Manchester City Have a Born Winner in Roberto Mancini

Roberto Mancini is a born winner. As a player he won two leagues, six Coppa Italias, two Supercoppa Italias, two UEFA Cups and one UEFA Super Cup—all with Lazio and Sampdoria.

Upon his transition to management he has won silverware at every club he has managed so far. His first managerial job saw a Coppa Italia win for Fiorentina before a move to his former club, Lazio.

Despite being financially hamstrung with the sale of key players, such as Crespo and Nesta, and seeing the club considerably weakened, Mancini guided the club to a Coppa Italia victory plus the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. His success at Lazio saw him make the move to Internazionale where he won the club's first domestic trophy since 1989. Three consecutive scudettos, two Coppa Italias and one Supercoppa continued his blossoming management career.

In the cut-throat world of Italian football management, Mancini's four years at Internazionale are remarkable—the Milan club is currently on its fifth manager since Mancini's departure in 2008. These achievements are highly regarded in Italy, but in England misguided suspicions of league quality still prevail, with calciopoli scandals often extremely simplified to "match fixing."

Argentinian midfielder Esteban Cambiasso recently spoke of his admiration for the coach:

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“Mourinho was a leader who changed the makeup of the team, he knew how to lead, he understood what we were missing after the 1st year.
“The real difference is going from not winning to winning, not from winning to winning more: we learned how to win with Mancini.”

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Inter had emerged from under the shadow of their red rivals, in a situation with parallels to modern Manchester.

As Manchester City manager, Mancini guided the blues to their major silverware since the 1976 league cup victory. Champions League qualification followed after finishing in the automatic league spots—level on points with second-placed Chelsea.

One prevailing factor of Mancini's time with the blues has been his pressing to develop a winning mentality. The FA Cup was only the beginning, as the squad seeks to push on for further glories. A record-breaking start to the season shot the team to the top of the table—currently sitting three points clear of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Daniel Taylor (recently made chief of football for the Guardian) recently wrote of the similarities between the City manager and his United counterpart—including the mutual respect between the two, almost unheard of in the blue/red divide.

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“The most revealing moment occurred at Ferguson's 25th anniversary celebration dinner in November, 11 days after what is known now in Manchester as simply "the 6-1". An interviewer asked Ferguson if he knew how many City managers there had been during his quarter of a century in the job. He shook his head. "Fourteen," came the answer. Ferguson didn't hesitate. "Well, I wish it was 15."

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The recent derby saw defeat for the blues as club captain Vincent Kompany was dismissed in the 11^th minute, but an astute tactical revision at half time demonstrated to the world that City—even when wounded—should not be underestimated. Outplaying their rivals in the second half despite the man disadvantage revitalised hopes, the team receiving a standing ovation upon the final whistle.

As Mancini sought to rid disruptive influences from the squad—mainly garnered from Mark Hughes' spending spree—a winning mentality has been developed, but it seems only a league title win will quell the doubters. But then it will “only be because of the money,” eh?