Phillip Buckley
Money can suddenly make life complicated, many a lottery winner will tell you that. Everything is up for grabs, ambitions know no boundaries and people who before wouldn’t give you a second glance now want to become your best friend. When Chelsea underwent the money transformation Claudio Ranieri lasted one season. Now Manchester City are flush with cash most expect Mark Hughes to not even be given that. If Hughes is moved on in the summer it may be harsh, but there would be no shortage of candidates for the job, a job with huge expectations, but also huge resources.
The Eastlands dugout will require a special type of boss and very few will fit the bill. So who would City do best to attract as Hughes’s successor?
1. Sven-Goran Eriksson – Many of the City faithful would argue the Swedish boss should never have left. Despite impressing during a season in which he was forced to assemble a squad in just a few weeks, a decline in the second half of the campaign sealed his fate: That and a strange lack of patience shown by the clubs previous owner Thaksin Shinawatra. Eriksson has since endured a miserable spell as Mexico coach, but this only serves to ensure his availability in the summer. The former England coach also knows how to mould a team with millions at his disposal, combined with new ambitions to match these new riches, as he did exactly that with Lazio. Leading the Italian club to the Scudetto in 2000 shows just what Eriksson could do with City.
2. Jose Mourinho – The Special One’s Inter spell isn’t turning out quite as planned. Not only has Mourinho managed to annoy almost every rival manager in Serie A, but he has also failed in the Champions League. Speculation has it that a Scudetto win will not be enough to save the Portuguese boss, but he may well jump before being pushed. The ex-Chelsea boss is known to want a return to the Premier League, and Manchester City smacks of the Chelsea he joined in 2005. A suspicion may be that Mourinho has his eyes on the job at rivals Manchester United once Sir Alex Ferguson retires, but if City test the water they may get a positive reply. Could City do any better than the back to back Premier League winner?
3. Frank Rijkaard – Rijkaard may well be a leading candidate for the Chelsea job, but the ex-Barcelona boss could be exactly what Man City are looking for. With the ability to command respect in the dressing room as well as attract top players to the club, Rijkaard has the ability to mould the kind of attacking team City’s owners are looking for. Two La Liga titles and a Champions League confirms his credentials. What could count against him is a lack of Premier League experience. The Dutchman could take at least a season just to get the measure of the league, and City’s owners are sure to be so demanding that an average first season may well not be tolerated.
4. David Moyes – If Man City want a boss with Premier League experience then they need look no further than Everton’s David Moyes. Moyes has worked wonders on a shoestring budget at Everton and what’s more he understands what it takes to live in the shadow of a huge neighbour. Moyes may not make a City play beautiful football, he may not tolerate Robinho’s idiosyncrasies, and he may even not buy trucks of foreign talent, but what he will do is make a competitive Premier League side. The Everton boss already seems to have had success with Brazilian forward Jo, cast out by Mark Hughes who could not bring the best out of him. Moyes would not be an eye-catching appointment, but he would be a sensible one, and City could be the move he would take in his quest to climb the management ladder.
5. Dick Advocaat – Advocaat would be an unexpected appointment, but there are reasons to believe he would be a good one. The Dutchman disappeared from British shores in 2002 when he left Rangers for a second spell in charge of the Dutch national team. Advocaat has vast experience at club and international level. He is used to dealing with all manner of pros from South Korea to Russia. Currently at Zenit St. Petersburg, Advocaat has been responsible for translating the huge investment from Gazprom into success. The Russian league title was won, and, in City’s very stadium, the UEFA Cup lifted as Rangers were swept aside. The Dutchman would not be the most exciting arrival, but, with prior experience of the type of football played in the British Isles, he could establish Man City as a top four side.
6. Louis van Gaal – Another Dutch coach who should enter City’s thinking is current AZ Alkmaar coach Louis van Gaal. Experience at Ajax, Barcelona and the Dutch national team could easily be translated into Premier League performance. Van Gaal has La Liga title to his name in an impressive spell at Camp Nou. Perhaps though the job he has done at AZ tops that. The Dutch side have been backed financially, but still come way behind Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV in the budget stakes, yet van Gaal is outperforming them all. A disciplinarian it is doubtful players like Robinho would last long in his tenure, but he would create a hard working tactically aware team and is not adverse to the addition of flair, as shown by his signing of Rivaldo for Barcelona.
7. Martin Jol – Man City know all about former Tottenham Hostpur coach Martin Jol, and not least because his Hamburg side ended Eastlands’ European dreams. Jol knows the Premier League inside and out, and in his spell at Spurs led them to two 5th place finishes. The Dutchman was widely regarded to have been ill-treated towards the end of his time at White Hart Lane, and Spurs are still paying the price for parting company with him. Jol has rebuilt his career in the Bundesliga, leading Hamburg to the top of the table and reviving memories of the club’s glory days. He is well known to harbour ambitions to work in the Premier League again, but commented that he would only consider moving back across the channel to work for one of the big four. With City’s cash and ambition, it isn’t hard to see Jol’s mind being changed.
8. Roy Hodgson – Hodgson should have been England manager. He would never talk up his own cause, such is the measure of the man, but the Fulham boss has demonstrated quite clearly why an English boss could have succeeded Steve McClaren. Hodgson has contacts throughout world football, and experience of managing just about everywhere. He is familiar with Arab overlords having enjoyed a spell in charge of the United Arab Emirates national side too. Time with Inter Milan proves he can handle big egos, while weaving gold from straw was the task with Switzerland and Finland. Hodgson did both. If City did come calling them the Londoner would be persuaded to swap his hometown for Manchester. A last chance at English greatness, he could hardly refuse.
Whether Mark Hughes is given another season at Manchester City only time will tell. But one thing is for sure, there are no shortage of top class managers ready to step into his shoes.
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