Mancini waves away his critics

SOCCER:ROBERTO MANCINI'S insistence that he is entitled to wave imaginary cards led to a defiant and slightly eccentric press conference in which Manchester City's manager demonstrated some of the Italian hand-gestures that, in his opinion, could be construed as far more offensive.

Mancini, retracting his public apology, is making no guarantees it is a habit he will drop, and revealed that the only reason he had said sorry was because his assistant manager, David Platt, had told him it was a good idea.

Instead Mancini has decided not to be cowed by the criticism he has attracted and, to illustrate his point, he went through some of the alternative gestures he could use to show his disapproval of refereeing decisions, mouthing what they meant while revealing his knowledge of English swear words. “In Italy, we move our hands,” he said. “For us, it’s nothing, it’s normal. It’s not important.”

The little sketch did not disguise the fact that Mancini feels he has been unduly criticised for not abiding English football etiquette.

“I did it two times,” he continued. “Now I want to watch all the games to see if there are any players on the pitch who do this. In England maybe managers do other things, I don’t know.

“We have been unlucky with the referees in the last three or four matches and when you have one, two, three, four [controversial decisions] in a row ... this [card-waving] is nothing for us in Italy; only in England. I’m happy that there are some people who want to talk about this. But for me, it is nothing.”

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, who takes his third-placed side to the leaders for a title showdown, is among those to have expressed unease at the gestures. “I don’t like it,” said Redknapp, adding to Stoke City boss Tony Pulis’ verdict that it was “unacceptable” and Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy’s belief it was “wrong”.

Mancini brandished the imaginary card at the referee after Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa handled the ball near the halfway line on Monday when he was the last man, stopping Sergio Aguero running through on goal.

The incident came hot on the heels of Mancini accusing Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney of getting City captain Vincent Kompany sent off by making a similar gesture.

Mancini, who has Mario Balotelli and Micah Richards back from injury for the game against Tottenham, spoke of his hope that Carlos Tevez’ transfer was edging closer.

“I hope we can finish this [saga] very quickly. He has talked now with PSG, Inter and Milan and I hope for him that a deal can be concluded quickly. It is strange because when you are a footballer, you need to play, and he’s gone three months without playing. For me, I don’t understand this.”

The City manager expects Nedum Onuoha’s move to QPR to be finalised this weekend but said there had been no offers for the €108,000-a-week Wayne Bridge.