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Manchester City have sacked Mark Hughes after 18 months in charge and named Roberto Mancini as his successor, with Brian Kidd appointed his assistant. News of Hughes' departure came via a statement, issued just two hours after the 4-3 home win over Sunderland. The Welshman had been appointed in June 2008, replacing Sven-Goran Eriksson. But despite spending heavily on the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Joleon Lescott and Carlos Tevez, results have not satisfied City's ambitious owners. "A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set," read a City statement. "Sheikh Mansour and the board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change. "This is a particularly difficult announcement given the personal investment over the past 15 months on all sides and we would like to put on record our respect for and thanks to Mark Hughes and we wish him the best in his future career." Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki, Kevin Hitchcock and Glyn Hodges have also left the club and further appointments will be announced in due course. City currently lie sixth in the Premier League, having lost only twice in the league all season, and are through to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup. They beat league leaders Chelsea a fortnight ago, ending a run of seven successive draws in the top flight, but suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat at Tottenham in midweek. Now, despite a thrilling victory over Sunderland, Hughes finds himself out of work. The 46-year-old Welshman enjoyed a glittering playing career as a striker with Manchester United, Barcelona and Chelsea before moving into coaching by taking charge of Wales and narrowly missing out on qualification for the Euro 2004 finals. He furthered his reputation at Blackburn Rovers, where in his four years at Ewood Park they regularly challenged for European qualification and reached three FA Cup semi-finals. After moving to Eastlands, City won 36 and lost 25 of 77 games under Hughes. Of their 16 draws, eight of them came in their last 11 Premier League outings. They also spent close to �200m on players during his 18-month reign, including a record-breaking British transfer fee of �32.4m on Robinho. City also paid out heavily for Gareth Barry (�12m), Roque Santa Cruz (�16m), Tevez (�25m), Adebayor (�25m), Kolo Toure (�15m) and Lescott (�22m). Their spending would have been far greater had they succeeded with bids for England and Chelsea defender John Terry, Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o and Brazilian playmaker Kaka.