Man City owners should listen to support for Mancini

 

Manchester City fans chose to get behind Roberto Mancini with full vocal support against Chelsea. The owners should pay attention, suggests Christian Crowther...

 

Roberto Mancini would be the first to admit that his team's title defence has at times lacked the conviction required to keep their neighbours from stealing it  straight back.

 

In all probability the 12-point gap, or more accurately chasm, is now unassailable despite City's rousing 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday lunchtime.

 

The champions' chances of clawing back their vast disadvantage and retaining their crown are rated out at 21.0, even though they managed to close an eight-point  difference last season from as late as April 8.

 

However, despite the unlikelihood of United conceding such a lead again, the message from fans to Sheikh Mansour and co was made abundantly clear from the stands.

 

The crowd at the Etihad Stadium chose to sing the name of their Italian manager incessantly, as they often do, in stark contrast to the Rafa Benitez boo-boys in the  Chelsea end.

 

And if anything should put off the owners from making a rash appointment at the end of the season then it was the deafening cacophony of boos which they witnessed as

Chelsea's first opponents under the Spaniard back in November.

 

This vociferous Etihad support is easy to understand too. Roberto Mancini has endured speculation surrounding his job even as far back as the summer. Even before a  ball was kicked in defence of the title that he and his players fought so valiantly to win, names such as Jose Mourinho were being linked to his job.

 

After being starved of success for nearly half a century, Mancini has delivered the club two successive trophies, the FA Cup and then of course the big one.

 

Of course some fans will not be entirely happy that they trail United by such a margin, but the overwhelming majority will rightly understand that sustained success is  only usually created with stability.

 

When Arsene Wenger failed to retain his maiden Premier League title in 1998/99, the Arsenal board didn't act by sacking him and, although Manchester United went on to  dominate for the next two years, the Frenchman then came back with arguably the best ever team to take the title in 2001/02 and then 2003/04.

 

Admittedly, City's European showing was nowhere near the required mark but Mancini deserves at least one more crack at remedying that.

 

City are still in with a big shout of winning the FA Cup - rated as the 2.86 frontrunners - following a favourable home draw against Barnsley in the sixth round.

 

If the champs win the cup, or even if they don't, Mancini should still have a job at the Etihad next season. The owners may well have other ideas though.

 

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