Man City deny chief executive lied to fans

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-24 10:02

MANCHESTER, England: Manchester City insisted on Tuesday they had not lied to their supporters over when they approached Roberto Mancini to become their new manager.

In a prepared statement at Monday's news conference to present Mancini as the replacement for the sacked Mark Hughes, City chief executive Garry Cook claimed the Italian had agreed to join the club on Friday, two days after a 3-0 defeat to Spurs.

Mancini appeared to contradict that statement, however, by revealing he had first met City chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak in London a fortnight ago.

British press reports on Tuesday were overwhelmingly critical of the way in which City had gone about sacking Hughes and bringing in Mancini, while fans phoned up Eastlands to complain about the club's conduct.

But in a statement issued on Tuesday, City denied supporters had been misled.

"Yesterday, CEO Garry Cook and new manager Roberto Mancini together took to the stage to give journalists and, more importantly, our fans the complete picture of the events of the past few days and week," the statement said.

"The outcome was characterized in a way which has suggested the football club and Garry Cook lied to the fans. Manchester City would like to point out this is absolutely not the case."

City's Abu Dhabi-based owner Sheikh Mansour, has already spent about 200 million pounds ($319 million) on bringing players to Eastlands.

No side has lost fewer games in the Premier League this season than City, who've been beaten just twice and lie sixth in the table, 11 points behind leaders Chelsea.

Hughes, who on Sunday said he had no idea he was about to be sacked, believed he was on course to achieve the "realistic target" of sixth place or in the region of 70 points set by the owners at the start of the season.

But Cook said Monday: "The trajectory of recent results was below this requirement and the board felt there was no evidence the situation would fundamentally change."

Mancini claimed he had met Khaldoon in London "only to speak in general on football".

Cook, in an unscripted intervention, said: "Two weeks ago Roberto met Khaldoon Al-Mubarak in London and after the Spurs game he was contacted for further discussions of a more serious nature. The discussions in London were general, they were about football and they were about considering managerial options at that point."

Meanwhile, Nedum Onouoha added to City's injury problems ahead of Mancini's first game in charge, against Stoke on Boxing Day, when he was ruled out for up to four weeks on Tuesday with a calf muscle strain.

Fellow defender Joleon Lescott has recently underwent minor knee surgery and is also likely to miss Saturday's league match.

AFP