Roberto Mancini claims that Inter Milan would be in the hunt for the Serie A title now, had he not been sacked last summer.
The former Manchester City manager was relieved of his duties just weeks before the start of the season, with Frank De Boer brought in to replace him.
De Boer lasted just a handful of months before he too was shown the door and a run of nine wins in 11 games under his successor Stefano Pioli has seen the Nerazzurri climb to sixth.
They are nevertheless 18 points behind league leaders Juventus -- a gap which Mancini believes would not have been so great had he remained in charge.
"We were right up there last season, leading the way after 20 games, but then we oscillated between first, second, third and fourth," Mancini told Sky Sport Italia. "We needed to continue down that road. This year, we could have been challenging Juve for the title -- it could have been a really big year."
Mancini did not get to prove his worth, though, with the club's new Chinese owners opting for a change in August.
"It didn't end in a bad way," Mancini said. "We reached an agreement on a mutual severance because there were no longer the conditions for us to work serenely together. When you have a club takeover going on, there's always chaos.
"Inter's history was written by the Moratti family. The Zhang family have economic strength to invest in Inter, but to make history -- like it has already been made -- is not easy. Maybe the biggest mistake was getting rid of [general manager Marco] Fassone, who was a reference point for everybody."
Mancini is currently out of work, although he appears in no rush to return. He is reported to have turned down the chance to replace Claudio Ranieri at Leicester City and has instead appeared on the RAI television programme Ballando con le Stelle (Dancing with the Stars).