Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Roberto Mancini’s managerial exile has come to a close with the news that he has been appointed as manager of Russian Premier League side Zenit St Petersburg. The 52 year old has been out of work since departing Inter Milan for a second time last August.
Mancini is obviously well remembered in England for his stint at the Manchester City helm as he delivered F.A. Cup success in 2011 and then the Premier League title 12 months later. Although his time in Manchester could be considered successful there was undoubtedly a sour end to his time at The Etihad.
That’s because Mancini and Manchester City returned to Wembley in 2013 and went into the F.A. Cup Final as strong favourites when paired with relative minnows Wigan Athletic. As we all know by now it was Ben Watson’s last minute header that gave Wigan a fairytale cup success and ultimately the former Sampdoria striker the sack.
Since then his managerial career has not been all that glittering with somewhat unremarkable stints at both Galatasaray and Inter Milan for a second time after his first spell came to an end back in 2008 after delivering a hat-trick of Serie A successes.
Since then he has only been able to deliver a solitary Turkish cup for his efforts that coming back in 2014. So it has been three years without a trophy for Mancini and he will hope to end his own personal drought as he moves to the Russia and the city of St Petersburg.
Zenit themselves are going through something of a relative drought, they have not managed to become champions of Russia since the 2014-15 season. The last two seasons have only heralded back to back third places and that ultimately meant the demise of previous coach Mircea Lucescu.
The Romanian parted company with the club at the beginning of the week after failing to improve on the work that Andre-Villas Boas did prior. The former Shakhtar manager spent just over 12 months in Russia but it is fair to say his stint did not live up to expectations.
Expectations that will certainly come with the appointment of Roberto Mancini he will be tasked with ending the supremacy of the Moscow based clubs as both Spartak and CSKA finished above the Saint Petersburg outfit this season.
