Manchester City have announced the sacking of Mark Hughes as manager. The decision was reportedly taken by the club’s chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak after a disappointing recent run for City that forced the club’s owners to rethink their long term plans. City have also appointed Roberto Mancini, lastly seen at Internazionale, as the club’s new manager.
Hughes’ last game in charge was against Sunderland on Saturday, a game which City won 4-3. Despite a reasonably successful period in charge of the club, Hughes’ cause was not helped by a string of draws and failure of his side to win on a consistent basis. He however did manage to beat Chelsea, dump Arsenal out of the League Cup and ran Manchester United close before a late Michael Owen goal gave the Red Devils a victory in a tightly contested Manchester derby.
Hughes’ assistants- Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki, Kevin Hitchcock and Glyn Hodges have also left the club. Brian Kidd will assist Mancini, who had a playing spell in England about eight years back with Leeds United. Mancini’s son Fillippo was also on loan at Eastlands last season.
Will Mancini be able to usher in a new era at Eastlands like he did at the San Siro for Inter? His job will be more tough in England than Italy, and his lack of knowledge of the English language will certainly not make the first few months easy.