Man City fires manager Hughes, hires Mancini
Monday, 21 December 2009
MANCHESTER, DEC 20 (AP): Manchester City fired manager Mark Hughes on Saturday and immediately hired former Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini in an effort to turn an expensively assembled squad into title challengers.
While Hughes had lost just two matches this season after spending around $330 million on new players inside a year, the club's wealthy owner was dissatisfied with a string of draws that left City sixth in the Premier League.
Hughes did manage to mastermind a 4-3 victory over Sunderland on Saturday before the announcement, but his fate had been sealed by a 3-0 loss at Tottenham on Wednesday.
"A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set," chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said in a statement less than two hours after the final whistle. "(Owner) Sheikh Mansour and the board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change."
After taking charge in June 2008, Hughes soon had the backing of the vast wealth from Abu Dhabi after Sheikh Mansour's takeover in the September.
To produce City's first major title since 1976 and break into the top four of the league, Hughes was given more than 200 million pounds ($328 million; euro226 million), which he spent on top talent including Robinho, Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Roque Santa Cruz and Joleon Lescott. "Prior to the current season beginning, with significant investment in players and infrastructure in place, the consensus between the board and coaching staff was that appropriate agreed targets should be set," said Al Mubarak, who had previously stated publicly that a top-six finish would have sufficed this season.
"The targets were agreed as a result of the player acquisition strategy of the club being radically accelerated in the summer as a result of very favorable conditions for any buying club.
While Hughes had lost just two matches this season after spending around $330 million on new players inside a year, the club's wealthy owner was dissatisfied with a string of draws that left City sixth in the Premier League.
Hughes did manage to mastermind a 4-3 victory over Sunderland on Saturday before the announcement, but his fate had been sealed by a 3-0 loss at Tottenham on Wednesday.
"A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set," chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said in a statement less than two hours after the final whistle. "(Owner) Sheikh Mansour and the board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change."
After taking charge in June 2008, Hughes soon had the backing of the vast wealth from Abu Dhabi after Sheikh Mansour's takeover in the September.
To produce City's first major title since 1976 and break into the top four of the league, Hughes was given more than 200 million pounds ($328 million; euro226 million), which he spent on top talent including Robinho, Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Roque Santa Cruz and Joleon Lescott. "Prior to the current season beginning, with significant investment in players and infrastructure in place, the consensus between the board and coaching staff was that appropriate agreed targets should be set," said Al Mubarak, who had previously stated publicly that a top-six finish would have sufficed this season.
"The targets were agreed as a result of the player acquisition strategy of the club being radically accelerated in the summer as a result of very favorable conditions for any buying club.