So Mario has finally gone.
Left City for the club he has supported all his life.
It is a sad day for City but it could prove an even sadder one for Mario if he does not settle in quickly at Milan.
He has left his 'surrogate father' Mancini behind at City and he will certainly miss him.
Mancini is the only manager who has been able to control him (to an extent!) and he may not like working under Massimiliano Allegri, who is more hardline and will be less sympathetic to Mario and his idiosyncracies than Mancini.
I heard from a source close to Mario that his big hope is that Roberto will follow him to Milan in the summer - and there is a good chance that will happen.
If City don't win the league, Jose Mourinho is looming large over Mancini and could well replace him.
Then the surrogate father would be available to resume his work with his surrogate child in Milan.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Balotelli to buy Pato's house
I HEAR that Mario is planning to move into Brazilian striker Pato's luxury home in Milan.
Pato has moved back to Brazil in a £12million deal from Milan to Corinthians.
And the AC hierarchy have persuaded Mario to buy his house - which has a price guide of around £2million.
Mario has agreed but has not agreed to request to live a quieter life than he did in Manchester.
His brother Enock is set to join him there and Mario will soon be out on the town with him and his old pals from his Inter days.
He does not plan to settle down with Raffaella Fico, the model who gave birth to his baby girl, Pia.
I would think the Milan fans, who have greeted the signing of Mario as if it were Messi or Ronaldo who was joining the club, will soon let him know if he does not knuckle down in training and matches. They will want to see him deliver the fireworks on the pitch - not off it.
Pato has moved back to Brazil in a £12million deal from Milan to Corinthians.
And the AC hierarchy have persuaded Mario to buy his house - which has a price guide of around £2million.
Mario has agreed but has not agreed to request to live a quieter life than he did in Manchester.
His brother Enock is set to join him there and Mario will soon be out on the town with him and his old pals from his Inter days.
He does not plan to settle down with Raffaella Fico, the model who gave birth to his baby girl, Pia.
I would think the Milan fans, who have greeted the signing of Mario as if it were Messi or Ronaldo who was joining the club, will soon let him know if he does not knuckle down in training and matches. They will want to see him deliver the fireworks on the pitch - not off it.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
PAT NEVIN AND EDEN HAZARD ARE A DISGRACE
I WAS shocked and saddened when I saw Eden Hazard kick a ball boy at Swansea last night.
This is a player who earns millions attacking a young lad who does the job for the joy of it.
OK the lad shouldn't have kept the ball, but that is no excuse for Hazard to assault him.
I think Hazard is lucky not to be facing an assault charge today.
And I think Pat Nevin is lucky not to facing the sack as a pundit after he outrageously defended Hazard on TV this morning.
I don't know what Nevin was thinking of - probably a misplaced loyalty to Chelsea from his playing days there - but he was out of order and very wrong.
Hazard has apologised and Nevin now needs to follow suit - and quickly before his reputation suffers any more damage.
This is a player who earns millions attacking a young lad who does the job for the joy of it.
OK the lad shouldn't have kept the ball, but that is no excuse for Hazard to assault him.
I think Hazard is lucky not to be facing an assault charge today.
And I think Pat Nevin is lucky not to facing the sack as a pundit after he outrageously defended Hazard on TV this morning.
I don't know what Nevin was thinking of - probably a misplaced loyalty to Chelsea from his playing days there - but he was out of order and very wrong.
Hazard has apologised and Nevin now needs to follow suit - and quickly before his reputation suffers any more damage.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
HUGH JACKMAN - BETTER THAN DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
WENT to see Les Mis (as the trendy dub it) and was really impressed.
It is the movie of the year with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe remarkable in singing roles.
It is the first time I have been at the cinema and witnessed an audience clapping at the end of a film!
Yes, it was that good.
And I do hope Jackman wins the best actor gong at the Oscars rather than Daniel Day-Lewis, who is becoming a much a pain in the arse as his fellow Irishman Bono with his pontificating and his sickening up his own arseness in interviews.
It is the movie of the year with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe remarkable in singing roles.
It is the first time I have been at the cinema and witnessed an audience clapping at the end of a film!
Yes, it was that good.
And I do hope Jackman wins the best actor gong at the Oscars rather than Daniel Day-Lewis, who is becoming a much a pain in the arse as his fellow Irishman Bono with his pontificating and his sickening up his own arseness in interviews.
BARCA'S VALDES FOR MAN UNITED
I HEAR today that Victor Valdes may join Man United at the end of the season - with David de Gea moving the other way.
Valdes is a free agent in the summer and wants to leave Barca while De Gea continues to struggle with the physicality of the Prem.
So a swop - with a sum of say £7million also going to Utd - would seem to make perfect sense.
Valdes is a free agent in the summer and wants to leave Barca while De Gea continues to struggle with the physicality of the Prem.
So a swop - with a sum of say £7million also going to Utd - would seem to make perfect sense.
ALAN PARDEW: THE NEW JOHN GREGORY
Newcastle United did brilliant last season and credit for that to Alan Pardew.
But this term they are in a relegation battle and so some of the criticism for that must also fall on Pardew.
I was surprised when the Toon took him on - he never struck me as a particularly top-class manager.
I always saw him as a sort of glorified bean counter who had been drafted into the job.
He can talk a good talk and would make you believe that football success can be formulaic.
That is what appealed to Mike Ashley when he took him on - that Pardew told him he could bring success on a shoestring and that any players they bought they would also be able to sell for at least the same money, if not a good profit.
This is football by the balance sheet, not football as something magical and wonderful.
And so it comes as no real surprise to me that the bubble seems to now have burst for Pardew on Tyneside. The bean counter is having to make do with bargain buys and cannot spend big money on big players.
Pardew reminds me a lot of former Aston Villa boss John Gregory. You remember him? He was smooth and could also talk a good talk - but he eventually got found out.
If I were a Newcastle fan, I would want a manager who was ambitious but also a dreamer; someone who believed the game is magical rather than to be played out to a rigid financial formula.
How about someone like Roberto di Matteo?
But this term they are in a relegation battle and so some of the criticism for that must also fall on Pardew.
I was surprised when the Toon took him on - he never struck me as a particularly top-class manager.
I always saw him as a sort of glorified bean counter who had been drafted into the job.
He can talk a good talk and would make you believe that football success can be formulaic.
That is what appealed to Mike Ashley when he took him on - that Pardew told him he could bring success on a shoestring and that any players they bought they would also be able to sell for at least the same money, if not a good profit.
This is football by the balance sheet, not football as something magical and wonderful.
And so it comes as no real surprise to me that the bubble seems to now have burst for Pardew on Tyneside. The bean counter is having to make do with bargain buys and cannot spend big money on big players.
Pardew reminds me a lot of former Aston Villa boss John Gregory. You remember him? He was smooth and could also talk a good talk - but he eventually got found out.
If I were a Newcastle fan, I would want a manager who was ambitious but also a dreamer; someone who believed the game is magical rather than to be played out to a rigid financial formula.
How about someone like Roberto di Matteo?
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
RAUL WILL BE GUARDIOLA'S NO 2 - EXCLUSIVE
JUST heard from my sources that Spanish legend RAUL, the Real Madrid hero, will be Pep's assistant at Bayern.
You heard it here first - again.
FRANK WORRALL
You heard it here first - again.
FRANK WORRALL
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