Roberto Mancini has claimed that he was stabbed in the back by Manchester City, who were apparently talking to potential successors months before his sacking.
The Italian was axed towards the end of last season, one year after delivering the Premier League title to the Citizens on a dramatic final day of the 2012-2013 campaign.
He has revealed that the club hierarchy had spoken to Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola over replacing him while he was in the job.
Mancini also believes that City owner Khaldoon Al Mubarak was persuaded by chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain when it came to ending his time at the Ethiad Stadium.
He told The Sun: "I know a lot of people in football and I found out afterwards that they were talking to three or four managers in February, March and April. I know they were talking to Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti.
"And these were the same people I was sat down with for dinner before the FA Cup final. It was like Judas. I trusted the chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak 100%, but not those other two guys. Probably he just followed them. Some people just don't have the courage to talk face to face. Even Khaldoon did not tell me to my face what was happening.
"He could not just come up to me and say 'we did four years together, we won everything, we are happy, but now the job is finished'. Instead they were working behind my back and sacked me two games before the end of the season. I did not even have the chance to say goodbye to the Manchester City fans."
Mancini is now in charge of Turkish giants Galatasaray, who have Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba in their squad and will face Manchester United in the Champions League last 16 later this month.
Joe Fish
