City sacks Mark Hughes. Mancini to take over.

Mark Hughes was handed the sack by City bosses soon after his team won against Sunderland. I had mentioned earlier that Guss Hiddink was touted to take over at City but for now it is the Italian- Mancini.

"A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set," read a City statement. "Sheikh Mansour and the board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change.

"This is a particularly difficult announcement given the personal investment over the past 15 months on all sides and we would like to put on record our respect for and thanks to Mark Hughes and we wish him the best in his future career."

City is currently sixth in the Premier League, having lost only twice in the league all season, and are through to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup. They beat league leaders Chelsea a fortnight ago, ending a run of seven successive draws in the top flight, but suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat at Tottenham in midweek.

The 46-year-old Welshman enjoyed a glittering playing career as a striker with Manchester United, Barcelona and Chelsea before moving into coaching by taking charge of Wales and narrowly missing out on qualification for the Euro 2004 finals.

The 45-year-old Italian- Mancini won 36 caps for Italy and spent the majority of his playing career at Sampdoria before a brief stint with Leicester City in 2001 just before he retired.
He has managed Fiorentina and Inter Milan, where he won three successive Italian League titles and two Italian Cups, before being dismissed in May 2008. Since then, he has regularly been linked with managerial vacancies in England.

Sunderland boss and former mate of Hughes at United said "You can't build a football club in 18 months and one transfer window. You need a bit of time,"

Arsene Wenger also said he was "sad" to see Hughes leave City, adding: "We all believe in patience on the technical side but on the other side it's not always the same."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/8422676.stm