Sunday, March 25, 2007

Stuart Pearce is Done


Stuart Pearce is Done

Manchester City and England's Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce will be fired by Man City.

The final straw will be today's announcement that Pearce had played a larger-than-expected role in England Under-21's weekend friendly against Italy.

Pearce took the Under-21 job without telling his City employers before hand. When they found out they were concerned that the national job would take Pearce's time and focus away from his responsibilities to City.

The FA and City worked out a contract that allowed Pearce to manage his first national match but then no more until the Premiership season was over. Whether Pearce's involvement in the Italy match violated the letter of that agreement, it will prove to be the action that leads City to fire him.

This incident comes just two days after City's Italian striker, and Pearce signee, Bernardo Corradi stated that Pearce does not prepare the squad properly and that his first year with the team has been a "nightmare."

That came after former captain Sylvain Distin publicly disagreed with his replacement, Richard Dunne's, public statement that certain unnamed players were not performing up to their abilities.

All of this comes in the midst of a slide that has put City in some little fear of relegation and that comes in the midst of chairman John Wardle's efforts to sell the club to a rich, reportedly American, group that would inject much-needed cash into the club's transfer budget.

And all of that comes in a year where it is absolutely, positively, critical that City stay in the Premiership to reap the benefits of the cash windfall that will come next year with the beginning of the Premiership's new television contract.

I admire Stuart Pearce, and fervently wished him success for his sake and more so for Man City's. Alas.

I am Mike Diaz, and I'm glad that I'm not Stuart Pearce.