Mancini’s sacking raises questions about the faceless men of football

Insideworldfootball

Published on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 17:38

It would be easy to say that the sacking of Roberto Mancini shows the short-term mentality that is now part of DNA of owners. If a manager, who secured City their first League title for over 40 years, can be sacked a year after that triumph, then no one in modern football is secure. Yet the Italian's departure raises questions about the faceless men of football, they are all generally men, the people who really manage the club but who never, even in this supposedly transparent world, ever have come forward to explain what they have done. These men are quick to take credit but when it suits them they hide behind the manager and the playing staff to provide a cover for their actions.

For a start the idea that City's owner, Sheikh Mansour, has suddenly acquired the hire-fire attitude of the rich man whose example he has copied, Roman Abramovich, does not hold water. There were many who thought he should sack Mancini the season before last. Some argued that Mancini should have been sacked before the end of last season when it appeared his title challenge had faltered. But the Abu Dhabi owner held back and was duly rewarded.