ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - Manchester City- The Ghost Of Sven Past

Posted by Wallace Poulter on 01/12/2010

I liked Joe Royle as a manager even though I thought he was, and is, a limited boss who is capable of getting a team out of the Championship but finds the Premier League a step too far. Keegan I adored. No defense, all attack, lets win the game 5-4 if necessary. Great entertainment and the mind boggles, just boggles, at what he could do with our owners money. Stuart Pearce was probably a bit over his head although honestly was in a no win situation and that he got the club close to Europe was a fairly commendable achievement. I mention all this because I'm aware I've not been a fan of the club's most recent managers.

Sven Goran Eriksson was someone I found morally bankrupt and when combined with an odious owner in Thaksin Shinawatra it was a recipe for disaster. Which was a shame because I liked the players that the former England national team boss brought into the club and I liked the tactics that saw the club become a fortress at home with a stingy defense.

I got awfully close to getting on the Sven bandwagon before the Swede became completely enamored with Darius Vassell. Which did it for me. Hughes continued that mistake.

And now the club has turned over the helm to Roberto Mancini. In many ways Eriksson's protege. I loved Mancini's reaction after the Blackburn game yesterday when he was annoyed that the defense had given up a goal even though the team had won by three clear goals. Lest you think defense is not important, Portsmouth who are bottom of the Premier League have let in only 4 more goals all season than City. Such is the difference between a team with proven goal scorers and those that are not. The club may not have lost at home but the 14 goals it has let in are way too many at this point in the season.

The focus is going to return to making Eastlands a fortress with few goals conceded. I think this is also the lesson in the Patrick Vieira signing and the constant press stories about a new emphasis on defense in training. The tone is being set again. We are returning to the Sven era, but without the baggage that accompanied him.

Comments

Posted by matt on 01/12/2010

point well made. nice to see the man has standards and is not afraid to speak out. one of my major gripes with hughes was the way he delivered his criticism in post match interviews. it was too vague, could have been directed at any of the players, and as such, often appeared to be designed to shift the blame away from the coaching staff. this is a bit different, it's very specific to the goal, but there where other examples of this kind of behaviour during the match, which relate to the things Mancini appears to have targeted for improvement.

that's my idea of good management, in any field.

hallelujah!

Posted by Martin Grayfield on 01/12/2010

I agree with the sentiments in your post about the club managers. I just wish people wouldn't jump on the Thaksin bandwagon.
The man was elected twice by his electorate and won convincingly. The allegations against him are not proved and some - the human rights one's are unlikely to be proved in any Court. The fact that Liberty make allegations doesn't make them convictions.
The "convictions" in the Country are one's that were judgements come to by Courts living under the Military Junta that ousted him in a coup. Despite all that the majority of the people still support him. It is funny that the current rulers, represent the ruling elite are looking at reducing the electorate as they keep making mistakes in the voting !
Talk about the football and leave judgements on other people to people who know and a level playing field on the evidence.

Wallace Reply Martin... fair points. I did research Shinawatra a lot when he took over City as I have a keen interest in politics. It's hard to judge when you have such a fascinating country from a political standpoint as Thailand. Deep economic and social divides, the massive involvement of the military and yet deference to the King makes for an interesting, possibly a unique, mix.

After taking in views from a wide range of sources I came to my conclusion about Shinawatra which was that the guy was not someone I thought City should be associated with.

One of the great lessons is that the victors get to write the history. How posterity will deal with the former City owner is I suspect not something that anyone can say with any degree of conviction at the moment.

Posted by Russ on 01/12/2010

What is it with Keegan? Why have City, Newcastle, England and everyone else not sussed him out?

He had not tactical plans, no plan B other than spend more money and most worrying of all no interest in football spending years on th golf coarse and not watching a game between running away from City and joining Newcastle before running away from them

Had Keegan replaced Hughes we would be no better off because Keegans teams under perform. Keegan being a mnager does not bring any "extra" to a team. the extra i am talking about is the clear difference between Hughes and Mancini. It's the same players at City but a differnet better team.

Had keegan become our manager last month we would have to listen to the same old excuses Keegan and most managers gives us. It's going to take time, you don't build a good team over night etc for the next couple of years before Keegan ran away again with another big butty

Wallace Reply Those Newcastle teams were a lot of fun to watch and Keegan could attract players. Probably to do with just how big a star Keegan was in the 70's before there was 24 hour wall to wall coverage.

Posted by The Truth on 01/12/2010

The fact you in one breath say you adored Keegan and in another thought Sven was "morally bankrupt" shows you up to be incredibly naive to say the least and a typically blithe punter. Keegan virtually ruined Manchester City Football Club, anyone from within the club at the time could have told you that. Hence why Stuart Pearce was left trying to pick up the pieces with relatively no money to spend but still eclipsing Keegan and his flagrant spending on the likes of the Mathias Vuous (who cost in the region of £3.5 m and never played a single first team game!), Fowler (£5m), Negougiou etc etc whilst dispensing of real crowd heroes in Tiatto, Berkovic, Goater etc.

Everyone who I know came into contact with Sven at City loved him and commented on how friendly, down to earth and warm he came across to them. I think you should retract such a shoddy throw away comment like that. I knows morality is subjective, but please do not believe everything you read in the tabloids.

Wallace Reply I loved the style of football that Keegan's teams played. I don't think anyone else could have been the manager in that infamous FA Cup tie against Spurs when with 10 men and Anelka injured City came back to win 4-3.

Re Sven, never met the man and as you say, shouldn't believe what you read in the papers! We'll see how he does at Notts County.

Posted by Russ on 01/12/2010

Thaksin.

Elected in democratic elections twice booted out by the Army. His party was disbandoned but reformed with the same people, same offices and similar name and won the free and fair election again whilst standing on a platform to bring Thaksin back.

As promised Thaksin returned to face charges once democracy was restored. When he arrived at the airport you would have thought it was the Beatles second coming.

None of these charges were humans rights charges. all charges were related to Financial dealings. was he guilty? I don't know but I do know there is often a thin line between right and wrong with such things.

Who didn't like him? the rich who he taxed so as to give basic health care for the first time to the poor.

Give the guy a break, we were grateful enough when he was doling out his money like never before and grateful his contacts enabled him to sell us to our new owners.

Thaksin did right by Manchester City

Posted by City Laxer on 01/12/2010

now if only we could get elano back...

Wallace Reply Alas that ship has sailed although I do wonder what Mancini thinks of him as a player.

Posted by Ted on 01/13/2010

Wallace

The common theme for me is that all the managers you mention didn't get more than 3 seasons at the club.
I will be interested to see if our owners are looking for short term success or genuinely want to build a 'dynasty' and have a club that will be challenging for all the major honours for years to come.
It is ridiculously too early to say if Mancini will prove to be the right man.To date he's had a good start and thats it.
Its amusing to see the fans who doubted Hughes now saying I told you so and that we now have a manager who knows what to do.THIS AFTER 4 GAMES.
Lets see what plaudits are given when we hit a rocky patch.
Of course there is the pleasant possibility that Mancini will give us the success we all want so I will reserve judgement until he has won a few cups and the premier league........

Posted by Keith Sharp on 01/13/2010

Say what you want about Thaksin `Sinatra', he did lay the ground work for our Arab investment.
That money could have gone anywhere but Thaksin directed it to Eastlands.
As for Hughes, he attracted a group of top players but then showed that he didn't know what to do with them once he had them. Interesting that City's win against Blackburn was achieved with a starting lineup that did not include Robinho, Santa Cruz, Bridge, Toure, Adebayour or Lescott - but did include Benjani, Petrov and Garrido - three players Hughes totally ignored.
Tactically, Hughes was totally ignorant. How many leads did he squander by being defensively naive. The one great thing about Mancini so far is how he has organized his defence. Even with Lescott,Toure and Bridges missing, he has revamped his back four, put Richards back with
Kompany and rejuvenated Garrido. If City continues to play at their current form, going to be interesting to see how those super stars on the bench are going to get a game.

Posted by Boniface on 01/13/2010

Well Mark Hughes had no clue as what to do with the talents he had at his disposal. He may have been a great goal scorer, but as a manager for a bigger club like city, the jury is still out there...

King Kev might have spent as a mad man, but he helped the club get back to its rightful place, the Premier. The man's team played great offensive style even though we leaked goals at the back like the Titanic was taking in water.

The Psycho did very well with the very little resources he had at his disposal. Under him madman Joey Burton, SWP and BWphillips, Macken, Jordan, and the few talents the club had did very well to keep the club mid table...

Sven is a great manager and it is sad that some of you true Mancunians out there do not give him credit for the talents, tactical, and technical know how he brought to our beloved club. The man took your beloved England to two 1/4 final places at two world cups.

Tashkin Sinawatra was a blessing in disguise for this club.

Mancini is the man!

Posted by dave on 01/14/2010

What is wrong with the writer dissing Sven? he doesn't even know and yet calls him morally bankrupt because of what he has read on the tabloids.

Sven should NEVER EVER have been fired, it was Thaksin's football naivete that led him to make the decision to fire him.

Wallace Reply Sven's actions which are not in dispute, rather than tabloid stories are the basis for my negativity when it comes to the Swede. That being said, he fixated on playing Vassell which was a huge mistake.

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