Having stressed in his statement that City had approached Mancini only after the 3-0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur last Wednesday, Cook was forced into the most embarrassing of climb-downs when the former Inter Milan coach admitted that he had met al-Mubarak and Sheikh Mansour, the club’s billionaire owner, a fortnight ago. Oops. Cook at that point went crimson and, squirming in his seat, had little choice but to correct his original claims.
As such, his statement that “I think it is important for people to know that Roberto was only offered the job after the Spurs game; we negotiated on Thursday and finalised his agreement on Friday” became this: “Two weeks ago Roberto met with Khaldoon,” Cook said. “After the Spurs game, there were further discussions on a more serious level.
“The [original] discussions were general. They were about football. We were considering our managerial options at the time. It [the manager’s job] was discussed in general terms.”
It was one of the most remarkable examples of someone slitting their own throat in modern football.
Note that Garry Cook's statement was revealed to be false not by some great Woodward and Bernstein operation, nor by a counter-statement from Mark Hughes and Mark Bowen, but by an admission from Roberto Mancini himself. If the new manager, who has an obvious motivation to back up the official board line, can expose flaws in the statement, then it suggests that it will take no great prodding to reveal the whole thing as a sham.
There are so many more unanswered questions, but I will just take one set. Cook said that after the summer recruitment drive the target was changed from sixth place to seventy points. How explicit was this made to Mark Hughes? He certainly denied it in his LMA statement. How far below 70 points would have been ok? Were we not close enough to the necessary average to judge Hughes at the end of the season? And what of the cups? A League Cup semi final is beyond our usual achievement, was this factored in at no point? Cook said that 'the trajectory of recent results' was below our target, but as Henry Winter pointed out:
An eight year-old could have picked holes in Cook's anti-conspiracy theory. Observing that the Premier League target for this season had been changed to "70 points'', Cook rather ignored that the table showed City were on course for that under Hughes. If they win their next two games, Stoke City and Wolves away, City will have 35 points from 19 games, halfway to Cook's target at the midway point of the season.
Anyway, the truth is out now. The manager's job was effectively offered to Mancini after the Hull game; Hughes' fate was left to rest on a dodgy penalty decision against Kolo Touré. In one nostalgic sense this is good news, it tells us that there is something immortal about the soul of Manchester City. We can sell Maine Road, knock it down and move to a 47,000 seater stadium across town, we can get taken over by a Thai Prime Minister and then an Arab Sheikh, we can buy Robinho, Shay Given and Carlos Tévez, but still, in a quite fundamental sense, Peter Swales will always be chairman of MCFC.
10 comments:
I had been defending Cook up to now, but not after this press conference. He was an embarrassment. With all of his experience, and 48 hours to get his story together, he came across defensive, aggressive, and uncomfortable. Not world-class at all.
Mancini, however, I liked. He came across very well, and I'm looking forward to his team at Stoke.
Your penchant for quoting that slimeball Henry Winter on an alleged City Blog is deeply insulting to genuine fans. Lonesome, try to get it into into your Telegraph corrupted brain that there is no easy or painless way of getting rid of a failing incumbent. Would you prefer weeks of Kinnear like limbo and dislocation, or a swift transition to a real winner. Having made this brave and forward-looking decision, our Club has done nothing wrong and has acted with perfect propriety throughout. Garry Cook suffered it's true, but he is just too honest to face that pack of twisted, sneering hacks - and your mate is the worst.
I don't subscribe to the 'everybody is against us' theory or at least I didn't until yesterday. I concur with Jonny Crossan, Garry Cook did not paint himself in glory to say the least but the pack mentality of the journalists made me feel very uneasy.
Henry Winters perspective suggests that hiring and firing in football has only started this week. Twas ever thus. He does not conceal his agenda very well at all reporting his own tainted feelings and dressing them up as fact.
You would be well served to look a little deeper for opinion than a bunch of hackneyed journalists who will pursue every angle for a good story.
Hughes has gone, we move on with or without 'fans' like you.
I am with Johnny Crossan too. Winter is a slime ball and his sole purpose was to launch yet another attack on City. Sanctifying Hughes in the process is all part of his pathetic style. Cook has handled this badly fact but we all know (that is City fans) that Hughes was a long way from turning the spin into reality. In the end it was his team. No one elses. That brought him down.
I think it is quite obvious that the reason why Mancini was contacted by the Chairman and the Owner after the Hull game is because the club is looking for managerial choices, hence the contact with Hiddink's agent. Cook actually said the right thing that the job offer was made AFTER the Spurs game, but the way he conveys it is very sneaky.
but still, in a quite fundamental sense, Peter Swales will always be chairman of MCFC
Pithy, but brilliant. I salute you.
Pithy perhaps but pathetically belligerent! i think the club has issues a statement today that simply dismisses your nonsense article!
I've read this blog for a long time, since the it's early days! and to be honest, this flippant attitude towards any facts and reliance on journo nonsense has you undone sir! Articles once containing insight and balance are now blase tripe, not worth reading!
oh dear, another prominent fan who can only use his literacy to perpetuate the 'typical city' mythos.
you're turning into schindler.
check your comprehension of the statements yesterday. where are cook's version of events, and mancini's, irreconsilable?
Whether or not Hughes deserved to go, this was handled terrible. I've seen more poise from our backline against Burnley than I've seen from Garry Cook. He's an embarassment.
And amateur hour continues. Garry Cook should never been anywhere near this press conference. Here's a guy who likes to tout his CV as a saavy business man and he can't even understand the basics of PR 101.
We have the media not only smelling blood but a potential conspiracy and not only does he walk in with a target painted on his chest but opens his mouth and immediately pours gasoline on the fire. Bravo Mr.Cook!
Watching this farce was so painful and embarracing it bordered on absurdity. The man did absolutely everthing your are not suppossed to do. He was defensive and evasive, combative and irritable. Not once did he look thoughtful or calm. His face was so tense and rigid the entire time that he looked like he needed to go to the loo to pass a shit the size of a bowling ball.
And people are are surprised the media had a field day with this man? Seriously?
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