Mark Meadowcroft, City fan of 41 years
Roberto Mancini has done a good job. I know he's had a lot of money, but he has taken a team from being wannabes to sitting at the top table of English (if not European) football. He ended the trophy drought and then won the league. A lot of Reds are telling me how much they rated Mancini as a tough and wily opponent. They always say this when a City manager leaves, but on this occasion, I don't think they are saying it for effect.
If I were Sheikh Mansour, I would keep him, although I would have said that with more vehemence had we won the FA Cup. I can understand why he's going and three and a half years is not a bad innings for a manager anywhere these days. The tenures of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger are outliers and are not really relevant to City.
Mancini has provided us Blues with some iconic moments, with 30 April 2012 a standout for me. After Nigel de Jong clattered into a Manchester United player in the closing stages of the derby at the Etihad, Ferguson went ballistic on the touchline. Mancini stood up to him, defending his player and his club. That night he outwitted our rival on and off the pitch and also had it in him to stand up to Ferguson physically and verbally.
The positives substantially outweigh the negatives under Mancini, but progress has stalled this season and there are doubts that the distant manner he has with the players is sustainable over longer than about three of four years. They certainly didn't seem to be playing for him on Saturday. On the other hand, it is easy to argue that his past achievements deserved at least one more season and his Champions League record has to be judged in the light of two ridiculously tough draws. To this extent, an upgrade on Mancini would have to be a seriously good manager.
Whether Manuel Pellegrini would be be an improvement is a huge unknown. He has a fantastic reputation but, a bit like David Moyes, he has worked with less fancied clubs apart from that year at Real Madrid. The two former Barcelona directors now working at City must really rate their former opponent. Running Barça that close at their absolute peak was a real achievement.
Whoever is in the charge this summer, City have a lot of work to do. Departures should include Kolo Touré, Javi García, Maicon, Scott Sinclair, Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko. Coming in either from other clubs or the academy should be an out-and-out right winger, two strikers that contrast with Sergio Agüero and Carlos Tevez, a more creative midfielder (in the mould of Elano, Eyal Berkovic or Ali Benarbia) and a right-sided defender. We shouldn't give up on three at the back as it's a viable option against certain teams, and Kolarov should be used higher up the pitch.