We sang our song about Manchester City's Mancini. We love the man

Posted Tuesday, May 14, 2013 by theguardian.com

Only at City could Mancini's impending sacking be leaked on FA Cup final day. We didn't curse the manager, we cursed the club

We sang our song about Manchester City's Mancini. We love the man
Manchester City's manager Roberto Mancini after losing
the FA Cup final against Wigan Athletic at Wembley

My friend Chid arrived at Wembley ecstatic, breathless and angry. "I've got a song," he said.

"OK, let's hear it."

"Right, it goes like this. You can stick your Pellegrini up your arse. You can stick your Pellergrini up your arse. You can stick your Pellegrini, cos we're sticking with Mancini, you can stick your Pellegrini up your arse."

It was to the tune of She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain. We loved it. So we practised full blast. That was our anthem for the day.

It was a funny song to be singing on such an occasion. Dispiriting. We should have been chanting about our next 25 years of unrivalled success, or Fergie's demise, or simple old-fashioned favourites like "We're going to win the Cup." But it wasn't that kind of day.

Most of us were thinking about one thing, and one thing only – the leaked news that manager Roberto Mancini was about to be sacked after having won City the FA Cup and the Premier League in successive seasons, and having just taken us to second in the league (as it stands) and another FA Cup final. Yes, we're talking about the same Manchester City that went 35 years winning nowt, and these are the same fans that zealously sang "35 years and we're still here".

Sure we had come into money, and we were expected to win something. But even our ambitious, oil-rich owner Sheikh Mansour had given Mancini four years to win the league – and he'd done it ahead of time. Yes, this season hadn't been as thrilling as the title-winning last-kick victory over Queens Park Rangers last year, but what could be? And yes Mancini had sold a couple of good players and replaced them with a few duffers but what manager doesn't make the odd mistake?

When City became the world's richest club overnight many fans, me included, were ambivalent. We loved the idea of competing with United trophy for trophy, but did we really want to buy success? Other fans told me I was an idiot – every successful team bought their success, not least United. So us ambivalents overcame that psychological hurdle and drew another line in the sand. OK, we're happy to be like a blue and better United but we don't want to be Chelsea. We didn't want a despot in charge who sacked a manager every time a goal was conceded.

By becoming like United, we meant stability as much as success. We wanted continuity, and loyalty when things didn't work out to plan. We wanted to be able to say in 20 years time, yes it was crazy to sell Nigel de Jong and even more bonkers to replace him with Javi García, but we kept faith with Sir Roberto Mancini didn't we, and look now. Just like United fans talk about all those years without winning the league, and sticking with Fergie.

To the credit of Sheikh Mansour he did look as if he was doing it the right way – no obscene flashes of cash over the past year, trying to nurture young and local talent, building from the roots with great new training facilities. Perfect. Did fans expect to win the Champions League in one or two seasons? No. Did we want to? Not particularly. Without the reminder of failure, we forget how good success tastes. Anyway we were too busy enjoying being champions to worry about tiny mishaps like going out in the first round – hardly a disgrace when the group included finalists Borussia Dortmund and semi-finalists Real Madrid.

Then came the story of Mancini's impending, now confirmed sacking. Only at City could it be leaked on Cup final day. We came out on Saturday, played shockingly, and deservedly lost to the inspirational Roberto Martínez's Wigan. We didn't leave cursing the manager, we left cursing the club.

For those of us old enough, we've seen it before. The first sniff of success, and we get a dose of the Icaruses. So in 1979 we sacked Tony Book after his team finished as runners-up in 1977, losing out to Liverpool by a point. At least we gave him two years' grace back then.

Manuel Pellegrini might be great. He might well be better than Mancini. But that's not the point. City fans love Mancini, and he loves them. We loved the way he wore his City scarf as a cravat even when it was too hot, the way he said "zis is football" after a disappointing result, the way he tried so hard with Mario Balotelli and called him his wayward son, the way he waved to the crowd only after the second verse of "Mancini, Mancini, he comes from Italy to manage Man City".

We love the fact that he took us to Old Trafford and beat United 6-1 in the league (that alone should have ensured him the job for life). We love the fact that he gave us success, while keeping us human and fallible.

How we laughed when Chelsea sacked Roberto Di Matteo earlier this season after he'd just won the club the Champions League. We won't do anything like that at City with our Roberto, we crowed – not now that we understand loyalty and common sense. Only last week I was toasting in print the net quarter century under Mancini, silly sod that I am. Oh well, I suppose it's good to be reminded how venal is the moneyed game.

City fans cheered Wigan on Saturday. They deserved to win – our physical and moral superiors on the day. As we left the ground, drenched and blue, we sang our Pellegrini song, till it changed mid-verse into an old City classic. "We always lose at home and we always lose away, we lost last week and we lost today, we don't give a fuck cos we're all pissed up, MCFC OK." City are back.