The controversial sacking of Mark Hughes is understandably dominating the back pages again today after it was revealed that representatives from Manchester City met up with new boss Roberto Mancini as early as December 2nd.
Mancini said he had general talks with City’s Abu Dhabi owners but was not officially offered the job until the day after the recent 3-0 defeat at Spurs.
Mancini must have thought he had walked into hornets’ nest when he was unveiled at yesterday’s bizarre press conference and givemfootball’s Mark Shail spoke exclusively to former City winger and PFA commercial executive Ian Mellor to get his thoughts on the developments at Eastlands over the last few days.
What did you make of the manner of Hughes’ departure?
I thought how they sacked him was disappointing. I felt it would have been a lot more ethical to have sacked him on Sunday morning rather than at 6 o’clock on Saturday evening after the team had just won. The club set a target to finish in and around the top six this season and to be fair to Hughes he was on course to do that.
So you think the sacking was harsh?
I wasn’t sure his appointment was the right one in the first place but I believe the fans were coming round to him. On the other side of the coin he has spent £200 million on new players and maybe some people expected the team to be doing a bit better. But when you buy so many players in such a short space of time there is no guarantee that all of them are going to gel straight away. But I felt Hughes was doing a reasonably good job and the supporters were growing to like him.
What do you make of the appointment of Mancini?
I know some people have questioned the appointment but I’m actually quite pleased he’s an Italian because one thing Italian teams do is defend well – and City have had defensive frailties this season. Hopefully he can sort the defensive problems out. He has a good track record after winning three titles with Inter Milan and it will be interesting to see how he does in the Premier League.
What do you think City’s prospects are for the rest of the season?
For me, a top seven finish has always been a realistic target and that hasn’t changed. That would represent progress and any higher than that would be great. I know there has been a lot of money spent but I think everyone has to be realistic.
