I watched the match with an in law of Jim

[Ted Hughes]

Why the fuck should Jim Cassell be director of football ffs? I don't like Marwood having a similar position but at least Marwood played at the top level. What's Cassell ever done outside the academy? Anyone watching the kid's teams ever seen any evidence to suggest any tactical brilliance from ANY of the people in charge EVER? Any evidence of anything they could bring to the 1st team? I certainly haven't.

Scouting, working with kids; yes. Overseeing 1st team matters; absloutely 100% not. Who's stupid fucking idea was that anyway? Was it a leftover from Frank's time? Frank's idea maybe?



Thank Christ that didn't happen.

Hear Hear

I got laughed at for saying the same thing.

We were too polite to laugh at Ted. I did chuckle though especially at the 'seen any evidence to suggest any tactical brilliance from ANY of the people in charge EVER'

"Tomkins! Take your finger out of your ear and listen up. 2nd half we are switching to 4-1-3-2 for the first 20 mins and then I want you and Jenkins to switch flanks with Hugo dropping back into the sweeper position and N'diop going tight on their playmaker. Keep it crisp and fast and if we get the 1 goal cushion revert back to the Gargarin varient on the Catenaccio system with you two - yes you Tompkins - switching back to your original flanks but playing deeper. Got that? Excellent. And Smithy tell your mum not to pack cheese sarnies again. Make it egg mayo next time."

Very funny Bob (but doesn't change the fact that I'm right!)

Most other teams at that level seem better balanced & drilled than us & we usually survive on talent alone. I've always put it down to deliberately not worrying about balance, tactics or selection because they prefer to let the players think for themselves or give them a chance (such as playing a slow, 4ft, fullback at CB in place of Micah in the Youth Cup final v Liverpool & costing us the trophy; I assumed it was down to giving the lad a chance rather than total incompetence by Jim & co) but I've seen or heard nothing that would particularly qualify any of those people for a job with the 1st team & I very much doubt any of you lot have either.

[dazlebluefrog]

Nice bloke - french wife, flat cap, city shirt - born and bred
Couple of interesting points - his opinion not mine - but my interpretation and a few too many glasses of rose

Hughes was disliked by all and sundry around the club - wanted to be fergie big bollox without the achievements

Hughes blocked Jims Cassells appointment to director of football

Everyone was pissed off that hughes and his cronies wanted to employ the family rather than find who was best for the job

Marwood would call Cassell up to nick his ideas

What about munkini says I? He has the respect of many - after all he knows how to win stuff

Seeing him again on tuesday - questions

fcuk me that sounds like me the 3 highlighted bits

[the_georgian_genius]

Put it this way, the day Hughes was sacked, alot of people at the club had an extra christmas party.

As for Jim Cassell being Director of Football that is false. Cassell had agreed with Sven to have control of the reserve side, thus being in control of when to send players through to Carrington, and bringing them through at the right time. Cassell created new posts for this including hiring Andy Walsh for one of the main jobs. Hughes came in, told them all to fuck off and that it wasn't happening and brought his mate Glyn Hodges to manage the reserve side, this pissed Cassell off big time and caused friction between Hughes and the academy which carried on when Hughes stopped Cassell and his team taking some players to play in a few tournaments overseas such as Dallas i think, Hughes instead prefering them to playing against the likes of Bury reserves in the totesport league and be the ball boys against Hamburg. Also Cassell was then told by Cook that Hughes would be sacked and then when he wasn't it made Cassell's posistion untenable, so instead of feeling the wrath of the fans who were'nt all fully behind Hughes, instead of sacking Cassell they put him on what you call Gardening Leave in Abu Dhabi.

Andy Walsh is now what Jim Cassell should of been - U21 Elite Development manager, overseaing the academy and managing the reserves.

No matter what anyone says, Mark Hughes was a fucking disaster for this club. The treatment of Cassell was shocking and Garry Cook is a muppett for letting someone who had been here a few months wreck 10 years of hard work.

[Ted Hughes]

Put it this way, the day Hughes was sacked, alot of people at the club had an extra christmas party.

As for Jim Cassell being Director of Football that is false. Cassell had agreed with Sven to have control of the reserve side, thus being in control of when to send players through to Carrington, and bringing them through at the right time. Cassell created new posts for this including hiring Andy Walsh for one of the main jobs. Hughes came in, told them all to fuck off and that it wasn't happening and brought his mate Glyn Hodges to manage the reserve side, this pissed Cassell off big time and caused friction between Hughes and the academy which carried on when Hughes stopped Cassell and his team taking some players to play in a few tournaments overseas such as Dallas i think, Hughes instead prefering them to playing against the likes of Bury reserves in the totesport league and be the ball boys against Hamburg. Also Cassell was then told by Cook that Hughes would be sacked and then when he wasn't it made Cassell's posistion untenable, so instead of feeling the wrath of the fans who were'nt all fully behind Hughes, instead of sacking Cassell they put him on what you call Gardening Leave in Abu Dhabi.

Andy Walsh is now what Jim Cassell should of been - U21 Elite Development manager, overseaing the academy and managing the reserves.

No matter what anyone says, Mark Hughes was a fucking disaster for this club. The treatment of Cassell was shocking and Garry Cook is a muppett for letting someone who had been here a few months wreck 10 years of hard work.

Outrageous behaviour from Hughes, no wonder he was sacked & I can see why you have such a blind obsessive hatred of him now. What kind of a twat of a manager would want to appoint his own man to the reserve team post when the previous manager under a different owner had promised the job to one of the boys? It's disgusting & unheard of & surely a disaster for the club. No wonder they were plotting against him behind his back & having discussions about sacking him. Nothing more than he deserved, thinking he had the right to appoint a reserve team manager, where will it end? As if that's ever happened before. What right has Hughes got to go against Sven's wishes? I can see now how he's treated Cassell terribly & forced him to Abu Dhabi by not being sacked at the right time.

Lets hope Mamcini doesn't think he can get away with such abuses of power or they can quite rightly stick the knife in his back when he's not looking too. Then dance & have another party afterwards. That'll teach him, coming into their club thinking he can appoint people for jobs 'the boys' have coveted. Cheeky bastard.

They're obviously top geezers though, working purely for the good of the club & not worried about their own status. Makes me feel all warm inside.

[john68]

What Ted said.

I thought that the big problem we had through the 70s up and until the stewardship of Bernstein was the inner 5th column that had the ear of Peter Swales and continuously undermined managers.
Many managers complained of this but nobody seemed to take much notice until John Bond, many years later went public and named names. he accused this group of having an agenda of their own and the power to interfere in football matters.
Bernstein eventually got rid of them and I think they were paid off.
God forbid that this is happening again.

I am aware of one issue that caused problems between cassell nd Hughes. It was Hughes's view that the academy was simply producing players without regard to the needs of the 1st team.

I am repectful of the role that Cassell has played within the club. I do however worry about marwood. I don't know what his role truly is nor where he stands in the power hierarchy of the club. Is he superior to the manager? Does he have overall control of football matters at City? Is it his policy that governs the way direction city are moving on the pitch?
For some reason, Marwood seems to have a lot of power but gets none of the blame....I wonder!!!

[mcfc1632]

Put it this way, the day Hughes was sacked, alot of people at the club had an extra christmas party.

As for Jim Cassell being Director of Football that is false. Cassell had agreed with Sven to have control of the reserve side, thus being in control of when to send players through to Carrington, and bringing them through at the right time. Cassell created new posts for this including hiring Andy Walsh for one of the main jobs. Hughes came in, told them all to fuck off and that it wasn't happening and brought his mate Glyn Hodges to manage the reserve side, this pissed Cassell off big time and caused friction between Hughes and the academy which carried on when Hughes stopped Cassell and his team taking some players to play in a few tournaments overseas such as Dallas i think, Hughes instead prefering them to playing against the likes of Bury reserves in the totesport league and be the ball boys against Hamburg. Also Cassell was then told by Cook that Hughes would be sacked and then when he wasn't it made Cassell's posistion untenable, so instead of feeling the wrath of the fans who were'nt all fully behind Hughes, instead of sacking Cassell they put him on what you call Gardening Leave in Abu Dhabi.

Andy Walsh is now what Jim Cassell should of been - U21 Elite Development manager, overseaing the academy and managing the reserves.

No matter what anyone says, Mark Hughes was a fucking disaster for this club. The treatment of Cassell was shocking and Garry Cook is a muppett for letting someone who had been here a few months wreck 10 years of hard work.

Outrageous behaviour from Hughes, no wonder he was sacked & I can see why you have such a blind obsessive hatred of him now. What kind of a twat of a manager would want to appoint his own man to the reserve team post when the previous manager under a different owner had promised the job to one of the boys? It's disgusting & unheard of & surely a disaster for the club. No wonder they were plotting against him behind his back & having discussions about sacking him. Nothing more than he deserved, thinking he had the right to appoint a reserve team manager, where will it end? As if that's ever happened before. What right has Hughes got to go against Sven's wishes? I can see now how he's treated Cassell terribly & forced him to Abu Dhabi by not being sacked at the right time.

Lets hope Mamcini doesn't think he can get away with such abuses of power or they can quite rightly stick the knife in his back when he's not looking too. Then dance & have another party afterwards. That'll teach him, coming into their club thinking he can appoint people for jobs 'the boys' have coveted. Cheeky bastard.

They're obviously top geezers though, working purely for the good of the club & not worried about their own status. Makes me feel all warm inside.

Good one - I am not sure if Marwood was/should have been the right choice - but cannot see the logic at all in why the Jim would have been qualified to deal with the sorts of players/deals that we are involved in - simply makes no sense. I would have expected someone more commercially proven than either.

We should all hugely respect Jim for what he has done - and some of us fans (like me) that have gone to Youth matches have had some real good nights out thanks to Jim - but the step the the FA job just does not make sense

It would seem that some on here just want to use this incident to carry on there anti-Hughes campaign - or is Cook now the target?? - they always seem to need 1 - perhaps CITY should just create an annual position of MCFC scapegoat where all negativity can be targeted until the person is sacked

I think that it is quite shameful to use the Jim situation - someone that has earned respect - just to try and do more Hughes/Cook/MCFC bashing and push personal agendas

[dazby]

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Video/Interviews/Brian-Marwood-Interview-Part-1
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Video/Interviews/Brian-Marwood-Interview-Part-2
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Video/Interviews/Brian-Marwood-interview-part-3

Most of the answers sought in this thread are here.

[john68]

Thanks for posting those interviews Dazzler.
Mainly the sticky toffee stuff that I have come to expect from official outpourings. Everything positive with nothing contraversial or out of place. As I said, sticky toffee for the fans to eat up and enjoy.
One part did concern me and it leaves me still wondering what the exact role of Marwood is and just how much power he evxerts within the club.
He made it quite clear that the choosing of a player was a TEAM effort and that he played a significant part in choosing which players caome and more importantly which players left the club.
We fans usually laud or blame the manager, whether Hughes or Mancini for their choice of player...eg Vieira. But clearly it isn't solely down to the manager. Marwood has his role to play in that area of choosing as do others...he mentioned a team.
If marwood has the power to take part in identifying or selecting targets, I could well understand how that may well have affected Hughes's position. I can also see it undermining the plans of Mancini. Does he now have to have his view of team development vetted by Marwood?
Is Marwood the man who chooses and is Mancini simply an employed coach, doing as he is instructed? Bioth Hughes and Mancini have had their share of brickbats chucked at them by we fans and up until now Marwood has remained untainted by events or failures. Should we not add Marwood to the board when we start to chuck the darts.

[dazby]

I have no doubt that Mancini played a minimal role in the signing of Jinky. If it's a team effort, it's a team effort.

[BobKowalski]

Mancini said at his introductory PC that transfers were a team responsibility. Him, Marwood and Cook. Mancini was very matter of fact about it and Paddy would have been more him and AJ more Marwood I suspect. This is the system that City have adopted and one that the manager has to accept, which Mancini does, so no surprises there. Mancini has also been very matter of fact in interviews that he does not have a 6 month contract and that he will be here next season irrespective of whether we get a top 4 spot or not.

Those that say 'Ooh this Cassell situation is just an excuse to bash Hughes' may have a point. Equally though some people think it is a legitimate point to bash Hughes with and some people think Hughes deserves a lot of bashing. I am not going into the merits or otherwise of Cassell as D0F, FA, reserve team manager or Supreme Overload, however I will refrain from bashing Cassell just so that we can keep St Mark's character whiter than white. At the end of the day Hughes and his team of WAGs (Welsh And Gifted) are history and Cassell is still with us so I can afford to be magnanimous :)

I also recommend that people pay attention to what Mancini says when asked about the club, his contract etc. Its quite informative.

[mcfc1632]

Mancini said at his introductory PC that transfers were a team responsibility. Him, Marwood and Cook. Mancini was very matter of fact about it and Paddy would have been more him and AJ more Marwood I suspect. This is the system that City have adopted and one that the manager has to accept, which Mancini does, so no surprises there. Mancini has also been very matter of fact in interviews that he does not have a 6 month contract and that he will be here next season irrespective of whether we get a top 4 spot or not.

Those that say 'Ooh this Cassell situation is just an excuse to bash Hughes' may have a point. Equally though some people think it is a legitimate point to bash Hughes with and some people think Hughes deserves a lot of bashing. I am not going into the merits or otherwise of Cassell as D0F, FA, reserve team manager or Supreme Overload, however I will refrain from bashing Cassell just so that we can keep St Mark's character whiter than white. At the end of the day Hughes and his team of WAGs (Welsh And Gifted) are history and Cassell is still with us so I can afford to be magnanimous :)

I also recommend that people pay attention to what Mancini says when asked about the club, his contract etc. Its quite informative.

Magnanimous indeed you are - it really is time to let things go re Hughes - lets hope other posters are equally as magnanimous as your goodself

[ant london]

I agree

Hughes isn't coming back

nor is Cassell likely to be coming back to head up the academy

So we may as well all move on too

[Patrick]

Put it this way, the day Hughes was sacked, alot of people at the club had an extra christmas party.

As for Jim Cassell being Director of Football that is false. Cassell had agreed with Sven to have control of the reserve side, thus being in control of when to send players through to Carrington, and bringing them through at the right time. Cassell created new posts for this including hiring Andy Walsh for one of the main jobs. Hughes came in, told them all to fuck off and that it wasn't happening and brought his mate Glyn Hodges to manage the reserve side, this pissed Cassell off big time and caused friction between Hughes and the academy which carried on when Hughes stopped Cassell and his team taking some players to play in a few tournaments overseas such as Dallas i think, Hughes instead prefering them to playing against the likes of Bury reserves in the totesport league and be the ball boys against Hamburg. Also Cassell was then told by Cook that Hughes would be sacked and then when he wasn't it made Cassell's posistion untenable, so instead of feeling the wrath of the fans who were'nt all fully behind Hughes, instead of sacking Cassell they put him on what you call Gardening Leave in Abu Dhabi.

Andy Walsh is now what Jim Cassell should of been - U21 Elite Development manager, overseaing the academy and managing the reserves.

No matter what anyone says, Mark Hughes was a fucking disaster for this club. The treatment of Cassell was shocking and Garry Cook is a muppett for letting someone who had been here a few months wreck 10 years of hard work.

That sounds pretty similar to to what I actually heard on reflection - I think there was a little more of the marwood taking over responsibilities that Jim had been ear marked for - and thats probably where I got the DoF from

[btajim]

Mancini said at his introductory PC that transfers were a team responsibility. Him, Marwood and Cook. Mancini was very matter of fact about it and Paddy would have been more him and AJ more Marwood I suspect. This is the system that City have adopted and one that the manager has to accept, which Mancini does, so no surprises there. Mancini has also been very matter of fact in interviews that he does not have a 6 month contract and that he will be here next season irrespective of whether we get a top 4 spot or not.

To have someone working in between the Manager and the Chief Executive signing the Players is more acceptable on the Continent than it is here. I don't consider Marwood's position to be much use to our Club and I'm pleased Hughes tried to stop him coming in as Director of Football.

The A Johnson stuff is interesting. I had heard Brian Kidd made all the noises for him whilst Mancini brought in the ego of Vieira on a free.

[Swales4ever]

Thanks for posting those interviews Dazzler.
Mainly the sticky toffee stuff that I have come to expect from official outpourings. Everything positive with nothing contraversial or out of place. As I said, sticky toffee for the fans to eat up and enjoy.
One part did concern me and it leaves me still wondering what the exact role of Marwood is and just how much power he evxerts within the club.
He made it quite clear that the choosing of a player was a TEAM effort and that he played a significant part in choosing which players caome and more importantly which players left the club.
We fans usually laud or blame the manager, whether Hughes or Mancini for their choice of player...eg Vieira. But clearly it isn't solely down to the manager. Marwood has his role to play in that area of choosing as do others...he mentioned a team.
If marwood has the power to take part in identifying or selecting targets, I could well understand how that may well have affected Hughes's position. I can also see it undermining the plans of Mancini. Does he now have to have his view of team development vetted by Marwood?
Is Marwood the man who chooses and is Mancini simply an employed coach, doing as he is instructed? Bioth Hughes and Mancini have had their share of brickbats chucked at them by we fans and up until now Marwood has remained untainted by events or failures. Should we not add Marwood to the board when we start to chuck the darts.

Well, I did grow up about reading greedily all the fictional stuff like Ludlum, Le Carrè and the good old Sir Ian, so that I should say I like to wallow in this "intelligence" stuff ... :-)

More seriously, I reckon John's worries are wise, healthy and wide minded (as transparency and awareness about centers of power are always a worth reference for customers), but perhaps a little bit overly concerned, imho. At least I naively hope so.
Indeed I am too much a newcomer and too far away from the City's Core to get and assess a proper opinion about.

What and where I am glad to contribute is in drawing Mates attention on these points:
a) where did Mancini actually gained a reputation of superior capability into managerial job was succeding in restoring a success aimed attitude into Inter. At that time, the club was a mess of former legends and/or various directors of something acting as opposing forces driving the Club anywhere but far from success: it had lasted for about 30 years with only a title in the middle.
So if Mancio cruised over that, I don't see any trouble in dealing with the City Inners: at least it easy to see the difference that words like responsability and comittment still hold in England rather than in my poor Country.
b) as already highlighted fm the introductory PC, italian managers are used to deal with market operation as a part of a restricted Club's teamwork. Typically it works as the manager assess the areas/roles the team needs to be enforced, submitt a list of candidates either directly to the CEO or to a specially appointed market manager, who deal with the task to match financial and technical issue. Obviously the higher is the coaching manager reputation, the much influential results his voice in the process. Anyway a point that should fit with an harmonious management of the Club.
c) as pretty often in business real life there are reliable crossover.
If we want to assume Mancini to be in charge over the summer, his style of football will be enhanced by 2-3 top players in key roles: an holding deep-lying box to box midfielder (best/dream candidate: Xavi Alonso), a creative playmaker of proven ability superior than Stevie (out of Messi!, the likes of Snejider/Kaka), an additional top striker which sum up target man's abilities and one touch playing abilities (a younger Ibrahimovic).
Assuming we get the 4th, City will enter the restricted list of the world's most desirable Clubs, as the various Higuain/Balotelli/Torres bullox, usually orchestrated by agents, are already demostrating. So at the end of the summer window there will be a fair comparison of where the balance of powers actually would stand. The closer or the more far acquisitions would stand from the above mentioned kind of targets.