He succeeded where so many under the payment of Massimo Moratti, 10 other tacticians in fact, had failed. Yet that wasn’t enough to save his job on Tuesday afternoon when Moratti, who had no need for Margaret Mountford on his right or Nick Hewer to his left, pointed his finger and said: “You’re fired!”
It was a brave move by Sir Massimo seeing as Mancini, a Coach he had once longed for, had just delivered a third successive Scudetto. To put that into perspective, no other tactician – not even the great Helenio Herrera – had achieved such a feat with the Nerazzurri.
Those unprecedented triumphs would normally guarantee legendary status for a Coach, but Mancini has never found it easy to net recognition. During his playing days, he was unfortunate to ply his trade in the same No 10 generation as Roberto Baggio and Gianfranco Zola. He may have had the skills to rival them technically, but Mancio’s impulsive nature made it hard for the public to fall in love with the man as well as the player.
It’s a similar scenario today. Although success and Inter clearly didn’t mix before his 2004 arrival, Roberto is not really considered to be in the same management class of Fabio Capello, Marcello Lippi or Carlo Ancelotti. For many, he’s a hero of circumstance, aided to success by the Calciopoli tsunami and the Moratti family fortune.
In his defence, he’s viewed in such terms through no fault of his own – if you eliminate their Champions League exits, of course. The courts handed him his first Scudetto, the second was won at a stroll – which subsequently made him guilty of nothing more than being in charge of a very strong squad – and his crime over their latest title was that they almost threw it away. It’s those factors, as well as his seemingly dubious man-management skills, which raise doubts over Mancio’s true quality.
Next term would have been his sternest San Siro test with Roma gunning for more improvement, Juventus back in challenging shape and Milan focusing on the Scudetto for a change. That campaign would have potentially provided some answers, but responses which Moratti felt there was no need for. As far as he was concerned, Mancini just wasn’t special enough. Time will tell whether he was right…作者: 情定国米 时间: 2008-5-28 21:21:33