In the past few weeks, football management in Manchester has shifted dramatically. Firstly the big man in football, Sir Alex Ferguson, announced his retirement after 26 years at Manchester United and on Tuesday it was publicly announced that Roberto Mancini had been sacked from Manchester City. The reason for his dismissal? Reports suggest it was down to his failure “to achieve any of his stated targets this year, with the exception of qualification for next season’s Uefa Champions League”.
The Telegraph reported that Mancini found out the news from chairman, Khaldoon al Mubarak, on Sunday night, that his tenure would be terminated but the public has only just found out.
This makes for a good time to look at the social buzz surrounding the news. We ran a social media analysis of the past seven days to see how the level of social conversation varied in the run-up to the announcement and in the immediate aftermath.
Buzz Volume
Rumours started circulating the social world on Friday when the number of mentions started steadily increasing, creating the first peak on Sunday at 4,211 mentions. Many of these were from those caught up in the speculation. The second peak came on Tuesday, the day the news was announced, with the mentions peaking at 5,349.
So how did those on social take the news?
Many were shocked at the news, regardless of the some claims being made by the mainstream media. Messages of support and thanks flooded in:
There were also several people who felt Mancini had been unfairly treated. One social media user took sympathy on him:
Whilst former Manchester City defender Andy Hinchcliffe was amongst those who suggested Mancini should have been given more time, a common thread:
This appears to be a very different reaction from the current team players, who were reported to be ‘delighted’ and ‘relieved’ at the news:
So it seems there has been a fairly negative reaction to Roberto Mancini’s dismissal from Manchester City, with a few exceptions (see above tweet). By engaging with a social media monitoring tool, high profile people and organisations can find out the ‘real’ reactions from the public as social media is often deemed the most honest media platform. On Wednesday it was revealed that Malaga’s coach, Manuel Pellegrini, would be allowed to leave the club after this season, so it’s possible that he may be Mancini’s replacement. Only time will tell.