First day, poor show for Manchester City's new coach Mancini

Cook, in a prepared statement, tried to outline that no discussions with Mancini had taken place until after City's 3-0 league loss to Tottenham on Wednesday.

But Mancini revealed he had actually met with chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak and the club's billionaire Abu Dhabi-based owner Sheikh Mansour in London a fortnight ago.

Speaking from a statement, Cook said: "It is important for people to know that Roberto was only offered the job after the Spurs game, we negotiated on Thursday and finalised his agreement on Friday."

But Mancini said: "Two weeks ago I met Khaldoon in London. Only to speak in general on football."

Cook then confirmed City had indeed spoken to Mancini but only on "general matters" and suggested media mischief was trying to suggest a "conspiracy."

"It seems there is a conspiracy theory. We need to draw a line and move on to the future," Cook said.

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