Mancini’s a winner... but there’s a dark side
ITALY BOSS WAS ‘CONTROL FREAK’ AT CITY AND WANTED POWER LIKE FERGIE
ROBERTO MANCINI is a serial winner. High-maintenance, yes, but a winner all the same.
English football fans will remember the man plotting the nation’s Euro 2020 downfall as the manager who ended Manchester City’s 35-year wait for a trophy by lifting the FA Cup before making them champions in the Premier League’s most dramatic finale.
But while it is fair to say City fans still love the 56-year-old Italian for the ‘Aguero moment’ and ripping down the banner at the Stretford End that used to mock their team’s failure, memories of the method in his madness elicit groans as well as smiles from those who worked with him at the Etihad.
“Roberto was a diva,” said one source. “He was very conscious of promoting his own image – but often that didn’t tally with the message the club wanted out there.”
Another senior boardroom member joked: “I’m not saying Mancini was hard work, but I still suffer from bouts of PTSD!”
Yet both agree that Mancini was the right manager at that stage of the club’s transformation under Sheikh Mansour’s ownership.
He arrived as successor to Mark Hughes in December 2009 after guiding Inter Milan to a hat-trick of Serie A titles.
The City source added: “What Roberto found was a club that had a much smaller infrastructure than it does now – and one that hadn’t won a trophy since 1976.
“He got rid of the smell of failure and instilled a winning mentality, not just among the players, but the staff and fans as well.
“But there was a flip side. He was a control freak. He wanted to have the final say on absolutely everything – and, if he didn’t get his own way, there was trouble. “He saw the power Sir Alex Ferguson (below) had at Man United and he wanted the same. “He became obsessed with it. He was never going to get what he wanted because that isn’t how this football club is run.” Mancini, a deeply devout Catholic, is also obsessively superstitious. When City met Stoke in the 2011 FA Cup Final, he ordered the team bus driver to take the same route to Wembley as he had for the semi-final. Police told the club this was not practical and warned they would withdraw the escort to the stadium if their advice was not followed. But Mancini got his way. And, after being caught in a
affic jam, City’s squad reached eir dressing room just 50 minutes fore kick-off. The Italian believes the colour rple is unlucky – which drove m to distraction when his team ore an all-maroon away kit. He thought nothing of sprinkling ly water on his players’ shirts – til he was reminded that Yaya ure, Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko ere Muslims. Mancini was so obsessed with ctics that he would often drill fensive formations in car parks fore away games. He instructed his players to sprint down hotel corridors during overnight stays.
Mancini signed Mario Balotelli and indulged the Italian, while telling Carlos Tevez that he would never play for him again after he refused to go on as substitute at Bayern Munich.
Tevez was brought back, with City’s title bid faltering, and formed a lethal partnership with Sergio Aguero (right) that was to win the title in 2012.
It is ironic that Aguero scored the most iconic goal in City’s history and became the club’s record goalscorer because Mancini felt that the £37million which was paid to Atletico Madrid for the Argentinian ought to have been spent elsewhere.
Mancini’s reign was ended by a defeat in the 2013 FA Cup Final to a Wigan team who were about to
be relegated to the Championship. But he was already a dead man walking when he arrived at Wembley that day. He had publicly lambasted the club the previous summer for allowing Robin van Persie to sign for Manchester United. And he spent the season poking chief executive Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain with a stick. One abiding memory is Mancini cycling to work – closely followed by his personal assistant Jose in a Range Rover, should he become too weary. And players would often laugh at the sight of his Italian go-fer warming the manager’s cashmere jumpers with a hairdryer when the weather turned cold. England will certainly be hoping that the Italy coach catches a chill at Wembley tonight.