Barry apologises for ‘naive’ behaviour

GARETH BARRY has apologised to Roberto Mancini for his “naive” behaviour last week which has helped create an air of crisis around Manchester City.

Mancini’s staff were in fire-fighting mode yesterday, coming out strongly in defence of the manager, following a newspaper claim that he has lost the dressing room at Eastlands, with many players wanting rid of the Italian.

After a dreadful seven days, which started with that home hammering by Arsenal, ended with an even more startling defeat at Wolves, both matches featuring arguments between Mancini’s players, and also included that ill-advised golfing trip to St Andrews, life at City could hardly be viewed as peaceful.

But attempts to liken the present situation to that of Mark Hughes, who had only lost one game compared to Mancini’s present three when he was ousted as City boss just before last Christmas, have been flatly rejected.

In such circumstances, it will be pointed out that similar assurances were made about Hughes’ position last year, only for the Welshman to end up out of a job.

But, for his part, Barry is trying to put a lid on a succession of regrettable events, confirming he had said sorry to Mancini, before widening his apology to the City fans for the dreadful performance at Molineux.

“I regret that, it was naive of me. It shouldn’t have happened,” Barry explained of the trip to Scotland with Joe Hart, Shay Given and Adam Johnson that ended with a raucous singing session in the early hours of Tuesday morning.“ I have apologised to the manager; we were in the wrong. We were very disappointed to lose at Wolves but we know we are not in a desperate position. As a group of players we let the club and the fans down at Wolves.

“We’re sorry for that but it is only one result and we are now desperate to put that right. The best way of doing it is on the pitch with wins, starting against Lech Poznan on Thursday in the Europa League.”

For his part, Mancini branded reports of behind-the-scenes rifts as “rubbish”, and Barry said: “The truth is that there is a group of players working together, working hard and working for the manager, trying to do the right things.”