mancityblues.com

We weren't as good last season as some other sides, but we were better than others. Perhaps we ended up just about where we deserved to be. Experienced squads like Spurs and Everton, Liverpool and the big lads hurt us.

Over the summer City have been buying (at some expense, probably paying over the odds for some) and brought in four new players up to now, with the possibility of a couple more to come.

We don't know at this stage whether those new additions will work out or not, or who will move on, or whether the team will gel. Neither does Mancini, he's the man in the driving seat who has to make it work for sake of his reputation more than his livelihood. He will be a wealthy man, he doesn't need, I am quite sure, to fill his pot and run away. So he has come with the expressed intention of bringing silverware back to Man City. That's why the owners turned to him when they lost faith in Mark Hughes. Dirty business or not, they think Mancini can do what Hughes couldn't. In their eyes.

We all hope Mancini will be the man to bring back honours and status to the club. He has to deal with the expectations of the owners, the fans, the big name players and their egos, pressure from the Press, pressure from upstairs, downstairs, all angles and deliver. I expect that nobody knows better than he the tough job he is faced with and yet he constantly affirms his intention to "win something" and he is obviously determined to make his mark on the EPL.

Whether we think he is too defensive, or failing to stop the gaps in the squad or he is wrong to want two players for every position, wrong to show little respect for players that have been here a long time (didn't exactly set the world on fire did they?) wrong to field so many defensive midfielders, wrong to choose Shay over Joe - we all have our opinions but only one man can make changes. The manager.

I am sure that this next season will be another round of highs and lows, desperation and elation, and I am also sure that we will continue to improve over all, and if nothing else, Mancini gives me hope, and with luck over the season our confidence will grow.

Best of British to him and us.