[Archived] Sparky - Not A Great Manager?

[brfcs5359]

Hughes keeps letting himself down in my opinion. By and large he keeps bigging himself up to the determent of others, but when it it's his former employers and employees he steps on to climb to the next point it's poor. As it all unravels I feel happier 1) Hughes left 2) Ince came in. I hope Ince turns out out be manager who won't make negative comments about us should he go on to be more successful.

...and... The football under Ince is far more entertaining to boot.

[patrickvalery]

For me Hughes has to be included in the top 3 bosses we have had over the last twenty years. For nothing more than turning us into UEFA cup qualifiers on a regular basis. And the fact he kept us up with the poorest squad we have had since Kidd's reign was an outstanding acheivement.

However, i don't think he can be regarded as a great manager. In my eyes he does the simple things very very well. He got our players extremely fit and this paid dividends with numerous points won or drawn it the latter stages of matches. He ensured we were hard to beat at the expense of attacking fluidity. But I never revelled in our performances under Hughes. I'm sure someone will correct me, but to my memory i cannot recall anything close to levels we reached under Souness. There was never a 7-1 drubbing of West Ham or 5-0 over the enemy, or even anything vaguely demonstrating a level close to that.

What i could never understand about Hughes was his lack of attacking nouse. As a striker himself he demonstarted a surprising lack of ideas going forward. The signing of Dunn confused me most. It almost seemed as if he knew we lacked a creative force in midfield but he didn't really know who he wanted and when Dunn came in he didn't seem to know how to use him. He put the shackles on him so often that it became a pontless exercise. Almost as if Hughes knew we needed to change our style to move on to the next level, but there was a huge reluctance to disgard the rigid, hard to beat mentatlity which had served him so well. And when we were chasing a game how many times did we see a plan B? It was nearly always a case of chucking on Roberts and watching him plough himself into the ground for 10 minutes before we ultimately went on to concede another goal.

Hughes did a sterling job in transforming us from relegation fodder into an athletic side who would achieve through commitment rather than talent. For this he has to be applauded and i for one am extremely thankful for the job he did here. But his comments since have soured what was a good relationship with the club. He needn't mention our lack of transfer funds in order to self promote. I wish him well (not at our expense mind) but his comments since he left have ensured i will not hold him in the same esteem as say Souness, who had nothing but kind and respectful words for this club.

[trueblue]

Anyone else see the interview on Sky Sports yesterday (I think it was before the Wigan - City game) where they were talking about the new owners and Hughes being the 'man for the job'...

What got me was when Hughes said he doesn't think he's been given an opportunity in managing City... but that he DESERVES the job !!!!

Yeah Mark... you and Citeh.... match made in heaven (I don't think).. how long do you think your new payrolling play pals will want you in the school yard after you've lost a few

[philipl]

For me Hughes has to be included in the top 3 bosses we have had over the last twenty years. For nothing more than turning us into UEFA cup qualifiers on a regular basis. And the fact he kept us up with the poorest squad we have had since Kidd's reign was an outstanding acheivement.

However, i don't think he can be regarded as a great manager. In my eyes he does the simple things very very well. He got our players extremely fit and this paid dividends with numerous points won or drawn it the latter stages of matches. He ensured we were hard to beat at the expense of attacking fluidity. But I never revelled in our performances under Hughes. I'm sure someone will correct me, but to my memory i cannot recall anything close to levels we reached under Souness. There was never a 7-1 drubbing of West Ham or 5-0 over the enemy, or even anything vaguely demonstrating a level close to that.

What i could never understand about Hughes was his lack of attacking nouse. As a striker himself he demonstarted a surprising lack of ideas going forward. The signing of Dunn confused me most. It almost seemed as if he knew we lacked a creative force in midfield but he didn't really know who he wanted and when Dunn came in he didn't seem to know how to use him. He put the shackles on him so often that it became a pontless exercise. Almost as if Hughes knew we needed to change our style to move on to the next level, but there was a huge reluctance to disgard the rigid, hard to beat mentatlity which had served him so well. And when we were chasing a game how many times did we see a plan B? It was nearly always a case of chucking on Roberts and watching him plough himself into the ground for 10 minutes before we ultimately went on to concede another goal.

Hughes did a sterling job in transforming us from relegation fodder into an athletic side who would achieve through commitment rather than talent. For this he has to be applauded and i for one am extremely thankful for the job he did here. But his comments since have soured what was a good relationship with the club. He needn't mention our lack of transfer funds in order to self promote. I wish him well (not at our expense mind) but his comments since he left have ensured i will not hold him in the same esteem as say Souness, who had nothing but kind and respectful words for this club.

Excellent post but I do think it understates Hughes' tactical mind which occasionally could be quite sharp whilst ignoring Souness' eventually self and Rovers destructive psychopathic tendency.

I have seen two City games (admittedly not the Pompey game but I think that was more about Pompey's troubles than anything else) now and whilst I know they have injury problems (and having SWP and Petrov both on form at the same time would be a handful) I have seen absolutely nothing to suggest City are a top 4 threat in the way that Villa are looking.

Jo and Robinho look exactly what they were before City- not the best Brasilian who was in the Russian League and a Real Madrid reserve. The headline transfer amounts are incidental.

However, thank goodness all the current headlines are about signing Bezzima in January and not RSC. It will also be helpful if Shed Evans has a golden autumn.

[gillibrand]

I just hope that all the Hughes knockers are still as sure after we have played City! It's OK to puff your chests out after we beat City and Spurs, but you will look a bit silly if we don't.

[gumboots]

I just hope that all the Hughes knockers are still as sure after we have played City! It's OK to puff your chests out after we beat City and Spurs, but you will look a bit silly if we don't.

I'm not knocking Hughes but I do find him very unnecessarily disrespectful towards a club that helped him get onto what he considers to be the next step of the ladder and towards a chairman who is very highly respected throughout the Prem. It may not be what he intends but it's how he sounds and I loved it yesterday when City got beat. I'd hope we'd beat them but if we don't so what. Still doesn't mean he's not behaving badly.

[rover6]

Hughes isn't giving Man City much width, which is a problem. Even at Rovers, his preference for Gamst and Bentley ambling on the wings did hinder our attacking potential at times, although making us a solid outfit.

Still think that Hughes will do a good job at City given time.

[FourLaneBlue]

When you think of great managers in the English game the likes of Brian Clough and Bob Paisley spring to mind. Hughes is nowhere near that kind of exalted company yet.

Having said that he was a great manager for Rovers. We were on our knees when he took over and I still believe his greatest achievement was keeping us up that season. We avoided the drop by quite some distance in the end...all with Paul Dickov and Jon Stead as our strike-force.

The part of Hughes that I liked the most is that he never took the easy option for him personally to downplay expectations. The latter part of Souness´s reign was littered with negative comments relating to reaching 40 points and preferring going for a meal with the wife on a Thursday rather than being bothered with the Uefa Cup. All this kind of talk is a way making the job a little easier. In fact even in his greatest hour for us at Cardiff I recall Souness waffling on about how we were " a small club and they´re a big club" (meaning Spurs). We have just won a national cup with some great players I can remember thinking...stop going on about the David v Goliath crap will you...

Hughes was different. Not once can I remember him ever saying anything but positive. Even during his first season I remember him talking about wanting bigger and better things for us. Later on he talked about the Champions League with a kind of "why not?" attitude. Looking to the stars was fantastic after being told we should only be concerned with reaching 40 points. Ultimately we did not get near it (other than in his first full season when we were only four points off) but we could at least dream.

Sparky had his shortcomings but left at a good time having left us with a good league position and a vastly superior squad which was worth far more than the one he was given. It would be nice if he kept his thoughts about us to himself (he seems to have fallen out with JW quite a bit as well as being frustrated here) but after all he did for Rovers in his time here it would be churlish to suddenly forget that.

...and for that, other than when his team plays the Rovers, I wish him all the best...

[AggyBlue]

Hughes was different. Not once can I remember him ever saying anything but positive.

Certainly making up for it now, isn't he.

I think trying to manage in the Premier League on a shoestring budget obviously wears managers down eventually, no doubt Ince will go the same way unless we get some proper financial backing. Hughes seems to be a bit bitter about it though.

[philipl]

Whilst Sparky has been at City, he has admitted things are complicated ("there are many departments here" was a polite way of saying there was rampant civil war in the club), he had to intervene to stop the COO from selling at least two players from behind his back clearly with the Board's blessing as the COO is still there and one of the players is now sold plus face the very real possibility that the club was going bust until the new owners arrived and even then everything was in the air until the purchase went through last week. In the final analysis, 80% of the transfer spend went on two players, one of whom was being bought before he arrived and the other was signed whilst he was playing golf and presumably knew relatively little about the sudden switch from Berbatov to Robinho.

The only thing Sparky can say that is positive about life at City compared with Rovers is that there is more money. Which he is doing ad nauseum.

[joey_big_nose]

Whilst Sparky has been at City, he has admitted things are complicated ("there are many departments here" was a polite way of saying there was rampant civil war in the club), he had to intervene to stop the COO from selling at least two players from behind his back clearly with the Board's blessing as the COO is still there and one of the players is now sold plus face the very real possibility that the club was going bust until the new owners arrived and even then everything was in the air until the purchase went through last week. In the final analysis, 80% of the transfer spend went on two players, one of whom was being bought before he arrived and the other was signed whilst he was playing golf and presumably knew relatively little about the sudden switch from Berbatov to Robinho.

The only thing Sparky can say that is positive about life at City compared with Rovers is that there is more money. Which he is doing ad nauseum.

More money and to be fair a better squad. And more fans. And a bigger profile.

We will do 'em in the league though!

[FourLaneBlue]

Certainly making up for it now, isn't he.

I think trying to manage in the Premier League on a shoestring budget obviously wears managers down eventually, no doubt Ince will go the same way unless we get some proper financial backing. Hughes seems to be a bit bitter about it though.

It seems the relationship soured over something in his last six months at Rovers and in the end it appeared as if he couldn´t wait to get shut of the place.

[LeChuck]

It seems the relationship soured over something in his last six months at Rovers and in the end it appeared as if he couldn´t wait to get shut of the place.

It's a complete guess, but I'm convinced it had something to do with not being able to bring in players he wanted in January. I'm sure he sold Savage thinking that he could bring in a quality replacement with that money plus some funding from the board. But it didn't happen, and throughout January his demeanour in interviews changed significantly; he suddenly started implying about the lack of funds, it all became far more negative...not to mention the virtual 'come and get me' pleas to Newcastle in that month too.

In the end he had to settle for a half-fit Vogel over a month after the window had closed just to get the numbers back up, I suspect that was the moment he thought he'd been asked to root in the bargain basement bin one time too many.

[thenodrog]

It's a complete guess, but I'm convinced it had something to do with not being able to bring in players he wanted in January. I'm sure he sold Savage thinking that he could bring in a quality replacement with that money plus some funding from the board. But it didn't happen, and throughout January his demeanour in interviews changed significantly; he suddenly started implying about the lack of funds, it all became far more negative...not to mention the virtual 'come and get me' pleas to Newcastle in that month too.

In the end he had to settle for a half-fit Vogel over a month after the window had closed just to get the numbers back up, I suspect that was the moment he thought he'd been asked to root in the bargain basement bin one time too many.

Thats my theory too. Given his track record at adding player trading and adding significant value to the squad I find it puzzling to say the least. Until I know different then it's a 'killing the goose that laid the golden egg' situation.

[BuckyRover]

Not really.

It was time for him to move on. The performances had already become stale (Larissa, Wigan & Coventry).

Ince has reinvigorated the team. We needed a change of guard.

[brfcs5359]

Some great posts. Hughes was a good manager for the club and his positive attitude was most welcome. He reinvigorated the club following back door denigration by Souness as his reign came to a close. This bravado has been somewhat tainted by his 'poor club' criticisms which have followed both on the payroll and at City. However we were poor all season, well before the January window.

It does appear there was friction between JW and MH. JW said "I knew he was on his way after the Newcastle approach". And MH turning the knife on JW's efforts at Rovers with the negative jibes at Rovers subsequently. I wonder if Hughes's ambitions in the transfer market went against the grain of JW's vision for Rovers? Hughes wanting to buy big, JW wanting to keep the club on a stable footing. MH did bring Bellamy in for £6million - a big buy. Maybe Hughes wanted players JW's wasn't prepared to gamble on? Recently the club have been awash with transfer money so I can't believe Hughes was capped to the bargain basement. The recently got another £3m form the trustees.

Hughes seemed to have a very rigid view of things. Transfers, team selection, tactics, substitutions, post match comments. Ince eems to have a more realistic view of things. Believes in players and not how much they were signed for. Probably believes that good teams can be assembled on Rovers budget.

It was time for Hughes to go. Ince has been a breath of fresh air so far...

[John]

It's a complete guess, but I'm convinced it had something to do with not being able to bring in players he wanted in January. I'm sure he sold Savage thinking that he could bring in a quality replacement with that money plus some funding from the board. But it didn't happen, and throughout January his demeanour in interviews changed significantly; he suddenly started implying about the lack of funds, it all became far more negative...not to mention the virtual 'come and get me' pleas to Newcastle in that month too.

In the end he had to settle for a half-fit Vogel over a month after the window had closed just to get the numbers back up, I suspect that was the moment he thought he'd been asked to root in the bargain basement bin one time too many.

Good post, completely agree.

[tonyoz]

It's a complete guess, but I'm convinced it had something to do with not being able to bring in players he wanted in January. I'm sure he sold Savage thinking that he could bring in a quality replacement with that money plus some funding from the board. But it didn't happen, and throughout January his demeanour in interviews changed significantly; he suddenly started implying about the lack of funds, it all became far more negative...not to mention the virtual 'come and get me' pleas to Newcastle in that month too.

In the end he had to settle for a half-fit Vogel over a month after the window had closed just to get the numbers back up, I suspect that was the moment he thought he'd been asked to root in the bargain basement bin one time too many.

Surely it was Hughes's decision to sell Savage? If he didn't have an adequate replacement, then who is to blame?

[joey_big_nose]

Surely it was Hughes's decision to sell Savage? If he didn't have an adequate replacement, then who is to blame?

To be fair Savage clearly looked half the player he was when he came back from injury. Sparky could see that, and thats why we let him go.

[brfcs5359]

and 34 with an offer of over a £1mllion...

[tchocky]

Didn't Bowen say this summer that "they" had been looking to move up the ladder/to the next level, or something to that effect, for a while?

If a while equates to about half a year then I suppose it ties in well with LeChucks theory.

[John]

People should try and understand that as a manager (if you are ambitious) you need to try and better yourself if you can. You should always show respect of course, but I don't think that Hughes has said anything which is not true or out of order.

Anyway, it was not so long ago that he was singing the praises of Bentley.

Wright-Phillips won the last of his 19 caps in February, and Hughes said: "He certainly has more experience than two of those players (Walcott and Bentley).

Again, quite rightly, all he cares about is MCFC, not previous clubs/players etc. I think it is a bit unfair to start having a go at him. That is not to say I would love to stuff them come December time....

[thenodrog]

Surely it was Hughes's decision to sell Savage? If he didn't have an adequate replacement, then who is to blame?

Indeed but imo he was, as according to previous transactions, clearing the way for another player who (prob making 2+2=5) became 'more' expensive and subsequently too expensive either in fee or personal demands for the board later on. Likely Huddlestone or Koumas whatever we ended up with Vogel who ironically is no doubt consuming valuable resources and not playing.

[tonyoz]

Good grief! Spurs after Hughes!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...s-Football.html

[JC4LAB]

20 million pound deal on offer too I believe but reckon Sparky is now a happy bunny after a stressful start......Reckon Moyes is the most unsettled of the better Managers at the moment ...