Man City confirm Mancini sacking

 

Roberto Mancini has beaten Sir Alex Ferguson, Rafael Benitez and David Moyes out of the door, sacked following a trophyless season...

 

The most landscape-changing month in Premier League history has claimed another casualty with Manchester City confirming on Monday night that Roberto Mancini has been  dismissed with immediate effect.

 

The timing is particularly harsh, arriving on the year anniversary of the club's historic and dramatic first Premier League title, with the club claiming that the  speculation over the manager's future prompted them to act before the end of the season.

 

The club statement, which alludes to the failure to meet any of the targets set for the campaign besides qualifying for the Champions League, can be read in full here.

 

Mancini retained the fans backing throughout a disappointing defence, with his name sung continuously at Saturday's FA Cup final - which they lost 1-0 to Wigan - just  hours after newspaper reports had claimed that his employers had approached Manuel Pellegrini about taking the job in the summer.

 

Brian Kidd will take charge until a permanent replacement is confirmed but the Malaga coach, who denied rumours that he had already agreed a deal with Manchester City,  is the early 1.29 favourite to succeed Mancini.

 

Pellegrini encourages attractive football and has led Villarreal and Malaga into the Champions League knockout rounds, while his one ultimately silverware-free season  at Real Madrid saw him attain the Spanish giants' then-record point haul against a backdrop of fierce media criticism. The Chilean's nine years in Europe have brought  no noteworthy medals though.

 

The only other single-digit candidate within an hour of the announcement is Jose Mourinho at 7.0. However, it is widely believed that Manchester City power  players Ferran Soriano (chief executive) and Txiki Begiristain (director of football) don't want the seemingly outgoing Real Madrid chief at the Etihad Stadium.

 

Three of this season's Premier League top six are guaranteed to be changing managers this summer, with Sir Alex Ferguson retiring, David Moyes leaving Everton to  replace him at Manchester United and now Mancini axed.

 

On top of that, Rafael Benitez's interim spell at Chelsea will conclude, with Mourinho 1.26 to take his place, and it wouldn't be a complete shock if the boss  of whoever loses the north London tussle for fourth between Arsenal and Tottenham also departs.

 

The 2013/14 campaign is already shaping up to be spectacular. Manchester United and City are 3.15 co-favourites for the title, with Chelsea rated 3.85 .

 

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