New Manager is Mark Hughes

[broadsword]

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not making the decision!

No appointment is risk-free, and *every single* candidate could be criticised in some way.

If you were to write down the pros and cons of each candidate, I'm sure it'd become no clearer.

eg criticisms:

Houllier: wasted a lot of money on crap, would he try to cripple us financially on an abortive CL attempt?

Strachan: Took Coventry down, managed to get Soton to FA Cup final, but achieved nothing else of note

Hughes: No club experience whatsoever.

Dowie: Would he get the players respect? Is his current (notable) success a flash in the pan?

Reid: Totally lost the plot at Sunderland (stayed too long), hard to judge his period at Leeds. Seems to be a tactical caveman, maybe this is harsh, but the overall impression is a poor man's Souness.

Newell: Success on a plate at Hartlepool, hasn't been at Luton 5 minutes yet.

Dalglish: His last success was almost 10 years ago now, surely not!

... then you get into the realms of dinosaurs like Venables and Graham. People who have had a lot of success, but whose day seems to have passed.

A real s0d of a decision, can't believe they'd have sorted it by early next week. Only one I couldn't really criticise is Moyes, who's having a lot of obstacles put in his way at Everton, but who before that was very very highly rated at Preston.

Hmmmm ... my choice is Moyes!

[kingalan]

Just seen the interview with Parkes on RoversWorld and when asked what kind of manager Rovers should go for he replied someone "low-key" and that we should shy away from the kind of high profile managers we've had in the past. Wonder if this is any indication of the names on the shortlist...

[Martin]

If I was Ferguson and Dowie is appointed I would be on the phone to Souness to organise a January transfer.

So what you're saying is that if you were a Blackburn Rovers player and Ian Dowie was appointed manager, you'd want switch allegiences to Newcastle United. You must have had some pretty itchy feet then in the summer of '99.

I said if I was Barry Ferguson - he's not a Rovers fan to the best of my knowledge so he's not bothered about allegencies.

and just for the record I bought my first season ticket in the summer of '99.

Edited September 10, 2004 by Martin

[LeChuck]

I not talking about playing history with Dowie- I am just pointing out his pathetic attempts over the summer to recruit players. I know he had a small budget but it looks from the outside that he has mucked it up.

I am stating that I would like Mark Hughes or Strachan.

Both ambitous, both passionate and both have a very good footballing brain. I state these in my preference to Dowie.

The fact that you want Hughes in preference to Dowie when you moaned about his lack of experience goes a long way to undermining your point.

He has made some ambitious signings with them this season, Nicola Ventola from Inter Milan for example, but you haven't listed any of those...even the ones you did list don't backup your point because Fitz Hall and Emmerson Boyce have been very good so far. He also brought Sorondo from Inter and Ivan Kaviedes from Celta, two very good players. Sandor Torghelle also looks good, I know he had built a reputation in Europe of being one of the brigther young talents. Speroni looks a bit dodgy but he also brought Hungary international George Kiraly and I think he will be number one when he's fit.

Interesting you also pick Strachan...apart from Niemi I'm struggling to think of a good signing he made, Southampton are left with a very ordinary squad from his reign.

[Hasta]

It looked like it was gonna be O Leary or Venables last weekend for the Newcastle job going off what the bookies said

Indeed just cause such a manager is favourite it can count for nothing at the end of the day

That is true.

however if you look at the first post by Brownie on the Souness Going To Newcastle thread he said he was susipcious because Souness had been backed in to favourite. This was apparantly before Souey had even told our players he was leaving or the press had been informed.

Similar thing has happened with Advocat. He was in from about 33/1 to 9/2 and nobody had even mentioned him. 24 hours later it turns out that he had contacted a player and then put in for the job.

It certainly doesnt mean anything for definate but if theres a large amount of money being staked theres sometimes a slightly stronger reason behind it than speculation.

[John]

His buys were panic ones at the end of the window- a number of Premiership clubs were offered those players. If they do well its a lucky fluke from Dowie's part.

Yeah you are correct the signings have done well, which is showed in their start to the season.

I am not basing the criteria just on what signings have been made. If I was a player I would struggle to get on and train if Dowie's ugly mug was nearby on the training ground. He also seems to have a strange stutter when he talks.

Edited September 10, 2004 by John

[tchocky]

I am not basing the criteria just on what signings have been made. If I was a player I would struggle to get on and train if Dowie's ugly mug was nearby on the training ground. He also seems to have a strange stutter when he talks.

Well the players are a bit older than 13 though, no offence but if your are going by a persons looks, I'd imagine you to be about that age.... In any case why should his looks count against him now if he's done so well in the past? You're running thin on arguments now..

[John]

I have to admit I dont like the man. As many people didnt like Souness the man. I am entitled to my view.

Anway for you pro-Dowie fans, the Guardian reports that he and Hughes are on the short list for sure. I just hope Sparky gets it.

[RoverDrake]

Not much hope then for our new manager.

A lot of us haven't given positive views on the candidates (not that I am saying they deserve them).

[Hasta]

Mark Hughes is so good that he failed to qualify the best team wales have ever had in a long long time to the euros and already failed to qualify them to the world cup.

Any team with Earnshaw,Hartson,Bellamy,Giggs,Savage,Koumass,Davis,Gabbidon and delany should easily beat the likes of Russia and Northen Ireland(with anb extra man)

They also play so called 'boring football' but actually fail to get the results

I feel it's time to put Mark hughes Wales record into perspective.

Mark Hughes was thrust into the Welsh seat in 1999 at a time when noone expected Wales to qualify for anything. Apart from a flirtation with qualifying for USA94 Welsh football had been oblivious during the 90's. After hughes appointment things started looking up. Yes there were better players but results seemed to be at an even better level.

Now consider their squad:-

Coyne (Burnley), Crossley (Fulham), P Jones (Wolves), Ward (Norwich), Collins (Cardiff), Delaney (Aston Villa), Edwards (Wolves), Gabbidon (Cardiff), Melville (Fulham), Page (Cardiff), Roberts (Tranmere), Thatcher (Man City), Davies (Tottenham), Fletcher (Bournemouth), Johnson, Koumas (both West Brom), Oster (Sunderland), Parry (Cardiff), Pembridge (Fulham), Robinson (Sunderland), Savage (Birmingham), Speed (Bolton), Bellamy (Newcastle), Blake (Leicester), Earnshaw (Cardiff), Hartson (Celtic), Taylor (Nottm For), Giggs (Man Utd).

For an international side that has no depth whatsoever. Like the majority of Welsh sides they have decent players going forward. However their defence is shocking. Not one defender would have a sniff of the England side. Unless they are exceptional, no side can carry a defence like that and not expect the odd poor result thrown in.

Anyway, prior to the start of qulification for Euro 2004 Wales produced a series of excellent friendly results:-

13/02/2002 (H) Argentina 1-1

27/03/2002 (H) Czech Rep 0-0

14/05/2002 (H) Germany 1-0

21/08/2002 (A) Croatia 1-1

The Euro 2004 qualification campaign reads as follows:-

16/10/2002 (H) Italy WON 2-1

9/03/2003 (H) Azerbaijan WON 4-0

10/09/2003 (H) Finland DRAW 1-1

11/10/2003 (H) Serbia & Montenegro LOST 2-3

7/09/2002 (A) Finland WON 2-0

20/11/2002 (A) Azerbaijan WON 2-0

06/09/2003 (A) Italy LOST 0-4

20/08/2003 (A) Serbia & Montenegro LOST 1-0

Wales finished 2nd in their group, into a playoff with the results:-

15/11/2003 (A) Russia DREW0-0

19/11/2003 (H) Russia LOST 0-1

Whit a squad as thin as the one they possess and a defence as poor it's hardly a poor qualification campaign is it?

[tchocky]

I have to admit I dont like the man. As many people didnt like Souness the man. I am entitled to my view.

Fair enough.

[mode_m]

is claudio ranieri still out of a job?

[Hasta]

No I think he went straight to Valencia after Chelsea.

[colin]

What is all this betting and odds tummy-rubbish?

If the bets were being placed by the people who are actually going to choose the next manager then it might make sense.

Unless John Williams has been seen at William Hill's slapping the transfer kitty on Glenda (for example) then the who thing is a charade.

Speculation

Geese work

As meaningful as a horoscope.

I think we should appoint Swansea's manager. He's really good.

[tchocky]

Whit a squad as thin as the one they possess and a defence as poor it's hardly a poor qualification campaign is it?

That's w4 d2 l4 if I'm not mistaken. Not bad, not very good.

[Hasta]

Not bad, not very good.

And that just about sums up the Welsh team.

[samtheozzy]

After hearing Shorty's comments (here) i am moving out of the anti-Hughes camp and into the wouldn't-be-too-upset-if-it-was-Hughes camp. Shorty is no idiot and both he and Tony Parkes (here) think Hughes would be fantastic. Both have worked with Hughes as well and are in a good position to judge the man.

[Grumpy old Git]

Wish Uncle Jack was still with us, He would sort it. Sometimes it feels as if their is nobody leading from the front with the passion he had to make sure we had the best.

[Scotty]

Wish Uncle Jack was still with us, He would sort it. Sometimes it feels as if their is nobody leading from the front with the passion he had to make sure we had the best.

Like Harford, Kidd & Hodgson you mean. Jack Walker did many, many wonderful things for Blackburn Rovers but he wasn't that great at picking managers.

[Grumpy old Git]

Don't forget Kenny.

[Legion]

After 64 pages of beating this speculation to death, we're no nearer an answer than on page one.

Just out of interest though, given the possible short list, I'm wondering who the eventual manager would bring into the club as backroom staff/coaches/trainers. God knows we need a couple of good ones to get everyone singing off the same song sheet.

Colin Hendry for defensive coach anyone?

[philipl]

His buys were panic ones at the end of the window- a number of Premiership clubs were offered those players. If they do well its a lucky fluke from Dowie's part.

Yeah you are correct the signings have done well, which is showed in their start to the season.

I am not basing the criteria just on what signings have been made. If I was a player I would struggle to get on and train if Dowie's ugly mug was nearby on the training ground. He also seems to have a strange stutter when he talks.

Dowie had two problems recruiting for Palace this summer- internal issues with how much he did or did not have but much more importantly, managing a club which was so heavilly odds on to be relegated having just defied all odds to go up in the first place.

On that basis, intervening in the transfer market when Palace were the only Prem club looking and there was no tim for others to hijack the deals at least gave them a squad witha prayer of a chance of staying up and was easilly the smartest thing to do.

Lets face it, all 19 other Prem clubs would have looked preferable to Palace to an incoming player not least because of lack of money. That has very little to do with the Manager.

I remain convinced that Dowie is one of the very few managers around who might have enough ability and stature to take a big club in a small town to greatness. For me, he has handled Palace and Oldham with enormous credit and dignity.

Going back to Mark Hughes, seeing the squad lists and results he has achieved hav made me less nervous about the possibility of him being appointed- thanks hasta.

This seems to be the most insightful commentary in this morning's press. Somehow, I think TP might be hinting that he wasn't Grame Souness' biggest fan but I might be being mischevious.

[Ninjathunder]

Don't forget Kenny.

Or Peter Reid, JW's preferred choice to take over in 2000.

[greggyk]

Don't forget Kenny.

Or Peter Reid, JW's preferred choice to take over in 2000.

Why do people not think Peter Reid is a good manager. He got stale at sunderland but before that he did a fantastic job for them.

[broadsword]

Colin Hendry for defensive coach anyone?

No, no and again, NO!