shown the door and a big name being brought in. But the falter in Mark Hughes’ is itself questionable. iSport’s Pulasta Dhar gives you the ‘Shady View’ on the decision to sack the Man City manager and its consequences….

Mark Hughes has not had a bad time at a club which has unlimited money. It is often said that the more money the club has, the faster managers are sacked. I have learnt that freedom is directly relevant to the amount of sacrifice you make. Hughes had the freedom to spend unlimited funds on players but the sacrifice he had to make for it was to get a sacking as his Christmas present.

His record is not bad at all. He has lost only twice this season, which include a 3-0 thrashing against Tottenham and a Michael Owen last minute goal in the 4-3 loss against United. He has also guided the club to their first big semi-final in the last 28 years, beating Arsenal in the process. A fortnight ago, the blue half of Manchester was awash with pride after defeating Chelsea in an engrossing and brave contest. City is on the brink of a Champions League spot, with a game in hand and in 6th position. We all know how Aston Villa can falter and the blues were surely in contention for a top 4 finish, given the fact that Liverpool is nowhere near them currently. Who could have guessed that Hughes would be sacked in such circumstances?

To sell a complete team and then build it with players who have massive prices on their heads and even bigger egos is not easy. But Hughes was managing them so well that we could see a team slowly gelling and some of their performances have been really good. He had the respect of every player and it is rumoured that a six man delegation headed by Craig Bellamy tried to reason with Garry Cook on the sudden dismissal. This is clear proof that come what may, the City players were always ready to stand by their manager.

The Premier League's other managers which include Harry Redknapp and Steve Bruce also exclaimed their surprise at the decision. Redknapp was quoted as saying, “I'm really surprised that they've taken that decision at this stage of the season. Mark's a good manager and, given time, there's no doubt they would have been very successful.” He also warned about the number of times such sackings were going to happen due to every foreign owner wanting to invest and then see their club top the table.

Coming to the replacement, Roberto Mancini is not the ideal choice of the City fans. The reaction to the sacking would be completely different if it would have been Jose Mourinho or Guus Hiddink, who were both rumoured to have been contacted about the job. Mancini, though successful in Italy with inter Milan, winning 3 Italian Leagues and 2 Cups has been out of football for the last 18 months and has no experience in English Football, apart from 4 appearances in a Leicester City shirt way back in 2001.

Only time will tell what Mancini can bring to the club and its expectant fan-base and how he handles a team which is going to find it difficult to accept him as their manager, following a great relationship with Hughes. The tactics and starting line-ups are also going to be interesting to see now that an Italian flavor has been added to the club.

Hughes’ only supposed failure were some signings which were not negotiated well due to the amount of money he always had at his disposal and it is now to be seen how many will follow Hughes out of the club and how many more will come in. Till then, keep following the club and it is sure going to be exciting to see them play.