ROBERTO MANCINI admits he wants more control at Manchester City - just like Alex Ferguson has down the road at Old Trafford.
City's Italian manager revealed there have been problems between him and chief executive Garry Cook this summer, as SunSport told you back in May.
But the pair have since signed up to an uneasy truce with City on the brink of the second most expensive signing in British football history.
The arrival of Atletico Madrid's Argentine striker Sergio Aguero at the Etihad in a deal that could be worth around £38million will ease the tension for now.
But United boss Fergie has always preached a manager should have full control over what happens at a club.
Mancini feels the same - although he does accept you need to earn the right to be able to call the shots like that. And he believes, if he can get the players he wants, City can be the 'thorn in the flesh' that Fergie fears.
Mancini said: "I agree with Ferguson but he has been at United for a long time so, for him, it is easy.
"For me, it's difficult because I have only been here for 18 months or so.
"Maybe I need to have more control of the team and the other situations. For a manager that's very important.
"Maybe if I win the Premier League this season it will be different.
"It's important for the manager to have control over the players and the medical staff and the other situations - then it can improve.
"It is different from Italy and I prefer the English style. Here if the manager loses, he is sacked and for this I think the manager needs to take every decision. If he makes a mistake, he pays for it."
City's FA Cup final triumph over Stoke and third-place finish in the league ensured that would never be a problem this summer.
However, there were plenty of differences to be ironed out when Cook and Mancini held their end-of-season meeting in Abu Dhabi in May.
Former Inter Milan coach Mancini admitted: "Maybe we had a different way. Maybe because I think this way and Garry another way.
"But this is normal when you work with other people and now we have a good relationship.
"We have all the same targets - we want to win and we work for this."Mancini admits he would have liked his squad to be complete by now in an ideal world but instead they are still chasing hard to make big-name signings.
Aguero should be a City player soon but they have missed out on Chilean winger Alexis Sanchez, who has gone to Barcelona, while French midfielder Samir Nasri may be forced to stay at Arsenal.
City's board were keen to get rid of some of their cast-offs before getting the chequebook out - and Mancini feels there were lessons to be learned.
The Italian said: "Always you can improve in this way.
"For a team like us it's important to move quickly and to move before the end of the season.
"If you move before then, you have no problem in June and July.
"You have the players for pre-season. This is really important. If you don't have a player, then you lose 20 or 30 days. That's important."
But if he does get the players he wants before the big kick-off next month, Mancini reckons they can push United for the title - just as Fergie fears.
The Italian smiled: "We hope that Alex is right.
"This is what we want for the next season. It's important we complete our team and can work together between now and the season.
"At the moment we are not ready to play for the title. But maybe in two weeks we will be ready.
"I think we can get the players we want. I think in football anything can happen - football is strange for this.
"But if we want to compete for all competitions we must have players - but we are working for this.
"Teams like United and Chelsea don't need to buy six players. Maybe they only need two or three and they are OK. For us, it's different and difficult. This could be the last season that it is like this for us.
"Maybe next summer we will just need one or two players."
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