Manchester City's new manager will join a club expecting to win five trophies in the next five years - a period that could represent his shelf-life in the job.
That is the ambition underlined this week by chief executive Ferran Soriano, who is overseeing an overhaul of City's structure as well as the appointment of Roberto Mancini's replacement. Soriano has made little of the club's intentions public since his appointment last August but the former Barcelona executive met media in New York this week to discuss a wide range of topics.
He said: "I think that next season is going to be much better, I am convinced about that. It doesn't mean we are going to win one or two titles, but in the grand scheme of things, if we look at the next five years and I could plan now, I would say I want to win five trophies in the next five years."
He added: "That may mean we win no trophies one year and two in another, but on average, I want one trophy or title a year. That is the Champions League, the Premier League or the FA Cup.
"If next year we don't win, but progress our football and get to the semi-finals of the Champions League, finish second in the Premier League and lose the FA Cup final again, that will be fine."
The club are aiming very high - evidenced in the recent decision to sack Mancini after finishing second in the Barclays Premier League - and want stability to achieve that.
But interestingly they see that stability coming through the framework, headed up by the director of football, within which the team operates, rather than in finding a coach who can last long term.
Mancini lasted three and a half years at the Etihad Stadium and his successor - widely expected to be Malaga's outgoing boss Manuel Pellegrini - may not get any longer.
Soriano said: "Three years in football is a long time. In football, teams have cycles and you can have managers who go through several cycles and managers who go through one cycle.
"It will depend. Obviously, we want the next manager to stay for a number of years, but I think it would not be wise to speculate on the next manager being there for 26 years."
Source: PA
