Manchester football : A story of 2 managers

The last few couple of weeks has been an incredible time for fans of Manchester football as both sides of the divide have witnessed their manager`s departed and move to pastures new, One that walked and the other was pushed out. It`s Unbelievable what a difference a year makes in football as it was wasn`t so long ago that United was trying to catch their bitter rival in the title race as it came down to the last seconds of the final game of the season. So let’s look back at the last couple of years between the clubs and how the managers have fared.

The start of 2010-11 season had both Manchester teams looking for success for the forthcoming season as Manchester United had lost their Premier League crown to Chelsea, the Red Devils had lost the title by a solitary point and were hoping to regain the title back.

For Manchester City it was a bit of different story as they missed out on a Champions League place when they faced Tottenham Hotspur at the formerly named City of Manchester stadium (now Etihad Stadium) at the back end of the season, when it came down to a shoot out between two for the 4th and final spot. City lost to Spurs 1-0 thanks to a Peter Crouch strike for the North London side which broke the hearts of City fans alike. So the summer they had to rebuild and the priority was to get 4th place at least to qualify for the Champions league.

So as the start of the season came around, it started with United exacting some revenge on Chelsea as they beat them 3-1 at Wembley Stadium in the Community Shield in August and were looking good ahead of the new season. United was the team to beat as they are normally are, as they are benchmark for sides as if you finish above them in the table then you’re more than likely you will finish as champions come May.

Bulgarian Striker Dimitar Berbatov was scoring for fun in the red shirt alongside Javier Hernandez who was a newcomer to the league also after they signed him from Club Deportivo Guaalajara in Mexico. They were looking a very lethal combination upfront for the Old Trafford outfit that season that had Wayne Rooney scoring too for the reds.

City had signed a few big name players themselves notably in the shape of a Champions League winner and Ivory Coast international in Yaya Toure. The big Ivorian midfielder had moved from Barcelona and had beaten Manchester United in the European cup final a couple seasons back and so that signing went down well with City fans. Other players signed up were a European & World Cup winner from Spain in David Silva, as he came from Valencia and so both looked exciting signings for the club. One of the most controversial signing of Mancini reign came he brought in a young Italian striker named Mario Balotelli, his signing slightly triggered the downfall of Mancini in the coming seasons.

As the season went on United dominated the league as Chelsea couldn`t cope with the firepower United had and while United chalked up draws and were gaining points , their rivals was dropping points and not being able to convert draws into wins or loses into draws as United grounded out points. The Derby game between City and United was seen as a yardstick for where City had come over the season as they were fluttering in & out the top 4 places. So when it came to the Manchester Derby it was decided by a brilliant goal by Wayne Rooney to give the home side a 2-1 win over their City rivals and what made it interesting was that they would meet again in the FA Cup Semi Finals at Wembley soon after.

As both Manchester sides arrived at Wembley for the Semi-Final, United wanted win as it kept their hopes of a double going as Ferguson`s men were closing in on their 19th league title to equal Liverpool as the most successful English club side, plus they had a date back at Wembley for the Champions League final to.

City wanted to end their neighbour’s hopes of a double happening and so a single goal by Yaya Toure gave the Blues victory over the Reds and a place in the FA Cup final beckoned too, along with revenge for the 2-1 loss they suffered previously in the league.

City also were gunning for a double of their own, as they had repeat of last season with Tottenham Hotspur coming back to the Etihad for a place in the Champions League plus they were now in the FA Cup final, So things were starting to get brighter for Mancini`s men.  

Sir Alex Ferguson led his men to their 19th league championship and saw his side go down to the Spanish giants Barcelona once again, at Wembley in the Champions League final losing 3-1.

City faced off with Spurs again and this time around they beat them at the Etihad Stadium with Peter Crouch on target once again, however this time it was in his own net and spookily from exactly the place he scored from 12 months before when he fired Spurs into Europe.

Manchester City then tried completing a good season as they travelled down London way again for the FA Cup final against Stoke City. The Blues were hoping to end 35 years of hurt as they had been trophy less for that whole time and had seen their neighbours win a lot of trophies within that time. Finally they had ended the streak as the hero in the Semi final against Manchester United was the hero again as Yaya Toure smashed home the winner to give City their first taste of Silverware for 35 years and Made Roberto Mancini a legend with Blues fans for leading them to glory.

After the season had finished both sides enjoyed successes over the summer more so the Blue side of Manchester as it was a bit of Bittersweet season for United.  As they had the chance to win the European Cup on home soil and falling at the last hurdle and seeing City lift a trophy was a step too far for United fans and seemed like a nightmare to many.

So as we entered the 2011-12 Season, this was the season when Manchester football really was the most talked about in footballing circles.

City signed Argentina & Athletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero to partner his fellow countryman Carlos Tevez alongside Edin Dzeko who had been signed the previous season from German side Wolfsburg. Further signings in the way of Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri came to the Etihad Stadium via Arsenal. 

The Community Shield saw the first ever All-Manchester Charity Shield match with the FA Cup winners Manchester City playing the Premier League winners Manchester United in the curtain raiser to the season. Roberto Mancini was seen the man that could break the strangle hold in Manchester after he had led Man City to the FA Cup trophy, Mancini had been entering his 2^nd full season at City having took over from Mark Hughes, after a deal was apparently done under Hughes nose to bring the Italian to the club by the previous C.E.O Garry Cook and this would be a recurring theme later down the line.

It was Manchester United that took the first honour of the season, as City surrendered a 2-0 lead to United going down 3-2 after Nani grabbed the winner in Injury time for United. Sir Alex realised after the game he had a new rival to have challenge him and he was well up for the challenge of his long time city rivals awaking from their slumber to challenge the big boys, or as he called them the "Noisy Neighbours".

 Both managers had their sides playing free attacking flowing football and it seemed like they wanted to outdo the each other when they played, as when City won 2-0 United would win 3-0 and when United won 3-0 City would return the favour and win 4-0.  It was flip flopping the lead for the early part of the season as it seemed early on it would be the two Manchester Clubs against the rest of the Premier League.

Sir Alex Ferguson started the war with Mancini when he was telling the media that  City wouldn`t be able to cope with the pressures of European football at the highest level in the Champions League along with domestic football as it took time for them( united) to come to terms with it when they first entered. Mancini seemed to laugh off the early parting shots at his club and tended to agree with what the United manager said.

It seemed like as much as Fergie tried to get under the skin of his opposite number the Italian coolly played down the quotes he had directed at him by Ferguson through the media and he shrugged it off.

It started to get interesting the early part of the season as both played teams from North London on the same day. City had the afternoon kick off at White Hart Lane against Tottenham and United faced their long time rivals Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Both London sides were expected to test the mettle of both Manchester clubs and see how good they really were this season as both Arsenal and Tottenham had started brightly in the season.

So when City thrashed Spurs in front of their own fans it proved that City were the real deal, United then took on Arsenal with City holding a bit of a goal difference on United after their win, However that was blown out of the water as United put 8 past Arsenal inflicting a response from the Champions almost like they were saying "Anything you can do, we will do much better". 

Game after game both sides won and so as we came to the most mouth-watering Manchester derby clash seen in years at Old Trafford, This was the game that propelled Mancini to another level and shown that the city wasn`t just about United. This derby shown that City and Mancini were not pacesetters but long distance runners as they proceeded to inflict a horror show on the Old Trafford faithful, as they beat their successful neighbours 6-1 with relative ease it has to be said. Although United did have a man sent off when 2-1 down, City punished United and every goal seemed to be like a body blow to Ferguson and his young upstarts, as the goals bloodied the Champions noses with this beating as Dzeko who came on as sub could easily have had a hat trick.

Ferguson admitted in the post match interview that "we should have shut up shop and kept it tight instead of trying to attack so much, As those goals could prove the difference come end of season!"  How right those words would be by Sir Alex too. Both clubs were having mixed fortunes in the Europe too, as United had the easier group to get out of from the 2 as they played SC Otelul Galati, Basel FC and Benfica.

City on the other hand was dealt the "Group of Death" of the tournament with German side Bayern Munich, Napoli and Villarreal who to be honest had a lot of problems early on so it was really a 3 horse race in that group.

City had been beaten 2-0 by Bayern Munich in their Champions League opener at the Allianz Arena, then they needed a late, late goal from Sergio Aguero in stoppage time to beat Villarreal in a 2-1 win a few days prior to the Manchester Derby.

United found it a struggle too, as they were knocked out of the  Champions League as both clubs found themselves entering the Europa League which was an Embarrassing scenario for a club like United stature. As they  always prided it`s self on playing in the biggest club tournament in Europe and play against the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Barcelona for examples.

Sir Alex Ferguson seemed at this point to be looking at himself and think "have i outstayed my welcome" as he seemed to not be the same kind of manager he had been in his tenure at Man United over the years, He looked a very different character and found it hard with his youngish rebuilt squad. They did play the Dutch giants Ajax in the last 32 of the cup where they won 3-2 on aggregate, then in the last 16 played Spanish side Athletico Madrid and lost 5-3 over the two legs.

Mancini in the blue corner was equally finding it hard as he saw his team notch up 10pts in their debut Champions League season. It was unlucky for City as in nearly every other season 10 pts would guarantee you a passage to the second stage of the tournament, City lost out on second spot to Napoli and so went into the Europa league where they beat FC Porto 6-1 on aggregate. They were knocked out of the last 16 stage eventually losing to fellow Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon 3-3 on away goals. Plus some called into question his ability at managing in European competitions as he hasn`t got to a quarter final stage in Europe before.

Plus he was still sorting out the massive problems that dragged on all season nearly with Carlos Tevez after the incident in Munich, when the striker refused to play after an argument on the bench with Mancini after he made him warm up time and time again instead of coming on as a substitute. Not only had he got Tevez on his case but Edin Dzeko too, as the Bosnian came off with equal bemusement towards Mancini when the Italian subbed him.

This started to sow the seeds of doubt amongst the City players and Mancini that would keep going till the end of his reign. 

Mancini then famously said "Carlos will NEVER EVER play for City again, EVER!", Tevez wasn`t the first player to have disagreement with the manager as Craig Bellamy the season before was took off and both had a heated exchange resulting in Bellamy going to Cardiff City his hometown club.

Ferguson also had his run in`s with players over the years, but he had a style of man management that worked where things that he didn`t like or had a dispute with players over were kept behind closed doors and hardly leaked out to the media. Mancini style of man management was seen as hardnosed like Ferguson is but instead of keeping thing quiet he would then criticise his players publicly to the press and gave them ammunition to use against him and create stories involving him. Plus most of the time he was dealing with stories of training ground bust ups that normally involved Mario Balotelli, as he had run in`s with Jerome Boateng , Micah Richards, Kolo Toure , Yaya Toure amongst others. The constant talk of training ground fights was getting to Mancini as much as the constant reports of Balotelli, as he was getting in trouble all the time on or off the pitch. On the pitch City were having success as they still led the championship at Christmas time.  New Year brought a mixed January for the blues as lost to a last gasp winner up in Wearside to Sunderland 1-0 on New Year’s Day. Wins over Liverpool, Wigan and a late penalty beat Spurs.

Sir Alex men went on a run of 12 games unbeaten after they lost back to back games against Blackburn Rovers at home 3-2 and away at Newcastle United 3-0, the Scot wasn`t happy with his side and demanded better from his players. He got the response he wanted as United went on a 12 game unbeaten run in the league, alongside a 3-2 win at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City, coming in the FA Cup and was revenge for their semi final the previous season. In the game City Captain Vincent Kompany was sent off for a tackle near Nani and Chris Foy sent the Belgian defender off , Although they were down to 10 men City dragged the game back from 3-0 to 3-2 but couldn`t find a goal to force a replay.

City shown though that they had heart and team work in them as they would need it as the season progressed towards the end. Also Sir Alex welcomed back the shock return of Paul Scholes to the United line up in the FA Cup tie against City, Some people saw it in different ways as half called his recall to the Champions a brilliant master stroke by Fergie, while the other half called it a desperate move bringing him back to the fold. However the move was paying dividends as Scholes on his return to Old Trafford scored and in doing so drew them level on points with their neighbours at the top of the tree but lay in Second place on goal difference.

United a few games later played at Stamford Bridge and were 3-0 down after 50 minutes in the game, But the Reds produced a stunning comeback to make it 3-3 and saw them drop 2 points but gained confidence too, As this was more like a win than a draw for them as they saw the positive sides of the result. United kept the pressure on Mancini`s City side as they beat Spurs 3-1 at the start of March to still be 2 points behind but was always ready to take advantage of any slip up by City on the way.

City had a tough game at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea as they were beaten by the Swans 1-0 and with that gave up their top spot to United who beat West Brom 2-0 to jump above and lead the title race by 1 point. City knew they couldn`t afford to drop many more points now to the end of the season as the 2 sides was like Ali v Foreman. City were like Foreman better attack and everything going for them and United were like Ali, Taking the punches but knowing if they carried they would soon tire and they could advantage.

City beat Chelsea 2-1 at home on a Monday night game to reduce the lead to 1 point in the title race and a sub plot to the game saw the return of the prodigal son Carlos Tevez to the City side. After all the talk since the Munich incident with Tevez refusing to play back in September, he helped create the goal that let Samir Nasri net the winner and give them hope of regaining top place again with the come from behind win.

Manchester City weren`t looking the force that had been since the turn of the year, and when Sunderland came to town it was regarded as an easy 3 points for the blues. However it wasn`t to be that straight forward for them as Sunderland led 3-1 till the 85^th minute when 2 late goals rescued a point for the home side and also saw Balotelli involved in yet another talking point on the pitch.  The Controversial Italian striker had recently been given a ban for stamping on Scott Parker head in the 3-2 win v Spurs, so in this game he had a childish argument with Aleksandar Kolarov over taking a free kick with brought Kompany over to defuse the situation.

The win brought out a defiant Roberto Mancini who predicted “United will slip up down the road”, Seemed it was more out of hope than an actual belief at the time. As we went into the start of April, United were on a crest of a wave now as they were on their winning streak and looked to be on course for title 20, while Mancini and City looked dead and buried after the 1-0 loss to Arsenal which also saw Balotelli once again in the news as he was sent off late on and seen Mancini furious at his Italian striker.  People in the football world were saying “If Balotelli had played for Fergie, Then he`d have sold him a long time ago!” 

Mancini had defended his striker so much that it seemed the other players around the squad was starting to get fed up with the constant antics by Mario and the way the Manager would always deflect negative stuff away from him but lambast the rest of the players in the press, Notably Adam Johnson. Roberto Mancini had quiet often criticised in public Adam Johnson to the press for not being in shape or saying he needed to cut out the drinking if he wanted to be a regular in the first team. 

That was all fine and well but he was one of City`s best player`s on show and had scored vital goals for the blues under the Italian reign in charge, but Mancini seemed to bemoan the player than give the player credit and praise him. It became a common theme during while he was manager that players were open to be bad mouthed to the press, Yet the only player that seemed to be shielded from Mancini and was more deserving of the criticism was Mario Balotelli, No matter what the striker did he was blame free in Mancini`s eyes as he was more trouble than good. So when the team are giving 100% he was hardly giving 20%. He just strolled around the pitch having tantrums and you could see the team starting to lose confidence in Mancini in a way with how he constantly defended Balotelli.

Roberto Mancini saw his side trail by 8 points in the title race with 6 games to go and looked like the pressure had got to him and his team, However things on the red half of Manchester was smelling of roses. As Sir Alex Ferguson men seemed to be unstoppable now as they were winning games and keeping clean sheets and though they may not have thrashing sides it didn`t matter as the 3 points was more important than that. Arsenal beating their rivals was an added boost to United as they looked like they were on course to win the title, Things though then took a twist in the championship. Three days later the Champions travelled down the road to Wigan at the DW Stadium what should have been a routine win with respect to Wigan, They faltered as a Shaun Maloney goal gave a struggling Wigan the win and with news of City winning 4-0 at home the lead dwindled to a 5 point difference. 

United loss at Wigan blown the title race open again as it looked like United were starting to show a couple of cracks in their lead at the top, the following weekend saw both sides win their respective games as United won 4-0 at home to Aston Villa while City thrashed Norwich at Carrow Road 6-1 with Carlos Tevez grabbing a hat trick. This started a change in the title race as City was injected with belief now that they could kick on and catch their bitter rival at the top.

The weekend after was the biggest turning point, United played Everton at Old Trafford and saw one of the most incredible games. United built a 4-2 lead mid way through the second half and it looked all over and that United were still on course, Everton had other ideas as they came back into the game and with 5 minutes to go Steven Pienaar scored to make it 4-4 and was this the game that saw the title swing change.  The game finished and it was a draw which left Sir Alex furious with his side giving up the lead and then saw both managers in the following weeks claim the other side had the upper hand in the race for the title.

   

Ferguson was trying to play the old mind games by saying the Everton 4-4 result had cost them the title now and it was City`s to lose now, While in the Blue camp it was Mancini stating "IT WAS United`s to lose not City" and this kind of claiming the team were favourite a theme till the final game. A week later saw what Sir Alex Ferguson christen the “BIGGEST DERBY” game he`d ever been involved in City as United went to the Etihad Stadium knowing anything but a defeat would help them in the table. United played a poor game and City with their injection of Confidence of late took the game to United and moments before half time Vincent Kompany headed home to give City a 1-0 lead and set up the second half now. United never got in the game and saw the two managers have a spat on the touchline as Sir Alex and Roberto Mancini argued with officials and assistant managers calming them down. City took the spoils and with 2 games to go and move above United in the table but on goal difference.

The Penultimate match saw United beat Swansea at home 2-0 and seen City beat Newcastle at St James Park 2-0 with 2 strikes by Yaya Toure giving them the lead at the top still on goal difference. Ferguson once again claimed it was City`s to lose now as the Blues were red-hot favourites to win, Mancini disagreed as he said it could go either way yet and so we went to the final game of the season. United played Sunderland knowing a win and QPR getting anything for the game would give them the title.

United struck the first blow as Wayne Rooney scored to put the reds in the driving seat and towards half time in Manchester Pablo Zabeleta scored to put City back on top. There were a few twists to come as QPR scored twice for a 2-1 lead and Ferguson and United fans were delighted at the news filtering through, Time was ticking down as United had won their game it was all about what was happening at the Etihad. Edin Dzeko pulled one back for City to make it 2-2 and then literally moments after United match had finished Sergio Aguero smashed home the winning goal to give City their first title in 44 years.

Sir Alex defiantly and boldly predicted things would be different next season and so the build up to the 2012-13 season, saw Manchester United sign Robin Van Persie from Arsenal along with Alexander Buttner from Vitesse in Holland. Sir Alex Ferguson was ready to unleash his United side for an assault on the Premier league as they desperately wanted their 20^th title and to become the Most Successful English side in history.  

For Mancini he made the strange decision to say he turned down jobs by other teams to stay at Man City over the summer and also complained the chiefs at City weren`t doing enough to speed up transfers and were too slow to bring in the players he wanted and gave Brian Marwood a grilling through the media for the cause of no signings.  Mancini seemed to be very angry with people at the club over things and would carry on over the season.  He did make a few signings to the team with Javi Garcia from Benfica; Jack Rodwell from Everton and the signing that was more looked upon as extremely bad buy in Scott Sinclair from Swansea City.

Things started well for him though as they beat Chelsea 3-2 at Villa park in the community shield, City also went on a unbeaten run till December when it was United who inflicted their first defeat on City of the season when a last gasp Van Persie free kick gave the Reds the winner and from then on City never recovered.

United however started off badly to their season as they went down to Everton in the first game of the season 1-0 from a Marouane Fellaini header, Ferguson saw his men start off slowly and not look that convincing in the few opening months of the season as they had lost 3 games by Mid November. It finally clicked for Manchester United when they met City in the Derby in early December time, They found themselves 2-0 up with Rooney scoring both and in the second half City responded like Champions dragging it back to 2-2 before a deflected Van Persie free kick in stoppage time gave United the win and put them 6 points clear at the top, it was a lead United would never surrender as they took over from this game.

Ferguson saw his masterful team have a mini wobble as they knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid and saw them give up a 2 goal lead to Chelsea who drew 2-2 to force a replay at Stamford Bridge. United hadn`t lost a league game since Norwich City beat them 1-0 on November 17^th, and wouldn’t lose another one till April 8th when it was City who would return the favour by beating them at home 2-1 thanks to a Aguero strike.  Ferguson watched his men seal the title at home with a 3-0 win at home to Aston Villa as his big summer signing Robin Van Persie got a hat trick and helped Sir Alex Ferguson achieve his aim of leading United to the top of the premier league for the 13^th time and make them the greatest English club team ever leap frogging Liverpool in the most titles won by 1.

Days later it the Scottish manager announced he would be retiring at the end of the season and brought an end of an era at the Old Trafford club as he would move on and enjoy retirement.  His final home game he took charge off was against Swansea last weekend when a tearful Sir Alex gave a heartfelt speech thanking the club, players and the fans for the support over the years and the players made him lift the Premiership trophy out of respect.

On the blue side of Manchester the season it was a stuttering season as players didn`t fire on all cylinders and tactics by Mancini was partly to blame for his downfall, City lost away to Spurs 3-1 and after they had the lead they seemed to lack any play and Spurs won the game. Games later they didn`t get out of 1^st gear and looked lacklustre in their play, amid rumours Mancini was going to get the chop from the owners. Mancini had took his side to Wembley in the FA Cup final against Wigan Athletic, where yet another poor performance fuelled talks before the game that if he didn`t win the cup he was gone. Wigan beat City with a late winner and that seemed to put the nail in the Italians coffin as his manager job at City was concerned. 2 days later on the 1^st Anniversary of the greatest day in the clubs recent history when they won the Premier League Roberto Mancini at 22:28pm was report to have been sacked by the clubs owners for not hitting the targets set by them.

The way things had been conducted left a very bad taste in the mouths of many as it was nearly a repeat of Mark Hughes sacking prior to when he arrived. News of players revolting against the manager and speaking to the owner about wanting him gone was increasing and his management style of being distance from them didn`t make for a happy team environment and so it proved as his sacking was reported to be the players ears and the next night City played Reading and put in a very convincing display and could have won more than 2-0 they got.

One reason in my eyes why he never got the best out of the team, was his changing of the Winning system of 4-3-2-1 and made it 3-5-2 which had players in the Champions League especially bamboozled as they had no idea what their roles was. Signings he made looked to be rushed or desperate with none of them having made any impact at all apart from Jack Rodwell who glimpses of good form till he was always breaking down injured and spent most of it on the treatment table.

Plus the biggest problem was when his side lost over the last couple of seasons he would admit to the press, “i didn`t prepare the team well enough”. In my opinion if you use that statement more than 2 times then you’re begging to be sacked. He used this phrase at least 4 occasions during his reign at Manchester City and one was reason to let the Manager despite the fact he had won 1 FA Cup, 1 Premier League title and 2 Cup final appearances.