It's the first, and most certain not the last, day of attacks and sniping from the press at Manchester City's antics in sacking Mark Hughes.

Step forward Garry Cook and Brian Marwood, two people who are set to go down in City folklore as shadowy figures dressed as the grim reaper, skulking around in the dark plotting the assassination of a man thought to be in their circle of trust.

Yes, that's Cook - who used to make sports kit and not buy people to wear it - and Brian Marwood - former television co-commentator who left few disappointed when he put the mic down to head to Eastlands.

And so it's over to Matt Lawton over at the Daily Mail to join us in our condemnaton of those who subjected Hughes to a very public hanging on Saturday.

Vultures. That was the nickname certain members of Manchester City's coaching staff gave to Garry Cook and Brian Marwood when they sensed something was up. When they sensed, a few weeks ago, that the two men behind the sacking of Mark Hughes, and the pursuit of Roberto Mancini, were planning something drastic.

For City's chief executive and his 'football administrator' sidekick, it was a case of kill or be killed. A case of terminating Hughes before the club's Abu Dhabi owners turned their sights on them.

But Cook lost his nerve and proved, yet again, just how ill-suited he is to the role he believes he is performing - not just turning City into one of the most successful clubs in Europe but one that commands respect.

To do that, you need a bit of class, a bit of style. But the manner in which Hughes was dismissed, indeed the manner in which Cook has conducted himself since moving from Nike to the City of Manchester Stadium 19 months ago, would suggest he is seriously lacking in such qualities.

This is the man who referred to Thaksin Shinawatra as 'a nice guy to play golf with'. The man who responded to Kaka's decision not to join City from AC Milan by accusing one of the greatest clubs in Europe of 'bottling it'.

Cook had to send a written apology to fans when he welcomed Uwe Rosler to the 'Manchester United hall of fame', and sounded just as ridiculous when he declared that 'Richard Dunne doesn't roll off the tongue in Beijing'.

Recognising how little experience he had in football, Cook brought in Marwood earlier this year. Hughes didn't want the former Arsenal winger around, fearing he would become the type of director of football figure modern managers so loathe. But Cook ignored those concerns and went ahead with appointing his former Nike colleague.

Cracks began to appear in the relationship between Cook and Hughes from the moment Marwood arrived, and at no point was Marwood ever embraced by Hughes and his staff.

Hughes did not deserve to be sacked when the 4-3 win over Sunderland left his side within touching distance of the Champions League places, and he did not deserve to be treated the way he was on Saturday, either.

He was humiliated, and that does not reflect well on the two men who were the architects of his dismissal, just as it does not reflect well on the club's owners. They stripped a great servant of the English game of his dignity, and in so doing did themselves untold damage.

And for what? Roberto Mancini, an Italian coach who won titles with Inter Milan at a time when Serie A was in the midst of a scandal that saw Juventus relegated and Inter's other big rivals given points deductions.

Just time to touch on the rumblings in the background about Chelsea and England skipper John Terry, and the accusation that he took cash to arrange a training ground tour. Some are now suggesting that he could lose the England armband, as Dominic Fifield discusses in the Guardian.

Revelations in a Sunday newspaper, even after the carefully worded statement released in response by Chelsea which denied any wrongdoing, suggest the centre-half is at best guilty of remarkable naivety. The club have publicly accepted their player's explanation that at no stage had he asked for or accepted any money from the three undercover reporters posing as wealthy businessmen during a meeting at Chelsea's Cobham base last Thursday in return for a tour of the facilities and a viewing of training.

Tony Bruce, the middleman filmed by the News of the World accepting a black folder supposedly containing £10,000 in £50 notes, is a long-standing friend who has known Terry since his days in the Chelsea youth team. Yet he is also a notorious ticket tout, jokingly referred to as "Tony Ticket". Is he the kind of figure with whom Terry should be seen associating, even within the confines of his club? The scenario, played out in the Cobham canteen with an unsuspecting Carlo Ancelotti apparently eating at an adjoining table, would surely set alarm bells ringing. Judging by the laughing and joking, and the footage of Bruce tucking the wallet under his arm, it did not.