WHEN things get rough, you can’t put a price on being surrounded by good Kompany.
And the way people are talking of Manchester City’s fall from grace, the waters are choppy indeed.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola would benefit most from restoring Vincent Kompany to the Etihad fold in the summerCredit: Reuters
Even if Man City were able to recruit Lionel Messi, the overall influence might be less than the return of popular ex-skipper Vincent KompanyCredit: Reuters
OK, reports of their demise are vastly exaggerated by knee-jerkers who really should know better.
After all, they remain second in the league and are favourites for three cups!
But Pep Guardiola will be making some big changes this summer.
Some forced by retirements, some to plug gaps he should really have filled at the end of last season.
None bigger than at the heart of the defence.
Yet maybe the answer to that particular problem, far and away his biggest, lies in trying to bring back an old one.
A man who is a City legend. A man who might not actually set foot on a pitch in a playing role again but whose return could be one of the most inspirational moves of Pep’s time.
‘COULD BE PERFECT TIMING’
When Vincent Kompany returned to Belgium last year, everyone knew he was leaving massive shoes to fill.
No one realised quite how big, though.
Not just with what he brought to the team in a playing capacity.
Equally so with his presence in the dressing room, the training ground, everywhere in fact.
Vinny was fulfilling a long-held ambition in becoming player-boss of his first club, Anderlecht.
And not just because he was guaranteed more playing time than he’d get at City!
Yet in reality the dream has been anything but.
Anderlecht are closer to the bottom than the top, assistant Simon Davies, who went with him from the Etihad, quit this week and some fans are calling for Kompany’s head.
Pep Guardiola chose to muddle through after his Man City assistant boss Mikel Arteta went back to Arsenal as managerCredit: Reuters
Vincent Kompany is under pressure as PSV struggle under his managementCredit: Reuters
Not good news for Vinny, obviously. But for City, the timing could be perfect, if Pep picks up the phone and sees how he fancies a return to his spiritual home.
When assistant Mikel Arteta left for Arsenal, Guardiola chose to muddle through until the end of the season before appointing a full-time replacement.
Well, who better than Vinny? His general on the pitch who ticks just about every box in terms of a right-hand man.
Knows the club, knows the players, knows the style and — most importantly of all — knows and is trusted by the boss.
Ah yes, they may say. But why would he take a step down from a manager’s job to become a No 2?
But a step down? At City? Working with arguably the world’s best manager? Really?
Kompany has always insisted he will be back at the Etihad one day. For their part, City admitted there will always be a job when that time comes.
FERNANDINHO FILLING THE VACUUM
But not — as may have been likelier when it was first suggested — as part of a community team, an ambassadorial role or with the youngsters.
Now it would be with the first team. In the dressing room with many of the same faces who looked to him for guidance when he was one of them.
What a fillip that could be for, say, John Stones, the centre-back whose form has gone down the plughole.
If anyone is to turn him around, surely there is none better qualified than Kompany, the man of Belgian blood but Manchester heart.
After he left, Fernandinho filled the vacuum not just as a makeshift centre-back on the pitch but as the senior, respected, galvanising voice off it.
He’s done a decent job as well. But not a patch on the original and best version. That’s not to knock the Brazilian, more an indication of how vital Kompany’s presence was.
Fernandinho has stepped up well on and off the field, but it is still not quite the same as having Vincent Kompany aroundCredit: Getty Images – Getty
An indication of how vital Kompany’s presence could be once again. And for City, the chance to start establishing a bootroom ethos of their own.
For what could be better than — when Pep does decide enough is enough — having someone ready, willing and able to step seamlessly into position?
Yes, Guardiola does having some playing issues to address. He will have a hit list of summer targets for certain positions. There will be ins and outs.
Even if signing Lionel Messi is more the stuff of fans’ dreams than footballing reality.
Yet the best of them all could be the guy who has already helped revamp the club once — and could be the one to do so again.
CARLO’S EYEING A PRIZE
WHEN Carlo Ancelotti took over at Everton, the know-alls laughed it off as the sure-to-fail appointment of a star-struck owner.
The Italian manager, they insisted, wasn’t a man to transform a team stuck in the lower reaches.
Ancelotti’s CV was their proof. A man who only moved among Europe’s giants, tweaking here and there as they chased the biggest prizes.
He didn’t do renovation projects.
But Everton have gone from from relegation scrappers to the coat tails of the European slots.
They have shown a one-for-all fighting spirit many thought was lost for good, with Mason Holgate and Dominic Calvert-Lewin being talked of as bolters for the Euros.
Ancelotti is too classy for two-fingered told-you- so’s. He’s content with a smile and a raised eyebrow.
And right now, he’s raising it higher than he has in years.
WANE’S WORLD VISION
New England boss Shaun Wane is finally a man who knows how to lead a nation
SHAUN WANE will have no easy ride as England rugby league coach, with an Ashes series and then next year’s World Cup.
But whatever happens, England could not have appointed a more inspirational coach.
Predecessor Wayne Bennett may have an unrivalled record of success, but having a boss who was not even based in this country, doing the job on a part-time basis, was an odd choice.
Wane is currently enjoying a weekend golfing break in Tenerife before attacking the job head on and full time from tomorrow. No sport will have ever had a prouder man at the wheel.
Fingers crossed he is the man who finally knocks Australia off their you-know-what perch.
In Shaun Wane, at last the nation has a man who gets what it means to lead the nation. You could argue some sports have a man more talented in his field. No sport will have a prouder one.
JACK’S GOLD ATTITUDE
THEY talk about the ups and downs of jumps racing but few have ever had such a harsh taste of it as crack young Irish jockey Jack Kennedy.
Last week Kennedy, 20, was on cloud nine after riding Delta Work to win the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown, with genuine dreams of winning the Blue Riband event at Cheltenham next month.
Half an hour later he was on his way to hospital in Dublin, after a fall from Dallas Des Pictons left him with a broken leg. Heartbreaking for Kennedy, but no tantrums from the rider.
Just a pragmatic acceptance that if it had happened the other way round, he’d have missed out on Delta Work last week, too.
Clearly the young man isn’t just a class act in the saddle.
Man City hope to sign Lionel Messi on FREE transfer if superstar does not resolve Barcelona bust-up
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
