[Archived] Mark Hughes - Good Choice ?

[liam]

voted

[Ben-2000]

Voted - he deserves it.

[dj54nna]

Voted also.

[S15]

There is no doubt the undisputed winner should be Simon Grayson; unbelievable job getting a club that has been nothing short of a shambles foe the past 25 years into the Championship.

[78]

Voted for Mark Hughes. If we don't vote for him, who else will?

[Presty On Tour]

hughes has got my vote!

[Cocker]

I know the poll is meant to be private but it would be interesting to know who the 8 people are that said they were Angry we made Hughes our manager

Also, just found my own comment way back when..........

I really cant decide if this is good or bad

Against, I think that he is an unproven manager (lets face it, anyone could pick a welsh team what with them only just having a squad large enough to qualify) He hasent done anything that great and I dont think that after he left Utd he did much as a player either.

For Hughes I can only go with the experience that he must have learnt from the managers he has played under.

I think that we must all wait with bainted breath to see if he delivers - no pressure Mark, just keep us up please)

:ph34r:

Edited October 3, 2007 by Cocker

[John]

David Bolchover (who writes for the Times and Telegraph) kindly sent me a copy of his article on Mark Hughes management style. David Bolchover is the co-author of The 90-Minute Manager book.

I found it a very interesting read, and I think others on here will enjoy it as well.

However, I only have this article as a word document, and it is too long to post on this thread (as it is quite a long article). Any suggestions how we could make this available for forum members??

Edited October 14, 2007 by John

[frosty]

Highlight all the text, right click, copy, then paste it into your message

[John]

Fair enough - article is below!

Stereotypes appeal because they allow us not to think, and thinking is hard work. We all know that football teams are crammed with arrogant, foul-mouthed young men and managed by raging, yelling middle-aged men. And then you meet Mark Hughes, and you have to do some thinking.

Hughes was a player of great distinction for almost twenty years. His on-field demeanour was highly combative, but this belied a personality in the dressing room which was quiet and private. He once said of his early career, thrown from the tranquillity of his native Welsh village to the glare of the Manchester United first team, that he “used to do the training, go back to my digs and sleep, and that was the sum total of my day.”

And now Hughes is the intelligent and articulate manager of a Blackburn Rovers team that has progressed markedly in the Premiership during his three-year tenure, just as the Wales national team did when Hughes took his first step into management, back in 1999. His success threatens another stubborn stereotype, this time surrounding the ideal personality make-up of a manager, either in football or in business.

Place a young Hughes in one of those assessment centres that large companies are so fond of, and you can bet your house that he would not have been selected for any “high-potential leadership pipeline”. Ostentatiously taking the lead in a group exercise, or loudly promoting himself, would not have been the Hughes way.

Hughes had other, much less easily identifiable, qualities. Many footballers, like many lawyers and sales people, are excellent at their jobs, but initiate any discussion with them about the strategic challenges of their industry, or how to make their company more productive, and their eyes may well glaze over. Their suitability for a management role is therefore questionable. Hughes, on the other hand, had a broader perspective. He was an observer, a thinker:

“I was always a student of the game. I enjoyed playing games against foreign opposition because they posed us different problems. The tactical side interested me. I like to look at a situation and work out my views, rather than flying in with shouting and bawling.”

As a manager, he has not had the luxury of being able to recruit expensive talent. At Wales, he was restricted by the pool of players available in the country. At Blackburn, he is limited by a relatively tight budget, so far spending only a net £7 million on transfer fees. He has for the most part had to content himself with coaxing the very best out of the people at his disposal. So what then are his methods?

Hughes believes that firm managerial control over the direction of an organisation or team need not result from old-style autocratic methods. His approach is more subtle and, arguably, more permanent. You know when you are managing well when your people start not needing to be managed: “I don’t have to shout and bawl. I’ve tried to create a certain standard, and make everyone aware of where that standard is, the level of performance that is required. I’d like this standard to be self-regulated by the players. They drop below those standards, and they know themselves now.”

A one-person crusade to create this pervasive culture of achievement and self-improvement wouldn’t get very far. He has known his management team of Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki and Glyn Hodges for more than 20 years, and they all worked with him during his time at Wales. He trusts them unreservedly to reinforce the Hughes message: “They’re my voice right through the organisation. They have the same standards now, so it’s not just coming from the top.”

They are not just his voice. They are his eyes and ears too. Hughes is so focused on extracting every last drop of potential from his squad that he needs to find out quickly why someone is distracted or falling below previous levels of performance. But he is also mindful of maintaining an emotional distance from the players (he never socialises with them, for instance) in order to preserve his natural managerial authority. He gets his coaches to do the detective work:

“I’ll say to an assistant, “he’s a bit quiet today, you need to find out why, is his wife over yet?” You need to get the information to enable you to understand why someone is behaving in a certain way.”

Developing an accurate understanding of what makes each specific individual tick is, Hughes thinks, fundamental to the skill of motivating others. “You’ve got to know the personalities in your group,” he says. Quite how difficult that task can be, and consequently how rare this managerial insight must be, is illustrated by Hughes’ own experience as a player. Here was the mild-mannered introvert who persistently excelled in the wake of the crudest of ear-bashings from as intimidating a character as his former manager, Sir Alex Ferguson:

“If I got a rollicking, I’d feel they were totally out of order. I used to think “I’ll show you”. You’re not talking to me like that. I’ll show you what I’m all about. I’m sure my managers knew how I’d react.”

Another motivational tool that Hughes uses is what he labels the “fear of failure”. He is at pains to stress that this is not what it sounds: “I don’t mean being so petrified about doing something wrong that you can’t function. When I was a player, the fear of failure was the fear of losing and a lot of people feeling quite happy that you’d fallen flat on your face. Don’t give anyone the opportunity to question whether you’re good enough, either individually or collectively.”

One advantage that a sports coach has over most business managers is that team goals, such as winning a game or a competition, are naturally clear. Hughes is very aware of the effectiveness of targets in concentrating the mind and always makes them them immediate, concrete and achievable: “The season’s a long season. 60-odd games, a daunting prospect. It’s no good saying “we’re going to get 63 points this season and finish sixth”. You’ve got to chop the season down into more manageable sections. That way, the players can relate to the target, and they can think that it’s attainable.”

The most important attribute of a successful manager, he believes, is self-evident expertise: “You’ve got to have the answers. You have to illustrate on the training pitch every scenario that you think might happen in a game, and demonstrate, day in, day out, that you know what you’re talking about. Because if you don’t, it just undermines your position.” If the team has overall confidence in the manager, they can focus on performing well without worrying whether their efforts are futile because the overall strategy is wrong.

Many who knew Hughes as a player might have struggled to identify him as a future manager of substance. And perhaps the key lesson that business can learn from the Mark Hughes story concerns the vexed issue of selection. Lazy preconceptions can make you lose out on some of the best. It takes all sorts to be a manager.

Mark Hughes – Lessons in Management

• Set the standard, don’t micromanage

When you take on a managerial role, make your team aware of the levels of commitment and performance you expect and constantly reaffirm this message. In time, team members should begin themselves to safeguard those standards.

• Use your management team as a buffer

To preserve a natural authority, a manager should preserve an emotional distance from his team. But a manager must also know what might be adversely affecting individual performance or the general mood in the camp. Your managerial assistants can get closer to the team and establish sources of discontent.

• Understand each individual

To be able to motivate others, you need to get to grips with the complexities of their personality. Work hard to understand what drives each individual.

• Set crystal-clear, manageable targets

Every team member must know exactly what he or she has to achieve if they are to be fully engaged in their work. Don’t set targets that are vague or too far in the long-term.

• Know the answers

Managerial self-belief will transmit itself to the team. Anticipate questions and criticisms, and make sure that you have a convincing answer ready.

[gumboots]

That's a really interesting and well-written article. Thanks!

[philipl]

Another stimulating article about Mark Hughes. Interesting the way the Spurs connection is so summarily dismissed.

[thenodrog]

Another stimulating article about Mark Hughes. Interesting the way the Spurs connection is so summarily dismissed.

Looks a bit too much like a cv to me!

Anyway folowing a link from that site .

http://soccerlens.com/vote-for-the-next-ma...er/1314/........

It appears Keane is way in front and just shows how thick the manc hordes are. Lets hope it stays that way! Keane has achieved one money assisted promotion in his entire managerial career to date and thats it.

But lets not forget that these idiots voted Eric Cantona as the best all time MU player.

[philipl]

Hughes interview in the LT. Quite lengthy comments about what was wrong at Spurs.

[Fife Rover]

Looks a bit too much like a cv to me!

Anyway folowing a link from that site .

http://soccerlens.com/vote-for-the-next-ma...er/1314/........

It appears Keane is way in front and just shows how thick the manc hordes are. Lets hope it stays that way! Keane has achieved one money assisted promotion in his entire managerial career to date and thats it.

But lets not forget that these idiots voted Eric Cantona as the best all time MU player.

What a pity that the Man U. fans will not be doing the selecting when the time comes to find a replacement for RFW.

[LeftWinger]

I don't think anyone can judge how good a manager Keane is yet. He did a very good job last season with Sunderland - but he did spend a lot of money. He's also spent a lot of money this season - but the only aim in the first season has to be survival. I'll be interested to see how he copes if they get in a relegation dogfight. Hughes on the other hand has already built up an impressive CV. At the end of the day the right manager is far more important than any player - and I think clubs should realise this. If we were to sell Bentley - we'd maybe get 10m. We'd get nowhere near that in compensation if someone came and took Hughes - and I know which one I think is more important to us.

[roversmum]

Paid a visit to the Dentist this morning - he is a Man City fan. Still reeling from their recent shock result but positively drooling over Mark Hughes - reckons he's the best Manager in the Prem. I felt quite sorry for the poor soul whose appointment was after mine, he had quite a wait by the time we had finished discussing Hughes' attributes!

[philipl]

Henry Wintour on Sparky.

Wintour goes half way there in his analysis. Yes Mark Hughes is an emergent football managerial genius but he is in the perfect environment at Blackburn Rovers to nurture that genius.

In the final paragraph, Wintour almost anticipates the Rovers upsetting the Liverpool and Man U bandwagons in the next 12 days.

[jim mk2]

Hughes deserves the plaudits but I hope he doesn't start believing his own publicity.

He has made some howlers with selection and use of substitutes on occasions and he got it badly wrong in terms of tactics in the Uefa Cup this season.

Only 7/10 so far ; he has to win summat before he can be compared with the great Graeme Souness.

[tcj_jones]

LOL, I wonder whether you actually believe this or whether you get some kind of incredibly sad pleasure out of annoying a messageboard's membership. Seriously, read that back and think about just how ridiculous that sounds.

Hughes gets about a 9.5/10 for me.

[joey_big_nose]

Hughes deserves the plaudits but I hope he doesn't start believing his own publicity.

He has made some howlers with selection and use of substitutes on occasions and he got it badly wrong in terms of tactics in the Uefa Cup this season.

Only 7/10 so far ; he has to win summat before he can be compared with the great Graeme Souness.

Thats pretty daft. You have to contextualise achievement. Hughes has done very well on extremely limited funds. A sixth place and three semi finals, a high quality balanced and attacking team, all while spending only around six ro seven million pounds net over three season.

The man is brilliant.

Souness did very well, but Hughes is doing well also.

Not sure why you have turned against him, you were very positive about him when he arrived and then at the end of last season were qasking for him to be sacked and Chris Coleman installed?!?

[Blackburn Ender]

Jim's only brought a touch of reality to the topic.

Souness was brilliant for us when he won promotion; got a top 6 spot & won the League Cup.

That's trophies in the cabinet, not the 'close, but no cigar' semi-final stuff under Hughes (c.f. Wales).

He's going in the right direction, but, as Jim says, the UEFA Cup tactics were all wrong for a competition we could have done well in.

Wait until this week's League Cup match & see if Hughes gets it right.

Or the next few league games which will be tough & might see us in a more realistic league position.

I love Hughes, he's made some excellent signings, made a lot of the players at his disposal and built a solid team.

We now need to win something to make him as successful as Souness.

[Ricky]

Its just Jim being Jim, he loved Dwight Yorke at one stage too.

But he does raise one valid point, He did get the UEFA cup selection wrong in my eyes. 1 up front when we needed to score goals was not the way forward.

Still I certainly wouldn't swap him with any other manager in the league. I'd love to see our expenditure on transfers over the last 3 seasons, think we are running a very tight ship at the moment.

I'll have a look at the Henry Winter article now, he's always been very complementry about us in the past.

[daren]

More praise for Sparky from Ian Wright, who reckons we could make the champions league, and is apparently rooting for us to do it.

I like the way he's "former Burnley and England", no mention of where he really made his name. Those dingles....

[blue phil]

Only 7/10 so far ; he has to win summat before he can be compared with the great Graeme Souness.

Only 2/10 with this post I'm afraid , jim .

You're getting just a bit too predictable these days , old chap