Manchester City FC

In the words of that mercurial mancunian wordsmith Morrisey 'How Soon is Now?' Is it too soon to be talking about Hellboy era in the past tense? Clubs take a chance, they give a manager as much rope as they see fit, but the man won't just hang himself, he can hang the whole club. We all know how close Ol' Red Nose came to failure and look what he's done since and contrast that to Sven. On the other hand Spurs held onto Oneday Ramos for half a season too long! Big Sam performed miracles at Bolton year after year, went to Newcastle and was a total disaster, so how long should they get?

Hellboy hasn't done much right at City, his record is much worse than Sven's at a similar point and we havn't seen any great tactical awareness, on the contrary there have been puzzling decisions, Micah at left back? Undoubtedly some of his players have let him down, most surprisingly The Dunney Monster, captain and player of the season 3 times in a row! We've had a lot of disruption through injuries, especially to Petrov, but also Bojinov just as he was looking good, Benji and Vas, who have just returned. Also suspensions havn't helped (Zab and Kompany) and there are more to come. My biggest fear is that we will loose Bobbie, he has been incredible and Hellboy still doesn't know how or where to play him, just as well perhaps as this 'freedom' has led to Bob filling his boots. Those who were against Hellboy's appointment in the first place (and yes I was one) will be saying the old 'I told you so' pretty soon, but I want to see him succeed and personally I'm prepared for a full season (and a half) more of the Hellboy era, before we assess his achievements, or not.

So last word with his gladioli swinging nobleness - lets not be too hasty and just pray that next April we're not singing 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now'.

Bazinho