The Shift in Power?

As Benji kicks off the Man On season with a thoughtful and diligent precis on the weekend's action, I am left to write inspired only by an air of disillusionment and anger. News has broken today that Craig Bellamy will be playing his football in The Championship next season, presumably leaving many premier league fans as exasperated with the news as I am. Bellamy returns home to Wales, effectively ending his top flight career. However, as we all know, the 31 year old Welshman's move across the border is nothing to do with football and marks a significant moment in the development of the premier league. Manchester City's growing monopoly on the transfer market has taken a sour turn as they attempt to ruin the career of one of Britain's most talented forwards.

Many will point to Bellamy's affiliation with Cardiff as the reason for the move; however, make no mistake lads, Roberto Mancini has achieved exactly what he set out to do. Clearly, if what we read in the press is to be believed, Bellamy and Mancini's personal relationship has deteriorated. 'He hasn't spoken to me since February', Bellamy reported as he gave an insight into Mancini's somewhat flawed man management.

Mancini is not the first manager to sell a player on the basis of personal differences; nor is he the first to show Bellamy the door. The issue is about respect and professionalism; and never in all my time of observing football have I seen a player hung out to dry in this manner. Manchester City's quite vulgar financial prowess has left them in a position of ultimate power and has illustrated further a potential shift from the much maligned 'player power' to 'club power'.

Having decided that Bellamy was surplus to requirements, Roberto Mancini made him available for transfer. Naturally Bellamy had aquired a number of suitors and claimed he had 'never had so many top flight offers'. As Tottenham Manager Harry Redknapp swooped for Bellamy's signiture, the news broke that Bellamy would not be permitted to sign for any team considered, by Mancini, to be a rival. With the Italian running scared, this was deemed to rule out any of the interested premiership parties, a policy Redknapp himself described as 'ridiculous'.

Bellamy's performances and workrate last season won him countless plaudits, winning Player of the Month twice during Mancini's first 6 months at the helm. Having performed so well in any company, such abrasive treatment would leave anyone filing for unfair dismissal. But football's different; and City know it. Not even the £10 million Bellamy could attract would sway City. Therefore, Bellamy signed for his hometown club Cardiff on loan, wandering into the abyss in terms of top flight football. A club he has turned down his country for on numerous occasion has rewarded him with the sort of loyalty you expect when wandering into an oppostion trench. With the Welshman popular at Eastlands, and with a combative, but not creative, midfielder earning nearly £1 million per month, Mancini has little time to prove his methods.

Though the main question here is this: has 'player power' plateaued? With Bellamy left snookered, Fabregas still at Arsenal, Scott Parker going nowhere and even Mascherano turning out at Anfield on Sunday, it's food for thought.

Hughes, Mancini and Benitez

So, here begins my first proper post. While this blog is in its embryonic stages, the season is not and my mind and opinion have been spilling over for years. Therefore, I face a uphill struggle to avoid this turning into a stream of ranting and conjecture…I’ll be trying my best. Talking of tough challenges, I am going to kick off today with my thoughts regarding two men experienced in the hardest job in the game.

There is obviously only one place to start. Poor old Mark Hughes, or so the popular feeling seems to be. The Guardian and The Telegraph both today report that new Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was approached at the beginning of December, although Chief Executive Garry Cook had previously insisted that the decision to axe Hughes was taken after the 3-0 defeat to Spurs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/21/roberto-mancini-manchester-city1


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/mancity/6861424/Manchester-City-manager-Roberto-Mancini-blows-chief-executive-Garry-Cooks-cover.html

This is all obviously very embarrassing for the club, and will not help dampen increasing speculation that Mancini is facing a player revolt led by that bastion of compassion and ambassador of goodwill, Craig Bellamy. I, along with it seems the majority of the public, feel a great deal of sympathy for Hughes, who has always struck me as a decent, honest football man. However, I do think that there is a critical dimension to this situation that is being overlooked. Hughes enjoyed unrivalled, almost unprecedented financial backing from the owners. Whilst I am not claiming this means he should be delivering success by December (is this even possible??), in accepting the responsibility that comes with that cheque book he acknowledged that his was a unique situation in world football at the time. My point is, the behaviour of Manchester City may have been disloyal by conventional standards, but surely this is a club not operating within the same norms and values as the other 19? Along with Chelsea, they have set their own benchmark in terms of investment and profile building, why not set a new standard in terms of patience with a manager? Whilst the Premier League happily allow gargantuan levels of investment from initially benevolent foreign owners, no-one is in a position to complain when these powerful shareholders run their clubs how they see fit. And who can deny they might be a tiny bit disgruntled when they realise they have spent £38m on Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott.

The other man under a noticeable amount of pressure is a certain controversy-courting Spaniard, who‘s side went down to a gutless defeat at Fratton Park on Saturday. Rafa Bentiez’s post match press conference was bewildering and confusing to even the most optimistic Liverpool fan. To those with a more balanced view of the world, both performances at Portsmouth (the players’ for 90 minutes and Rafa’s afterwards) stank of a club in crisis, where the manager is starting to see how precarious his position is, and the threat of losing the dressing room. Benitez has, in my opinion, benefited for a year or so now from the extremely controversial ownership of the club. The unpopularity of Hicks and Gillette is such that amongst the fans, to question Benitez has been to implicitly support the Americans, unacceptable in the eyes of any red. They have united opinion against themselves to such an extent, that their attacks on the manager have led the fans to support him blindly despite his obvious shortfallings. The club cannot afford to sack Benitez, but at the same time they surely cannot afford to give him another transfer window to pursue his skewed policies. The bleakest thing for Liverpool FC, is that to get rid of the manager gives the two clueless owners license to pursue their favoured personnel, and as we have seen before, Klinsmann would not have been a popular choice. I once saw on a banner at Anfield, “If it ain’t broke, don’t HICKS it”. The problem now, is that the club clearly is broke both metaphorically and financially. Whoever’s fault that might be, the team responsible for the clean-up operation are questionable to say the least. For me, I would like to see Rafa walk, and King Kenny pull off his carpet slippers one last time to steer the club until the end of the season.

Thanks for reading, as I say comments and criticisms are openly encouraged, and I leave you with a little reminder why we should all have a soft spot for Roberto Mancini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHbTHaJIM4U