Mancini reveals that City approached him weeks ago

The soap opera that is Manchester City continued on Monday night as the press conference to unveil new manager Roberto Mancini descended into farce as the official line on the sacking of Mark Hughes unravelled before the media. The Italian let slip that he met the club's owners in early December, contradicting City's claim that talks about replacing Hughes only began last week.

City's chief executive Garry Cook, who has been cast by many as the villain of the piece, was then forced to admit that talks with Mancini were first held after City drew with Hull in late November.

Mancini let the cat out of the bag when he said: "They called me after the Tottenham game but two weeks before that I met the chairman. That was our first contact. I met the owner as well. We met to discuss this situation, to speak on football."

He added that the talks were held because the club's owners "wanted to know what I felt about Manchester City."

After that revelation the attention turned to Cook, who conceded that there had been an earlier meeting but maintained that it was only after the Spurs game that "there were further discussions on a more serious level".

Cook went on to explain why City's stated aim of a top six finish had been upgraded. He said that because of Hughes' "accelerated player acquisition activity in the summer" a revised target of 70 points had been set. "The trajectory of recent results was below this requirement," he said. Yet if City win their next two games they will have 35 points at the halfway point of the season.

Cook was also at pains to deny there was a player rebellion - although Craig Bellamy and Shay Given are now reported to be considering their City futures.

For his part Mancini was bullish about the future. "My first target is to finish in the top four," he declared. "Then, next season, we want to win the Premier League."

It remains to be seen if the man who has become the 13th manager to take charge of City since Alex Ferguson became United boss can deliver on that promise, or keep his job for that long. ·