Yes, it is official and Roberto Mancini has signed his new five-year deal with Sheikh Mansoor and the Italian manager is set for a long, exciting and hopefully a very successful future, at the Etihad.Different pundits had various thoughts about the future of Roberto. Some opined the club owner would look to get in managers with a more glamorous C.V. while the others were of the opinion Mancini himself would move on to face a different challenge after achieving what the club demanded of him, defeat their city rivals and win the league.
But the £38m deal is one of the largest contracts a manager has ever had in the Premier League and it shows just how important Roberto has been to City in the last 18-months, and how important he is for the future of the club.
The club is greater than the player(or manager) is a famous phrase among football fans. It has been a changing trend in the modern-day to sack a manager if the results aren’t going the way the club demands of him. It has worked well for some (Chelsea’s appointment of Di Matteo can be the finest of examples) but has been a disaster in many cases, not only from the results point of view but also a majority of the fans do not approve of it saying trust in the manager is most important and he should be given enough time to settle down.
A fine example of sticking with a long-term manager would be that of Alex Ferguson. He has proved himself to be the greatest manager of the current era but had Ferguson been dealt with in a modern style when he took the job in 1986, Sir Alex would have lasted just a couple of trophy less seasons at Old Trafford before a new manager was brought in. The dominance of United would never have taken place. Another example off course would be that of sir Alex’ great rival, Arsene Wenger. Despite going trophy less for more than 7 years, he’s still not axed by his board. Many reasons are observed,the main ones being the love of the fans, keeping arsenal in the champions league all these years despite having a very low-budget comparatively, his style of playing ‘beautiful football’ and his outstanding scouting network.
Coming back to Mancini, city have done well in retaining him. The deal has been finalized keeping in mind the many important attributes Mancini possesses. Tactical knowledge, handling the media, reading the opposition are just a few of his skills to name. But his most important abilities that delighted the fans were TEAM MANAGEMENT and MAN MANAGEMENT. Many football followers may simply say it’s absolutely a piece of cake winning the league with such a lovely squad filled with stars. But what they don’t understand is the importance of team chemistry; something Mancini should be given total credit for. Many ego’s had to be suppressed, so many stars had to warm the bench. But ultimately, he pleased all the players and earned their respect.
And coming to Man management, he was simply brilliant. His dealing with Tevez proved a master class. Not letting him play for half a season untill Carlos himself stepped up and sorted it out with Mancini and finally providing vital at the business end of the season.
But his dealing with “crazy Mario” is the one that stands out. Which manager in the world could have put up with that attitude? Mancini not only deserves credit for fine tuning him as a player on the field but also deserves respect for looking after him as a fatherly figure off the field. There were rumours at a certain point of time that Mario wouldn’t be selected in the Italian squad for the euros but Mancini believed in him despite his several suspensions and gave him chance after chance. And this led to Mario having such a fine euro tournament. Anyways lets not go into the Balotelli saga. I’ll probably dedicate a complete article to him later on.
Well the bottom line is that city should be fortunate to be coached by a tactical genius like Mancini. Roberto has handled a wild squad with a minimal amount of fuss and has managed to deliver trophies for two consecutive seasons. Not many managers, even with all the money, would be able to do that and Mancini’s value as a man manager and as a tactician is worth the money.
Mancini’s new contract is a vote of confidence in his long-term ability. It shows that City are wanting to create success in a way that ensures it continues, rather than changing the chemistry in moments of panic.