[Archived] Sparky - Not A Great Manager?

[RevidgeBlue]

Talksport ratcheted up the pressure on Hughes a few motches tonight with Danny Kelly posing the question:

"Mark Hughes" - good manager or bad manager? To a seemingly very mixed response from Citeh fans.

They also rang Rodney Marsh in Florida who rather bizarrely expressed his view that Hughes was one of a breed of outstanding young up and coming British managers with great integrity but he went on to make it pretty plain he did not think Sparky would survive long enough to spend Citeh's gazillions in the transfer window.

[RevidgeBlue]

Speaking to a Citeh fan at work - he's basically saying that the whole spine of the time has gone. Richards playing like a donkey (though he's out of position at centre-back... should be at right-back but apparently Zabaleta is playing well at the moment).

One of the Citeh fans on Talksport said much the same - that Dunne and Richards had been absolutely shocking at the back this season.

Has our Nige been doing a couple of days a week with them as well?

[philipl]

Independent article on divisions and factions at Eastlands

[Hughesy]

What makes me laugh the most is when they keep saying City is a job that needs building and that this season was always going to be tough.

Why? They finished in the top 10 last season under Erikson and then spent over £50m this summer on the likes of Ben Haim, Zabaleta, Robinho, Jo, Wright-Phillips etc. They have no excuses...infact they have far less excuses than us. Hughes should be sacked!

[thenodrog]

What makes me laugh the most is when they keep saying City is a job that needs building and that this season was always going to be tough.

Why? They finished in the top 10 last season under Erikson and then spent over £50m this summer on the likes of Ben Haim, Zabaleta, Robinho, Jo, Wright-Phillips etc. They have no excuses...infact they have far less excuses than us. Hughes should be sacked!

With the arabs only being installed on deadline day he's been saddled with a load of dross with bad attitudes. 'You need to get rid of bad players before they get rid of you' is an old managerial truism that may easily see off Hughes and the tafia. He cannot replace the rotten apples with his own men until January so his future is hanging by a thread. Ironically it's looking like we could easily be his executioners!

It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good eh Sparky? Who on earth could have foreseen the way 2008 has panned out last Christmas for Hughes, BRFC, City et al? If anybody could have predicted all this we would have wanted em certifying!

Too late now of course but I've a feeling that we should have banged the heads of Messrs Brown, Williams and Hughes together last winter.

[Hughesy]

They still have too much talent to be where they are and that is Hughes' fault.

Robinho, Richards, Wright-Philips would all get in most first team squads.

Add to that Hart, Ireland, Dunne, Elano, Benjani etc.... There results are unacceptable and Hughes should be sacked.

[Bobby G]

Well said, I think if they were around 10th place, then they could be justified, but relegation zone with half the games over and done with doesnt work.

I think there is friction between the management and players, and they are all not pulling their weights from the look of things. Too many heads down and commitment questionable.

I would just love it if they go down though! But it wont happen...

[den]

They still have too much talent to be where they are and that is Hughes' fault.

Robinho, Richards, Wright-Philips would all get in most first team squads.

Add to that Hart, Ireland, Dunne, Elano, Benjani etc.... There results are unacceptable and Hughes should be sacked.

The first three you mention Hughesy haven't performed well this season. Out of Hart, Ireland, Dunne, Elano, Benjani, only Ireland has looked anywhere near what's needed.

[CrazyIvan]

It's odd to see our former manager struggling to get his team united and playing considering the way he achieved this with us in a relatively short period of time. They looked very ordinary against the Baggies on Sunday and frankly deserved to be beaten. Is this Hughes fault? Not entirely. In much the same way that any team down in the relegation zone, ourselves included, needs for everyone from the manager to the players to stand up and be counted they also need to acknowledge that they are there due to their own individual performances or lack of as the case may be.

Ince took the can for the dire situation we find ourselves in which is fair because his managerial choices were shocking. For example, his appointment of Knox and Matthias contributed more to his failure than any other thing he did or didn't do. But we are where we are because this team hasn't performed so the players bear a responsibility for the situation we are in as well. Hughes is facing something similar in that he has been at City longer than Ince was at Rovers and is in the relegation zone with a team that is worth more in value than most of the teams around them put together. There are parallels that can be drawn with Hughes and Ince but they quickly fall down when you consider that Hughes walked into a very odd and fractious situation at City and didn't buy all his own players but got them bought for him whereas Ince walked into a stable and friendly environment at Rovers where he made his own choices. Ince failed of his own accord. Hughes has been struggling to get prima donna players to play together from day one, when it works it looks great but it isn't working very often. I somehow doubt there is a manager out there that could get such a mismatched set of players consistently performing.

Hughes has been put in a very difficult position, he has money to spend but the big purchases haven't worked up to now so what does he do? Replace the old City players with new expensive purchases and hope it gels? Get rid of some of the expensive players and buy some more? Buy decent players that will make a good team and forget big purchases (which is not what the owners want)? In the mean time, how does he get them all to perform? He's on a hiding to nothing right now but he deserves, at least, to be given more time than Ince was because of the mess the club has been in which was not of his making and because he is a proven Premier League manager. Whether he gets it is another matter.

[Tom]

In my opinion Hughes should be sacked he's done such a bad job it's only beaten by Ince. His excuses are nothing short of pathetic either, he's taken a mid table average team spent 50 million or whatever and turned them into a worse team.

In honesty I couldn't be happier but it wont last, no doubt he'll get to spend another £50 million and achieve a mid table finsih and will say what a good job he's done to get them up there.

[Hughesy]

The first three you mention Hughesy haven't performed well this season. Out of Hart, Ireland, Dunne, Elano, Benjani, only Ireland has looked anywhere near what's needed.

But whose fault is that? We have many players undeperforming - the manager got the sack for it... Therefore is it not Hughes' fault that they are not performing for him??

[cn_barlow]

i just hope he isnt sacked before we play them.

[47er]

The first three you mention Hughesy haven't performed well this season. Out of Hart, Ireland, Dunne, Elano, Benjani, only Ireland has looked anywhere near what's needed.

Jo is useless and Hughes didn't have anything to do with that. Robinho blows hot and cold and has not justified his fee or his wages. Hughes didn't sign him either. A shambolic club.

[Blue n White Rover]

i just hope he isnt sacked before we play them.

I agree, hopefully the Ewood faithful will give him a good receptio. As he deserves one, although he left on a sour note, the man did well for us.

Good luck sparky!

[philipl]

Going into the realms of fantasy but..

Suppose Rovers are winning comfortably and the Citeh fans turn nasty against Hughes in the way only Citeh fans can.

How will the Rovers' fans react?

[Pugg]

Maybe Hughes is one of those managers who can do a good job working on a budget, but isn't the right man (yet?) at the richest club in the world. I mean why is he still looking at some of the players he is linked with?

Whilst I think the blame lies with the players and manager, I think some of the blame should be put on the situation they are in. They have only made one big name signing in Robinho (excluding Jo, but he wasn't Hughes' signing and has been a flop by most reports), and then the majority of the team know that they will be replaced as soon as possible. They are expected to play well, as they should as professional footballers, knowing that they aren't really wanted in the future. Maybe they aren't motivated for the cause knowing that. Then, if reports are true, you have the rumours that Robinho has a 'hot line to the owners' etc. I think Hughes would get a lot more out of the players he has, if they weren't the richest club in the world.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Going into the realms of fantasy but..

Suppose Rovers are winning comfortably and the Citeh fans turn nasty against Hughes in the way only Citeh fans can.

How will the Rovers' fans react?

I'd need some needles and twine to stitch my sides back together for laughing.

[philipl]

Hughes safe for January.

[cn_barlow]

Going into the realms of fantasy but..

Suppose Rovers are winning comfortably and the Citeh fans turn nasty against Hughes in the way only Citeh fans can.

How will the Rovers' fans react?

Along the lines of 'you're getting sacked in the morning'?

Thats what i would be singing.

Another example of leaving the mighty rovers and doing nothing (good)!

[Exiled in Toronto]

Going into the realms of fantasy but..

Suppose Rovers are winning comfortably and the Citeh fans turn nasty against Hughes in the way only Citeh fans can.

How will the Rovers' fans react?

After polite clap before kick-off to recognise his achievements with us, I would hope, once we are in a unassailable winning position, that 'Sacked in the morning' is ringing out from all four sides of the ground.

He's done nothing but belittle us since the day he left and I hope he gets some back in return

[joey_big_nose]

Oh, and to think fans whine on about respect! People wonder why there is no loyalty in football and that is the perfect representation of why there isn't. The fans don't give one about loyalty and certainly do not have much in the way of respect so why should anyone else?

[BuckyRover]

"You're getting sacked in the morning" is most definitely what I will be chanting (should we be winning of course ) and I will encourage the girlfriend to do the same.

He was doing his best to unsettle our team as soon as he joined City, he is quite entitled to do so, but he shouldn't be respected for it.

[Parsonblue]

Mark Hughes did a brilliant job for Blackburn Rovers and I will applaud him no matter what the result. People seem to have short memories and as soon as someone leaves the club they seem to become public enemy number one. For players, managers and coaches, professional football is their chosen career and they do whatever they think is best to further that career.

If they do well we expect them to stay forever but if they are doing poorly they are hounded out of the club by supporters.

History will show that Mark Hughes was one of the more successful managers of the club. Surely, that deserves some acknowledgement from fans? But then again, the same folk who threatened to boycott the club if Big Sam was appointed were standing up applauding him on Saturday

Who said we fans are fickle?

[BuckyRover]

I did, in my post about Diouf.

It is just a game. He is at the moment a "villain". He screwed us behind our backs.

No other football fans would cheer a returning manager that left for a similarly placed club just down the road.

It will be a great atmosphere hopefully

[John]

No other football fans would cheer a returning manager that left for a similarly placed club just down the road.

Hughes did a lot for us and you cannot just forget that. He deserves a bit of respect.