| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Roberto Mancini | ||
| Date of birth | 27 November 1964 | ||
| Place of birth | Iesi, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Manchester City (Manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1981–1982 | Bologna | 30 | (9) |
| 1982–1997 | Sampdoria | 424 | (132) |
| 1997–2000 | Lazio | 87 | (15) |
| 2001 | Leicester City | 4 | (0) |
| Total | 545 | (156) | |
| National team | |||
| 1982–1986 | Italy U21 | 26 | (9) |
| 1984–1994 | Italy | 36 | (4) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2001–2002 | Fiorentina | ||
| 2002–2004 | Lazio | ||
| 2004–2008 | Internazionale | ||
| 2009– | Manchester City | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Roberto Mancini (Italian pronunciation: [roˈbɛrto manˈtʃini]; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager, formerly an international player and current manager of Premier League club Manchester City. As a player Mancini was best known for his time at Sampdoria, where he played more than 550 matches, and helped them win the Serie A league title, four Coppa Italias and the Cup Winners Cup, whilst being capped 36 times by Italy.
As a player, he gained a penchant as a future manager and would often give team talks at half-time[1] and ultimately became an assistant to Sven-Göran Eriksson at Lazio in the twilight of his playing career. After his retirement, Mancini embarked on a successful managerial career. A cup specialist,[2][3] Mancini has never failed to reach a semi-final of a major national cup competition in every season he has managed from 2002 to 2011. He also guided the Italian clubs he managed to a record 5 consecutive Coppa Italia finals from 2004 to 2008, with Lazio once in 2004 and with Inter in the following four seasons.
Mancini's first managerial role was at a cash stricken Fiorentina at only 35 years old and managed to win a Coppa Italia, but left with Fiorentina facing bankruptcy. Months later, he took over as manager at Lazio, where again he inherited financial constraints and was forced to lose a number of key players. With limited resources during his two season tenure, he still managed to win another Coppa Italia, reach a UEFA Cup semi-final, and secure a lucrative Champions League place.
In 2004, Mancini was given the chance to manage a major club, being offered the manager's job at Internazionale. During his tenure at Inter, the club won three consecutive Serie A titles (an Inter club record) and a European record 17 consecutive league game victories stretching nearly half a season.[4] and became Inter's most successful manager in 30 years.[5] Despite his domestic success, many pundits[6] saw the repeated failure to win the coveted Champions League as the main reason for his sacking in 2008.[7]
After being out of football for over a year, Mancini was appointed Manchester City manager in December 2009 and his team-building achievements at Lazio and Inter were a factor in his appointment.[8] In the 2010-11 season, his first full season at City, Mancini guided the club to Champions League football and the FA Cup, and has moulded City into a sound defensive unit.[9][10] He maintains a tradition of wearing a scarf of his club's colours, something which has been continued at Manchester City.[11]
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Mancini was born in the small town of Iesi, Marche, in 1964, but then moved onto the mountain town of Rocadaspida and was raised by Aldo and Marianna Mancini along with his younger sister Stephanie. Raised a Roman Catholic, his young life in Iesi revolved around religion and football.[12] He was an altar boy and played for the local Aurora Calcio football team in his youth. On one occasion, a fixture clashed with his first Holy Communion. Halfway through the ceremony, the eight-year-old Mancini was nowhere to be seen. His local priest who was administering his first communion frequently coached football, he heard they were losing 2–0 at half-time and so he asked a young Mancini quietly after receiving his communion if he had his football kit and boots with him. Roberto said they were in the changing rooms and so he told him to sneak out of the side door and put them on because his team needed him, unbeknownst to his father.[12]
Mancini debuted in the Italian Serie A for Bologna on 12 September 1981. The following year, he was bought by Sampdoria, for £2.2 million, whom he played for until 1997 [1]. He later played for Lazio (1997–2000) and Leicester City (2001).
With Sampdoria, he formed a dynamic strike partnership with Gianluca Vialli, and helped the club to its only league title in 1991, four Coppa Italias (1985, 1988, 1989 and 1994) and a Cup Winners' Cup in 1990. He also appeared in the final of the 1991–1992 European Cup against Barcelona.
With Lazio he won his second scudetto (2000) and Cup Winners' Cup titles (1999) as well as two more Coppa Italias (1998 and 2000). In the 1999–2000 season, Lazio won the Scudetto and Coppa Italia, but Mancini failed to score in 20 matches and he announced his playing retirement. He joined Lazio’s coaching staff as Sven-Göran Eriksson’s number two.
Joining Leicester City in January 2001,[13] Mancini made his Premier League debut against Arsenal at the age of 36, but failed to complete 90 minutes in his five appearances for the club.[14] In early February, he was given leave of absence, citing personal reasons. He telephoned the club on 14 February, however, and informed them he would not be returning to England (he had been offered the manager's job at Fiorentina).[15] Despite this, he cites his time at Leicester as the period during which he fell in love with the English game, and which later prompted him to accept the job at Manchester City.[16]
Despite success at club level, Mancini never became a regular for Italy. At the under-21 level, Mancini was part of the team which reached the semi-finals in the 1984 Championship and finished runners-up in 1986. He made his international senior squad debut in 1984 against Canada,[17] won 36 caps, and scored four goals for his country (including a goal against West Germany at Euro 1988). He was also a non-playing member of the Italian squad at the 1990 World Cup, being kept out of the side by competition from Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Baggio. His international career ended after a dispute with national team coach Arrigo Sacchi, when Mancini was upset because he would not be guaranteed a first team place at the 1994 World Cup. Fierce competition for places hindered his international opportunities with forward players like Gianfranco Zola, Roberto Baggio and later Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero hastened his self-imposed exile from the Italian national team.
Although Mancini had written a research pamphlet entitled "Il Trequartista",[18] which examined the role of an attacking midfielder, he had not as yet attained the necessary coaching badges to become a manager. He therefore needed special dispensation from the Italian football authorities to take the post at Fiorentina.[19] Fiorentina was plagued by financial problems and made occasional playing appearances himself. According to various sources,[20] Mancini sometimes worked unpaid and even received death threats as key players such as Rui Costa and Francesco Toldo had to be sold. Despite this, Mancini managed to win the Coppa Italia before quitting in January 2002, after just 10 months in the job, with Fiorentina in the relegation zone of Serie A.[20] Fiorentina were subsequently relegated in June 2002.[21]
In May 2002, Mancini was appointed manager of Lazio. He was again restricted by financial considerations, having to sell key players such as Hernán Crespo and Alessandro Nesta, and players were forced to take an 80 percent pay cut. In his first season with Lazio, however, the club reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. In 2003–04, Lazio won the Coppa Italia.[22] Lazio finished fourth in 2003 and sixth in 2004. Before the start of the 2004–05 season, rumours circulated in the Italian press that Internazionale had approached Mancini to fill the recently-vacated managerial position at the club. Shortly after, Mancini quit Lazio and announced that he would be joining Inter.
Under Mancini, Inter soon won the club's first domestic trophy since 1989. Inter became the dominant team in Italy.
In Mancini's first season, Inter won the Coppa Italia with a 3–0 victory over [[A.S. Roma|Roma at the San Siro. Inter finished third in Serie A and reached the Champions League quarter-finals only to be knocked out by city rivals Milan 3–0 on aggregate. In August 2005, Inter won the Italian Super Cup for the second time in their history with a 1–0 victory over Juventus.
Inter again won the Italian Cups and Italian Super Cup. Following the Calciopoli scandal, Juventus were stripped of the Scudetto title, which was handed to Inter instead.
Inter achieved a record-breaking run of 17 consecutive victories in Serie A, starting on 25 September 2006, with a 4–1 home win over Livorno and ending on 28 February 2007 after a 1–1 draw at home to Udinese. The run lasted for almost five months and is among the best in European league football history. Inter won a second successive league title with five games to spare and only losing one league game all season. Inter finished with a record-breaking 97 points, which is an Italian football record and, until 2010, was a European record.
Mancini became the third coach in Inter history to win back-to-back league titles after Alfredo Foni (1952–53 and 1953–54) and Helenio Herrera (1964–65 and 1965–66).
Inter also progressed to the Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup for the third consecutive season, but were beaten in both finals by Roma. Once again, however, Inter struggled in Europe. In the Champions League they were knocked out in the first round by Valencia. At the end of the game, there was a mass brawl involving both sets of players.[23] Mancini was not involved in the incident, but camera footage showed him attempting to block a camera's view, before he was seen shrugging his shoulders and walking away.
This was Mancini's fourth, and final, season in charge of Inter. His reputation continued to grow as he added a third consecutive Serie A title to his honours. Again he guided Inter to the Coppa Italia final, but lost for a second consecutive season to Roma, 2–1 at the Stadio Olimpico.
Despite his successes, the inability to make any real progress in the Champions League displeased Inter owner Massimo Moratti. Inter were knocked out in the second round of the Champions League by Liverpool. In March 2008, amid rumours that he was to be sacked and replaced by José Mourinho at the end of the season, Mancini announced his intention to step down at the end of the 2007–08 season. He rescinded this decision a day later after meeting with Inter President Massimo Moratti.[24]
On 29 May 2008, Inter officially announced the sacking of Mancini. Club Chairman Massimo Moratti justified the sacking by pointing to Mancini's negative comments after the Liverpool defeat.[25] He was replaced by José Mourinho, formerly of Chelsea.[26]
Mancini was linked to the vacant Chelsea job in May 2008[27] and then the Notts County job[28] On 30 October 2009, Mancini won compensation for his sacking by Inter.[29] The contract settlement, however, meant Mancini was actually unemployable by any other club from May 2008 to October 2009. It was rumoured that Mancini was entitled to a €16 million pay-off, but in the end, he reportedly settled for €5 million.[24]
On 19 December 2009, Mancini was publicly revealed to be taking over as manager of Manchester City on a three-and-a-half year deal following the sacking of Mark Hughes. With wealthy Emirati owners who were willing to invest heavily in the team, Manchester City had become a club expectant of success.[30]
Having been appointed half-way through the season, Mancini's arrival had an immediate impact on City's form, with four consecutive wins. Mancini won his first ever Manchester Derby 2–1 in a Carling Cup semi-final first leg.[31] Manchester United won the second-leg 3–1, however, and eliminated City from the competition.
In April, Manchester City moved into fourth place in the Premier League. On May 5, however, a single goal defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur meant that City missed out on a Champions League spot. City finished the season in fifth place, their highest Premier League finish.[32] There had been speculation that Mancini might lose his job if City failed to secure Champions League football, but chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak gave his support to Mancini.[33]
Mancini spent heavily during the summer transfer window. He signed German international defender Jérôme Boateng from Hamburg for approximately £10.64 million,[34] Spanish World Cup winner David Silva from Valencia for approximately £24 million,[35] Yaya Touré from Barcelona for around £24 million,[36] and Aleksandar Kolarov from Lazio for approximately £19 million.[37]
The 2010–11 Premier League season was marked by runs of mixed form. With a 2-0 win away at Wigan Athletic on 19 September 2010, City moved into fourth position in the league and did not drop out of the top four positions during the rest of the season. In October and November, the team struggled for form, which put some pressure on Mancini,[38] with his tactics widely criticised following two consecutive 0–0 home draws with Manchester United and Birmingham City.[39]
A fine run of form in the weeks running up to [[Christmas[[, however, meant City occupied first place in the Premier League twice over the Christmas period. In the ten games before the 15 January 2011, City won seven times, drew twice, and lost only once as they moved into title contention, whilst also securing passage into the Round of 32 of the Europa League by finishing as the top team in Group A. As a result of his team's strong league form, Mancini was awarded the Premier League Manager of the Month award for December.[40]
Premier League form tailed off again in the new year with City jointly contesting the FA Cup and Europa League, and Mancini cited burnout for losing ground in the league title race.[41] City were eliminated from the Europa League by Dynamo Kyiv in March, but his team replied strongly by winning eight out of the next ten matches, including an FA Cup semi-final victory at Wembley Stadium over local rivals Manchester United in April. A win over Tottenham Hotspur in May guaranteed City the opportunity to play Champions League football the following season. This win was followed by City winning the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Stoke City in the following weekend's final at Wembley. This FA Cup triumph meant that Mancini joined five other City managers who have all won major honours, and it has finally ended the club's longest trophy drought in its history.[42][43][44]
Due to their late run of form, City finished third in the league ahead of Arsenal after a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers on the last day of the season, thereby avoiding the need to participate in play-off round fixtures in order to progress to the group stages of the following season's Champions League competition. Only goal difference separated City from achieving a second place finish over Chelsea.
The club were quieter in the closed season transfer window than in previous years, with the club's spending of approximately £75 million more in line with the corresponding amounts spent by rivals Manchester United and Liverpool. £60 million of this sum was used to purchase two players: Sergio Agüero, for a club record fee, and Samir Nasri. Other players purchased during the summer included Gaël Clichy and Stefan Savić, while Owen Hargreaves joined on a free transfer after having been released by Manchester United.
Manchester City started this Premier League season very strongly, winning 12 of their first 14 matches, and scoring an impressive 48 goals while only conceding 13. These results left City undefeated and five points clear at the top of the league over second-placed local rivals Manchester United by the begining of December. A revitalised Edin Džeko won the Premier League player of the month award for August 2011, and David Silva won the same award for September 2011. Many were impressed with the impact of Agüero and Nasri which had given City an exciting, attacking verve.[45][46][47] Mancini was also responsible for inflicting Manchester United's worst loss since 1955 when his City side won 6-1 at Old Trafford.[48] He was named Premier League Manager of the Month as a result of Manchester's City strong form in the month of October.
Chelsea was the first team to beat Mancini's unbeaten team on 12 December 2011 with 2-1 win, which ends Manchester City's 14 unbeaten games in the 2011–12 Premier League matches.
Mancini places great emphasis on building from the back, stressing the importance of not conceding a goal means the team will always have an opportunity to win, going as far to say, "I like 1-0 wins. When you don't concede a goal and you have players like Edin Džeko, Carlos Tévez or David Silva, you win 90%. I prefer we are boring for two to three matches and we win 1-0... If you watch teams that won titles, they conceded very few goals."[49] Despite this, some argue Mancini is more of a "defence first" manager, rather than a "win first" manager,[50] a style that has been criticised by some in the British media. Others, however, believe his pragmatic and cautious approach is what the team lacked, and that Mancini is adopting a style to ensure City can challenge for trophies regularly.[51][52][53][54]
Although Mancini has been defensive in some fixtures at Manchester City which has attracted criticism. Mancini did inherit a team from Mark Hughes, which whilst showing great prolificacy and potential in front of goal, had a very insecure defence. Months of intensively coaching his defence, even throwing young Dedryck Boyata into the fray from the youth team in Mancini's first few weeks enabled him to get his tenure at City off to a positive start.
In Internazionale's Serie A winning season 2007-08, Inter conceded the fewest goals in the league - 26 to be precise, 11 fewer than Juventus and Roma. At Manchester City, his team has gradually garnered a reputation as being well organised defensively and tough to break down. In Mancini's first full season in charge at City, they conceded 33 goals in the Premier League, fewest conceded along with Chelsea and 18 clean sheets, the highest in the 2010-11 Premier League season.
Mancini's training methods have been criticised by some City players[55] and especially by ex-Manchester City fitness coach Raymond Verheijen, who is a personal fitness coach for Craig Bellamy.[56] The training sessions are known for being very competitive and has led to well publicised bust ups leading to City earning the nickname of "Fight Club" and recently Mancini was left nursing a sore calf after being flattened by summer signing Stefan Savić who was taking part in his first training session as a City player.
During his time at Manchester City, Mancini has tried to stamp his authority with rebellious players who are unhappy or are not performing and has stated "If a top player is not happy then it's better to go".[57][58] It has been alleged that Mancini has had frosty relationships with Craig Bellamy,[59] club physiotherapist Jamie Murphy[60] and Emmanuel Adebayor[61] who was unhappy at not getting first team football. Manchester City players have alluded to Mancini's occasional "hairdryer treatment" at half-time if he feels his team are not playing well.[62][63]
Mancini has been married for nearly 20 years to his wife, Federica. They have a daughter and two sons, Filippo and Andrea, who have both played in the Internazionale youth ranks, where Filippo has played 10 minutes in a Coppa Italia match. Both of his sons have at one point been a part of Manchester City's 'Under-21' youth team. Filippo trained with the club's youth/reserve team for several months during the 2007–08 season before Roberto was appointed as City's manager, while Andrea was signed by his father for the current Elite Development Squad in November 2010 after being released from Bologna. Andrea still plays for the EDS although he's currently out on loan at Oldham Athletic. Mancini was estimated to have a personal wealth of £19m in 2011.[64]
| Season | Club | Championship | Coppa Italia | Europe | Supercoppa Italiana | Total | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comp | Apps | Goals | Comp | Apps | Goals | Comp | Apps | Goals | Comp | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| 1981–1982 | Bologna | A | 30 | 9 | CI | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 31 | 9 | ||
| 1982–1983 | Sampdoria | A | 22 | 4 | CI | 5 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 27 | 5 | ||
| 1983–1984 | A | 30 | 8 | CI | 8 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 38 | 10 | |||
| 1984–1985 | A | 24 | 3 | CI | 11 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 35 | 6 | |||
| 1985–1986 | A | 23 | 6 | CI | 11 | 4 | EWC | 4 | 2 | - | - | 38 | 12 | ||
| 1986–1987 | A | 26 | 6 | CI | 5 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 31 | 6 | |||
| 1987–1988 | A | 30 | 5 | CI | 13 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 43 | 8 | |||
| 1988–1989 | A | 29 | 9 | CI | 11 | 5 | EWC | 8 | 0 | SI | 0 | 0 | 48 | 14 | |
| 1989–1990 | A | 31 | 11 | CI | 3 | 2 | EWC | 9 | 2 | SI | 1 | 0 | 44 | 15 | |
| 1990–1991 | A | 30 | 12 | CI | 10 | 2 | EWC | 5 | 2 | SE | 2 | 0 | 47 | 16 | |
| 1991–1992 | A | 29 | 6 | CI | 6 | 2 | EC | 9 | 4 | SI | 1 | 1 | 45 | 13 | |
| 1992–1993 | A | 30 | 15 | CI | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 32 | 15 | |||
| 1993–1994 | A | 30 | 12 | CI | 7 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 37 | 12 | |||
| 1994–1995 | A | 31 | 9 | CI | 2 | 1 | EWC | 4 | 2 | SI | 1 | 0 | 38 | 12 | |
| 1995–1996 | A | 26 | 11 | CI | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 28 | 12 | |||
| 1996–1997 | A | 33 | 15 | CI | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 35 | 15 | |||
| Total – Sampdoria | 424 | 132 | 98 | 26 | 39 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 566 | 171 | |||||
| 1997–1998 | Lazio | A | 34 | 5 | CI | 8 | 1 | UC | 10 | 3 | - | - | 52 | 9 | |
| 1998–1999 | A | 33 | 10 | CI | 6 | 2 | EWC | 7 | 0 | SI | 1 | 0 | 47 | 12 | |
| 1999–2000 | A | 20 | 0 | CI | 7 | 3 | UCL | 9 | 0 | SE | 1 | 0 | 37 | 3 | |
| Total – Lazio | 87 | 15 | 21 | 6 | 26 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 136 | 24 | |||||
| 2001 | Leicester City | PL | 4 | 0 | FAC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Total – Career | 545 | 156 | 121 | 32 | 65 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 738 | 204 | |||||
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||||
| Fiorentina | February 2001 | January 2002 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 16 | 22.22 | |||
| Lazio | May 2002 | July 2004 | 102 | 49 | 32 | 21 | 48.04 | |||
| Internazionale | July 2004 | May 2008 | 227 | 140 | 61 | 26 | 61.67 | |||
| Manchester City | 19 December 2009 | Present | 116 | 69 | 23 | 24 | 59.48 | |||
| Total | 471 | 263 | 121 | 87 | 55.84 | |||||
As player
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As manager
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| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Carlo Ancelotti Chelsea |
FA Cup winning manager Manchester City 2010–2011 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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