When Manchester City sacked Roberto Mancini and appointed Manuel Pellegrini as the new manager it marked a new era for Manchester City. This hasn’t just come on the pitch, but off the pitch there was a drastic change in mood and attitude around the club. The major significance of the appointment of Pellegrini is that it symbolised a new recruitment process for Manchester City. Pellegrini wasn’t appointed for being a big name, he was appointed as he promotes attractive football, has a good record in Europe and had utilised the academies at both Malaga and Villlarreal prior to moving to Eastlands. Managers with much larger reputations were available, but Pellegrini was chosen as he fitted the criteria that Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain look for in their managers. A monumental amount of money has been invested in the City academy in recent years and the City hierarchy certainly don’t want to appoint a Mourinho or Capello type manager that doesn’t prioritise youth development, regardless of their trophy record. The criteria of attacking football and a focus on young players will likely be utilised for choosing Pellegrini’s replacement as it has had a great deal of success and it simply is the ‘Barcelona way’ that Soriano and Begiristain are trying to bring over to Manchester. This criteria notably rules out big names like Diego Simeone and Antonio Conte, but this will not bother the City board, as they want to find the right man.
Further importance will be placed upon the personality of the manager. Under Soriano, Barcelona appointed Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola, two respectable managers who do not attract unnecessary attention to the football club, meaning the pressure is somewhat eased. This idea of finding the right personality seems essential to the new directors, this is why they have chosen to part services with egotistical players such as Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli in favour of calm and collected players such as Jesus Navas and Stevan Jovetic. This idea of finding the right person as well as the right footballer has recently been promoted by Louis Van Gaal, also formerly of Barcelona, it creates a more relaxed atmosphere around the football club and enables to manager to imprint his philosophy on the players. This is often something overlooked by football clubs, but finding managers and players who are solid professionals is extremely important for the club moving forward. The hierarchy will not want a big name with a big personality as next manager, they will want someone in the mould of Pellegrini. I’m not trying to suggest that Pellegrini’s days are numbered, but i can guarantee the directors are already looking at future managers if he decides to retire or return to Chile with his family, they will be eyeing up some targets who like attractive football and have grounded personalities as well as a manager who would not ignore our new multi million pound academy. Below are some names who could possibly fit the bill and could manage us at some point in the future.
Lucien Favre – The Monchengladbach man may be little known to some people, but many leading European clubs will know of his exploits. He began coaching in Switzerland; his most notable feat was no doubt coaching FC Zurich to two league titles, he was credited there for playing an extremely high tempo style of football whilst maintaining a real defensive solidity. In addition to this the average age of his side was around 21 years of age in a squad containing the likes of Gokhan Inler, Blerim Dzemaili and Steven Von Bergen. All of these went on to play for the national side and Inler has developed into a top class player. He continued this at Gladbach, taking over from ex-City player Michael Frontzeck and keeping them up on the final day. However the next season was simply incredible; he led Gladbach to a 4th place finish which included a double over Bayern Munich. He did this whilst playing a fast paced attacking style of football which won plaudits all over Europe. In addition to this his side contained young stars such as Marco Reus, Marc Ter Stegen and Patrick Herrmann. Favre has continued this style of football despite losing key players and Gladbach finished in 9th spot due to a loss in form last season. He isn’t a big name, but his exploits are admirable and he is an extremely skilled tactician who pushes his players to the limit, in his own words he demands full concentration and says his players ‘must improve every day, in passing, shooting, ball control’. This man certainly fits the mould for a Manchester City manager.
Unai Emery – The current Sevilla manager has developed a reputation as one of the best young managers in Europe in recent years. He admirably worked his way up the ranks in Spain, beginning at third tier side Lorca. He got them promoted and nearly achieved a second promotion from the Liga Adelante. After his deparature Lorca were relegated, proving just how essential he was to the club. He moved to Almeria and continued overachieving. He got the team promoted and then led a relatively average side to an 8th place finish whilst playing an attractive style of football which developed the likes of Alvaro Negredo and Felipe Melo into better players. After leaving for Valencia he became one of the best managers in the club’s history. He brought the 4-2-3-1 to Spain playing a system with Silva, Mata, Villa and Pablo Hernandez. Due to awful financial problems this group was broken up, yet Emery led the team to a third place finish and managed to replace the players with the cost-effective signings of people like Roberto Soldado and Sofiane Feghouli. After a brief spell in Russia he moved to Sevilla and recently won the Europa League, thereby proving his European pedigree. What makes Emery such an attractive option is his focus on passing and pressing and his good record in Europe. The owners certainly won’t want another spell like that of Roberto Mancini with poor European form. Like Favre he is also a man with a grounded personality, but also a coach who is improving every day. His tactical knowledge is excellent and he would be a shrewd appointment in the future.
Frank de Boer – Frank is without a doubt one of the most exciting young coaches in Europe, after a terrific playing career he began life coaching the Ajax youth team where he became familiar with young players such as Siem De Jong, Ricardo Van Rhijn and Christian Eriksen who later became key components of the first team when he took over as manager. De Boer favours a high pressing game and his team play a possession-based game based on an intense focus of being patient and waiting for the right opening to appear. This style of football has won Ajax four titles in a row and if they win the league this year it will be a Dutch record, and although the league is somewhat weak at times this is still an incredible achievement. Ajax have also done it in Europe. City fans may remember De Boer outdoing Mancini tactically in the forgettable 2012-2013 campaign where his Ajax side passed City off the park at the Amsterdam Arena. The most attractive part of De Boer is the fact that he utilises the academy, he has somewhat had to do this at Ajax but his youth development is quite incredible, the Ajax team of the weekend had 8 players under the age of 25 and 9 academy graduates in the starting eleven. This is something that will interest Soriano and Begiristain as the academy must be properly utilised, De Boer is capable of this and has shown he can do well in Europe on a limited budget and whilst playing attacking football, he fits the bill perfectly.
Roberto Martinez – A man closer to home is Everton’s Roberto Martinez. His excellent micro management won Wigan the FA Cup and has transformed Everton into a much better team than they were under David Moyes, they are less one dimensional and players such as James McCarthy, Seamus Coleman and Kevin Mirallas have developed into some of the best players of their respective positions in the league. This has been down to Martinez, he is not only an excellent tactician but he is an excellent coach who finds time for every player in his squad, in this sense he is a lot like Manuel Pellegrini who has improved the likes of Samir Nasri, Aleksandar Kolarov and Edin Dzeko with his effective one-on-one training methods. Martinez is arguably less tested than the other three names here as he has never managed in Europe, but this bright young manager has matched himself against the best managers in England such as Pellegrini, Mourinho and Wenger, so there is no doubt he could push this knowledge into Europe. Martinez is definitely one to watch as he knows the league well which would be a selling point to the owners. He is excellent at developing young talent as shown by the arrival of Ross Barkley to the Everton first team. Perhaps most importantly he likes to play attractive football which is something being emulated at every age group in the Man City academy so they are more prepared when they arrive in the first team.
Patrick Vieira – This is a more honorable mention, Patrick is similar to Frank de Boer in Ajax in that he is bringing the young players up so in theory he could be the one to introduce them to the first team. I have no doubt personally that Vieira will manage us in some capacity in the future, but to suggest he would be the next manager seems premature, as he has no experience whatsoever and tactically he is untested at youth level. There is no doubt he has the right philosophy of playing passing football with an emphasis on improving players individually whilst keeping them within a tight framework, but it would be much wiser to group him with one of the above managers by bringing him in as an assistant manager, there he can not only become a more developed tactician, but he can learn the challenge of managing a squad containing 5-6 world class players. I do believe he is being lined up as the sort of Guardiola of Man City in a sense, but personally i think he needs to be tested for a good number of years before we throw him in at the deep end in such a hard league. I do like the idea of recruiting from within however, its a good model to follow.
Other possibilities include Ronald Koeman, Mauricio Pochettino, Uwe Rosler, Vincenzo Montella
Overall, the recruitment process has changed, we don’t just go for the man winning the most trophies like some other clubs, we consider their approach to football, their personality and their views on young players and how they should be developed. This does rule out some big names who would no doubt have success, but there is a long term picture here for the hierarchy, they want managers who are going to build something great for the next coach to work with, not a manager who will win for a few years then have no plan for moving forward. The above names may not even be linked with the job, but they seem more realistic than some of the current names being linked like Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti.
