2012/13 Season Review (Management)

This past season was certainly not ideal for the club: crashing out of the Champions League (last in the group), ending the campaign 11 points and 9 goals differential behind United, and of course, the embarrassing defeat to Wigan in the FA Cup Final. As a result of those shortcomings, Roberto Mancini was sacked exactly 1 year after the team had claimed its first championship in over 4 decades. There were mixed opinions on Mancini's firing. Some claimed that Mubarak was becoming Abramovich (sacking at the first sign of failure); however, others, like myself, felt that the goal each season is to make progress with the club. I did not think that any of the signings truly improved the quality of the squad (with the possible exception of Nastasic, going from first to second is obviously the wrong direction, and for the second year in a row, City failed to advance past the group stages of the UCL. For an established club like Madrid or Juventus, this would just be considered a rough patch, and the manager would probably feel pressure but wouldn't be sacked. In our situation though, the goal of the club is to increase recognition through success. The 2011 FA Cup and the 2012 Premier League trophies accomplished exactly that. Because of the success in other areas, the massive failure in the Champions League was brushed aside. But it couldn't last forever. When the team failed to even qualify for the Europa League, the front office must've realized that enough was enough. And so Roberto was fired.

With Jose Mourinho out of the running it appears that Manuel Pelligrini is a sure-fire lock to follow Mancini, but only time will tell.



Sidenote:  I believe that part of the reason why Mancini was fired was because of the Italian style football he played. I know that I hated his defense system, especially when he would go three at the back. I don't think the front office liked this very much either. Another drawback to his management style was the way he wanted the team to possess the ball. Unlike with Barca and Spain, he focused on short passing in the defensive and middle thirds; as you can tell from watching just one Barcelona game, however, their passing is mostly in the front third and at least the offensive half. I bet that one of the factors the owners considered was the appeal of the football Mancini tried to play, and I do not think that their opinions about it helped him at all. Furthermore, I'm not sure that they were fans of his media presence.