Swindon Town have assured supporters that their board shares the same promotion ambitions as manager Paolo Di Canio, despite the Italian's comments ahead of Saturday's game at Crawley.
On Friday Di Canio claimed the club - who announced a takeover this week, subject to Football League approval - sold winger Matt Ritchie to Swindon's promotion rivals Bournemouth without his knowing.
The Italian said he had no choice but to review his position at the League One side, and Swindon's board later responded to his comments claiming there is no cause for concern.
A statement on the club's official website said: "The Board expects to complete the sale of the club next week and are confident that the new owners share the same ambitions as Paolo and his team.
"The decisions made over the course of the last few days have not been made lightly, and in the case of the decision to sell Matt Ritchie, have been done in conjunction with the new owners.
"Whilst the Board understands Paolo's desire to gain promotion and is wholly supportive of this, the Board's considerations and responsibilities extend beyond the on field activities of the team.
"On some occasions it is faced with difficult choices and whilst we recognise the disappointment to all caused by the sale of Matt, the Board has not shirked its duty to face up to the harsh realities of its financial situation.
"We look forward to the swift resolution of these short term issues, Football League approval of the new owners and hopefully a win against Crawley."
Di Canio will take charge of Swindon's game at Crawley this evening - live on Sky Sports - despite admitting he's considering his future at the club.
The former West Ham, Celtic and Sheffield Wednesday forward was appointed manager at The County Ground in May 2011 and subsequently led the team to promotion from League Two and has steered his team into promotion contention again with Swindon currently third in League One.
The 24-year-old, a who had been linked with a January move to London, has signed a "long-term deal", the Russian club said on their website.
The player will join up with his new team-mates at a training camp in Marbella later on Saturday.
A statement on the Shakhtar website read: "FC Shakhtar and FC Anji reached an agreement regarding Willian's move to the Russian club in a transfer worth 35million euros.
"Shakhtar thanks Willian for the years spent at the club, for his goals and professionalism. We wish our former player success in his new team."
In all since joining Shakhtar from Corinthians in 2007, Willian has played 221 games for the club, scoring 37 goals.
He is also a full Brazil international having made his debut in 2011.
He joins a number of fellow Brazilians in the Anzhi squad, as well as high-profile names Samuel Eto'o and Lassana Diarra, but not Christopher Samba. The centre-back joined QPR on Thursday.
The champions ended January trailing their neighbours by seven points at the top of the table.
But in a month when United resume their Champions League challenge with a much-anticipated clash against Real Madrid, Mancini feels it could be time to strike.
United are at the Bernabeu on February 13, three days after a testing visit from Everton, and then host the Spanish giants on March 5.
Mancini said: "They are two important games for United so I think that February and March could be the time when it's possible to decide this championship."
City dropped two points as they were held to a goalless draw at QPR in midweek but Mancini does not see any reason to worry.
He said: "This doesn't change (anything). I think when we arrive at the end of February, the gap will be very, very small.
"In every championship, never one team won a title in January. We should fight until April.
"If they have seven, eight, nine points (lead) in April, it could be difficult, maybe. But in this moment we have a big chance.
"Every team during the season has two or three weeks when they don't play well, when their performances go down and they don't score.
"Even if you have fantastic strikers, like the situation we had last year, there were some moments when we scored three or four goals a game but then didn't score for three or four games and we didn't know why.
"It could be the same for them (United) now."
City face the challenge of Liverpool and their in-form striker Luis Suarez at the Etihad Stadium this weekend.
City were linked with a ?40million swoop for Suarez, who has scored 22 goals this term, earlier in the season but Mancini did not want to get caught out on that subject at his pre-match press conference.
When asked about the Uruguayan, Mancini said: "Suarez? He plays for Liverpool. He has quality and is strong."
City will have to try to keep Suarez quiet without defensive linchpin and captain Vincent Kompany.
The Belgium international suffered another calf strain in last week's FA Cup fourth-round win at Stoke and could be out until after the fifth round against Leeds in a fortnight.
City have admitted concern over the recurring nature of Kompany's problem but he is not expected to need an operation.
Mancini said: "He has this problem. An injury to the calf is a bad injury.
"You can have this for a long time. Vinny needs to work and have treatment but I'm not worried about an operation.
"He did this problem in March last year after five minutes against Sporting Lisbon. We need to manage him well."
