Mancini Spurs link leaves Lazio floundering

Lazio have admitted they may also be powerless to prevent their widely-admired but frustrated coach Roberto Mancini abandoning ship.

Mancini has emerged as Tottenham’s number one target as they seek a successor to Glenn Hoddle.

Director of football David Pleat and first-team coach Chris Hughton were put in charge at White Hart Lane until the end of the season, but Spurs slumped into the relegation zone following Sunday’s defeat by Charlton.

And Lazio sporting director Oreste Cinquini as good as conceded defeat in the battle to keep the coach who is contracted to Lazio until the end of June 2008.

Cinquini told PA International that there was no prospect of Mancini leaving the club until the end of the current season, in May, but beyond that he held out little hope of the 39-year-old staying on at the Stadio Olimpico.

The sporting director said: “Mancini will remain at Lazio this season. That is certain.

“He does have a contract until 2008, but the club at the moment is undergoing a difficult time so we cannot guarantee that he will remain next season.

“Mancini is an important coach and it is not only in England that people want him.

“They follow his career in Spain also.”

Mancini served his coaching apprenticeship at Lazio as assistant to Sven-Goran Eriksson, before a brief playing spell at Peter Taylor’s Leicester followed in early 2001 when the Swede departed to take charge of the English national team.

“He has grown as a coach with Eriksson,” said Cinquini.

“He loves England and he speaks good English, so he has always said that he wouldn’t mind coaching in England in the future.

“Mancini deserves to go to a big club.”

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy told shareholders of the club in December that he had identified the man he wanted to appoint as manager next summer – and said he was very optimistic he would get him.

Whether Mancini might be that man is not known. To Lazio supporters, it matters not where he goes, but whether he goes.

They now know that Lazio officials would not stand in Mancini’s way should the club continue to suffer financially and be unable to make the signings which the coach wants.

Mancini toiled to little effect in his first coaching job, at cash-strapped Fiorentina, and resigned within a year of taking the reins.

He was named Lazio coach in May 2002, earning recognition from the Rome club for his hard work while fighting a losing battle in Florence.

After years of heavy spending in the transfer market, Lazio appeared to have been left just as hard-up as Fiorentina, but a rescue package was put together and the team gamely fought on, with their fourth-placed finish quite remarkable given the circumstances.

Most players accepted pay cuts or deferrals of wages, payments to players were overdue in many cases, and yet the squad was drawn together by their admiration for Mancini’s work.

They reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals and qualified for the Champions League.

In recent months, however, Mancini’s commitment to the cause has become questionable, with the coach apparently reaching the end of his tether.

It could prove to be a meeting of Lazio shareholders on January 17 which determines Mancini’s future.

He is hoping for encouragement from those with significant stakes in the club at that assembly, rather than more of the grim news which has been in plentiful supply since his appointment.

Speaking in late December, Mancini said: “We still have time to build this project but we need to be given peace of mind and in this way I hope the meeting will go well.

“My future at Lazio depends a lot on this situation.

“We will have to wait and see what happens.”

Lazio would seek significant compensation to make up for losing their coach so early in his contract, but Mancini might be worth the expense, based on his performances over the past three years.

If Tottenham do show an interest, they will face stiff competition.

There would be a clamour for his services in Italy in the summer, an ideal time for making coaching changes, and Mancini might be able to achieve his ambition of joining a club where he can exercise muscle in the transfer market.