Manchester City copy Chelsea’s playbook

Back in May 2004, Claudio Ranieri was sacked from the West London club having led them to a 2nd place finish in the league and the Champions League Semi-Finals. Jose Mourinho was immediately unveiled and Ranieri was left to rue his missed opportunity. From the moment Roman Abramovich landed on English shores, Ranieri was a ‘dead man walking’ having to put up with incessant media speculation about his position. Despite winning over the fans and the critics, much like Mark Hughes at City, there was nothing Ranieri could do to save his job. Five and a half years after the Italian’s sacking, Mark Hughes has been given the elbow in much the same way.

The truth of the matter is that everyone and their gran knew Hughes was going to go sooner or later. That was clear back in August 2008, when Sheikh Mansour took control of Man City eager to break the league’s ‘Top Four’ dominance. Having joined the ‘other’ Manchester club earlier that summer under previous owner Thaksin Shinawatra, Hughes was working on borrowed time under the new owners. Clearly not Sheikh Mansour’s first choice, Hughes remained in the hotseat nonetheless. Entrusted with guiding the Citizens to the summit of English football, Hughes splashed over £100 million on Robinho, Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Nigel de Jong and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Football is a results business and to be fair City under Hughes haven’t done that badly. Despite recently beating Chelsea and Arsenal and finding themselves on the losing side only twice in the league this season, Sheikh Mansour, as is his prerogative, clearly felt that his side would fail to reach their primary goal of a top four finish.

Enter Roberto Mancini. City’s new man in charge may not yet know how to speak English, but the former Sampdoria talisman and ex-Inter coach is no stranger to English football. Having signed a short-term playing contract for Leicester City in 2001, Mancini appeared 4 times for the club before returning to Italy to kick-starting his managerial career with Fiorentina. Since hanging up his boots, Mancini has enjoyed success at every club he’s managed: winning the Coppa Italia with Fiorentina, Lazio and Inter as well as three Serie A titles at the San Siro.

With Mancini slipping in to the void left by the brisk departure of Hughes, City’s new managerial team sit at the crossroads of a critical sophomore season for Sheikh Mansour. And much like Jose Mourinho’s arrival at Chelsea, winning silverware will determine how long the affable Mancini remains in light blue.

How long before City wipe the smile off Mancini's face?