What Should Manchester City Fans Expect If Manuel Pellegrini Arrives?

Manchester City fans should expect multiple Champions League and Premier League titles if City land Manuel Pellegrini.

End of slideshow.

All right, not really. As usual, the enthusiasm that accompanies the new man is at some point going to wither and fade away. Like, as soon as City gives up a goal.

Besides, Pellegrini has not even officially taken the job yet.

Barring some shocking reversal, though, Pellegrini seems to be City's most likely choice to replace Roberto Mancini, also known as the man who ended the 44-year league title drought.

If he gets the job, what are the realistic expectations City fans can have for Pellegrini?

The Anti-Mancini

One of sport's great truisms is that in replacing a manager, ownership will generally seek out the opposite of the man who just lost the job.

Was the last guy a disciplinarian? The new hire will be more relaxed. Was the former manager aligned with the owners? The new guy will be a "players' coach."

Manchester City would fall right in line with that old saw by replacing Roberto Mancini with Manuel Pellegrini.

Mancini was notoriously hard on his players and, for that matter, ownership too. He also had run-ins with the media now and again.

Plus, he tried to fight Mario Balotelli.

Pellegrini would bring to Manchester a reputation as a "gentleman" and a "football father."

City's string-pullers doubtlessly view Pellegrini as the kind of calming influence that the club so often lacked in the last three successful (but scattershot) seasons.

Champions League Pedigree

Not to keep talking about Roberto Mancini, but the primary knock on the Italian was not his failure to defend the Premier League title City won or even the pratfall against lowly Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup final.

No, the main complaint against Mancini was that given a very expensive side with great players, City failed to advance past the group stage in the last two Champions League tournaments.

This season's Champions League effort was a spectacular flameout, the sort seldom seen from championship teams.

Manuel Pellegrini has never led a team to a Champions League title, but he took Villarreal to the knockout stage twice including a semifinal loss to Arsenal in 2006.

Pellegrini also took his present club, Malaga, to the Champions League quarterfinals this past season, losing in heartbreaking fashion to eventual tournament runners-up Borussia Dortmund.

Champions League success is one of the new mandates at City.

Pellegrini will be tasked with creating that at the Etihad.

Experience with Big Names

Manuel Pellegrini's shortest managerial stint in Europe was also arguably his most successful.

Real Madrid signed Pellegrini to a two-year contract in June of 2009. That squad was absurdly stacked, and Pellegrini did not shrink from the challenge.

Leading a team that boasted Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain, Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos among other football luminaries, Pellegrini's Real Madrid side set a club record (since surpassed) in points with 96.

Unfortunately for Pellegrini, Barcelona finished with 99 points, and the second-place finish in La Liga cost Pellegrini his job.

Hmm. A second-place finish in one of the world's toughest leagues getting a manager fired.

Where have we heard that song before?

Regardless, Pellegrini has managed better players than the ones he stands to inherit from Roberto Mancini.

Experience with Smaller Names

Manuel Pellegrini has had success with big clubs, yes, but he made his name in football reviving lesser programs through squad-building and systemic management.

In fact, according to a 2009 Goal.com profile of Pellegrini, his work with Villarreal was downright miraculous.

According to Goal.com, "Villarreal were a club who had only been in the top division four seasons when he took over." Moreover, Pellegrini took Villarreal to the precipice of the Champions League final "on a shoe-string budget and with players who, as he himself was when he joined, were a gamble."

Manchester City have chafed for some time now at the notion (fair though it may be) that they have purchased more success than they have earned through player development or great scouting.

With Financial Fair Play looming, City may actually need to start thinking about integrating younger, cheaper players into the mix to offset the outrageous sums they pay to the likes of Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero.

Pellegrini has a long track record of that sort of work on his CV.

A Short, Productive Stay

That same 2009 Goal.com profile of Manuel Pellegrini opened with this intriguing quote from the man: “I don't believe in projects of more than three years.”

Such unflinching restlessness probably suits Manchester City's ownership and football operations people just fine.

Silly as it sounds and silly as it reads, the mandate has been laid down. The Guardian reports that Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano has set the expectation for the new manager at City as"five trophies in five years."

In the real world it is an insane notion. But in a world where Roberto Mancini can win a Premier League title and an FA Cup in three seasons and still get clipped?

Totally reasonable.

Manuel Pellegrini's tenure at Manchester City, should it ever come, could reach dizzying heights and take the club to places it has not been before.

Just don't get used to having him around.