David Platt: Roberto Mancini wants to make history at Manchester City

Roberto Mancini, Manchester City (Getty Images)

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Manchester City first-team coach David Platt has revealed manager Roberto Mancini is determined to “make history” by ushering in a new era of success at the club.

City lie fourth in the Premier League table after Sunday’s 2-1 victory over West Ham at Eastlands, and are on the verge of securing Champions League qualification for the first time.

They also have the opportunity to win their first top level trophy in 35 years when they take on Stoke in the FA Cup final at Wembley later this month.

This considerable success has come on the back of lavish spending by City’s owners, and the weight of media and public expectation is now felt at the club.

But Platt, who has known Mancini ever since the two played together at Sampdoria, insists it is the desire to win rather than pressure which motivates the City boss.

“For him it’s all about winning but it’s not about winning for himself,” he told the Daily Mail. “His mantra now is that ‘We can make history’ at this club. That in 100 years they will be talking about Yaya Toure and David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong and so on.

“We had breakfast before the semi-final against United and I asked him if he was nervous. He said, ‘I’m not nervous. I can absorb any defeat. But I’ll feel so sorry for the owners and the supporters if we don’t get there.’”

One of the main criticisms leveled at Mancini this season has been the accusation that he has failed to foster a genuine team spirit among his expensively assembled squad of players.

Platt believes this is a process which has taken time, and that City’s success since the turn of the year proves there is a genuine unity at Eastlands.

The 44-year-old added: “We started the season with a lot of new players and it’s taken time for the team to evolve, understandably. But since January it’s been good.

“Slowly but surely there’s a spirit and an intensity that has built up.”

One player who has often been labeled by the media as a troublemaker in the camp is striker Mario Balotelli, but Platt has claimed the mercurial 20-year-old is not as problematic as he is made out to be.

“Mario is 20, and he’s had to find his feet in a different country, playing a different type of football,” he said. “But I don’t think he’s that difficult to manage. I think he responds.

“We have to continue to manage him, continue to develop him. But he listens and he is learning.”