Hughes goes to Man City, Sven Introduced as new coach of Mexico, New Fifa Rankings out

Mark Hughes joins City

Mark Hughes is officially the new manager at the Eastlands.  Hughes signed a 3 year deal, and is bringing two assistants from Ewood Park to Eastlands.  New chief executive of Manchester City had this to say.  

'I am delighted to welcome Mark on board. In our view he is the brightest young manager in the game and he was our number one target for the manager's job.'

 

Cook continued to praise Hughes's vision.  

'He made it clear to us from the moment we met that he shared our vision and ambition to make Manchester City one of the top sides in the country.  'The club intends to invest in new players as well as securing the long-term services of key members of the current first-team squad.  'Mark has already identified some of the players and backroom staff that he wants to see here at City, and we will begin the process of recruiting them immediately.'

It looks like City is going to have another big summer.

Sven Introduced as Coach of Mexico

This was a story we broke yesterday, but Eriksson has officially been introduced as the new coach of Mexico.  He spoke to the Mexican media, here's what he had to say:

"To help Mexico reach the World Cup is a big challenge. You [Mexicans] have 120 million people and it’s motivating. I like big challenges so it is up to me to convince the supporters and the players that I am the right man."

“My job will be to improve the job the players have been doing and not to change their mentality. I don’t want to talk too much about players as I don’t think it is professional. There is another coach still working.”

He sounds like he is committed to the job, and I certainly don't want to see him on the other side when the US plays Mexico.

New FIFA World Rankings

Argentina has retained their #1 ranking in the FIFA World Rankings for May 28th. England moved back into the top ten, moving up two places to 9th. The USA retained their ranking of 21st after their loss to England.

That's all for now. Discuss below.

Sven will lead Mexico

Sven Goran Eriksson is officially the new manager of Mexico.  It is a major surprise to see a Swede as the manager of Mexico, but he is a good coach.  Mexico is also a talent laden nation, and Eriksson could lead them to a deep run in the World Cup.  As a US fan, I'm not happy to see Eriksson as the coach for Mexico.  He is a great coach, as long as he leaves the Mexican ladies alone.  I'm not looking forward to the day when the US plays Mexico with Eriksson on the bench.  What do you guys think of this move?   

SOS (Save Our Sven)

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The Signs have been up, ever since the loss to Fulham.  The fans have made it clear that getting rid of Sven Goran Eriksson is not the path the club should be taking.  

Last year Manchester City were in fourteenth place and only managed to score, a meager 10 goals at home in 19 matches, the least amount of goals scored at home in the history of the top flight.  Eriksson was brought in to get Manchester City to a mid table position.  He did that, and recorded a double over Manchester United.  Eriksson might have even guided them to a Uefa Cup spot through a fair play position given to the EPL by Uefa this week.  

Some of you reading this right now would ask, so why is his job even in question.  The owner and chairman of Manchester City, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra decided it was time for a change.  This sparked the ire of the City supporters, petitions were made, signs put up, and even peaceful protests to get the chairman's attention.  

Sven won't Officially be sacked at least until after the final game of the season, and we don't know yet whether or not the fans support could save Eriksson his job.  The Club has been in contact with Luis Felipe Scolari, Portugal's national team coach, but Scolari has distanced himself from the job.  Eriksson on the other hand seems to be making plans himself if indeed he is let go.  He reportedly has had talks with Benfica, who have been looking for a new manager after Juan Antonio Camacho left earlier this year.  

So caught in the middle of this mess is the loyal supporters of City.    The fans have desperately been waiting for a winner to arrive, and now they have one.  Even the players have reacted negatively to this.  For now, this saga remains a quagmire, but maybe after this sunday, we will have a clear indication of what direction Eriksson, and the club decide to move in.