[Archived] Mark Hughes - Good Choice ?

[Hughesy]

And as others point out, what happens when City have a bad patch - which they will? Or don't win a cup? Or don't finish top 6?

Simple - SACK!

[thenodrog]

As for Man City being a better club than ours - it isn't. It has more money (for now - Thaksin will get bored/deported/asset-stripped at some point) and it's got a bigger fanbase. But then again, over the last decade so have Newcastle, Leeds, Villa, Everton, Spurs, Sunderland etc etc. And as others point out, what happens when City have a bad patch - which they will? Or don't win a cup? Or don't finish top 6?

Just as a matter of interest how is Shinawatra able to finance all this? Has he the necessary bunce available in liquid assets? Is it tied up in Thailand or elsewhere? Or is he simply intending to write a lot of promisory notes to various banks?

[roversmum]

Considering if you try to open an extra bank account they virtually accuse you of money-laundering

[American]

Which just underlines how good Hughes was compared to Souness. He had less money and he didn't inherit some genii like Duff and Jansen.

Am I right in thinking that Souness' last game in charge was the 3-0 defeat to Arsenal? In which case, the first team that Hughes inherited was:

Starting:Friedel, Neill, Short, Gray, Gresko, Emerton, Tugay, Johansson, Matteo, Dickov, Stead

Bench: Enckelman, Amoruso, Flitcroft, De Pedro, Yorke

Duff had one good season not playing for Souness, Jansen has had none (for different reasons). Dunn hasn't been the same since Souness stole 5 million from the Big Club for him. Everyone says he was lucky inheriting them. Ask BFS how "lucky" he was getting Duff and Bruce how "lucky" he was to get Dunn.

To be fair, they were both really good managers for us. Sparky just had better timing in leaving.

Edit: For those that look at Yorke and DePedro and laugh, ask Jim/John and LeChuck, respectively, what they thought of the players before they stunk up the joint.

Edited June 6, 2008 by American

[waggy]

IN TONIGHTS telewag hughes says a takeover might have kept him at ewood,what he wanted was money to spend,which he will get at citeh.many off us were flabbergasted that we did not spend in january,if we had given sparky money he may have stayed put,we will never know.what we do know in the present ownership rovers are a selling club,and give any future manager little to spend. lets get used to it

[Neil Weaver]

IN TONIGHTS telewag hughes says a takeover might have kept him at ewood,what he wanted was money to spend,which he will get at citeh.many off us were flabbergasted that we did not spend in january,if we had given sparky money he may have stayed put,we will never know.what we do know in the present ownership rovers are a selling club,and give any future manager little to spend. lets get used to it

Without wanting to approach Drog's levels of cynicism ........ those sort of things are easy to say with hindsight. If he'd have got 10 mill in Jan, who's to say we wouldn't be in the same position now (but 10 mill worse off) with Hughes saying he needed 20 mill to stop him buggering off. Or given him 20 mill etc. Make your own numbers up. Reality - with 16 other Prem teams, our players/manager/coaches can be bought. And maybe that's more than 16, see Ronaldo at the Scum.

[waggy]

Without wanting to approach Drog's levels of cynicism ........ those sort of things are easy to say with hindsight. If he'd have got 10 mill in Jan, who's to say we wouldn't be in the same position now (but 10 mill worse off) with Hughes saying he needed 20 mill to stop him buggering off. Or given him 20 mill etc. Make your own numbers up. Reality - with 16 other Prem teams, our players/manager/coaches can be bought. And maybe that's more than 16, see Ronaldo at the Scum.

maybe i did not get my point across,rovers under this admin are penny pinching

[Dan Furness]

maybe i did not get my point across,rovers under this admin are penny pinching

And your basis of this is??? ....

Are you forgetting that they are possibly also protecting the long-term interests of the club and not throwing money at it that was blitzed by the likes of Kidd, Hodgson.

Might as well throw the towel in now then, as it stands this is possibly the best it is going to get. Get used to it

[joey_big_nose]

One thing that is slightly annoying me about Hughes already is: has he actually said anything good about Rovers since he left, i.e. a thanks for taking a risk on him when not many others would? Or has Taxin already turned him to the dark side of being arrogant? He seems to be behaving differently already, going of what's been said so far.

He's actually said quite a lot of good things about the club and the chairman. The only bad thing he has said as far as I understand is that we don't have much money. That is accurate.

I do think working for someone like Thaiksin is more than questionable, but he hasn't said anything out of order. He is a robust guy who says what he needs to say for the best sort of outcome - for example when Rovers play poorly but Sparky claims that Rovers were the better side, or claiming that one of our players who clearly should have been sent off was not guilty, or - most ludicrously of all - claiming that he was never interested in the Chelsea job at the unveiling conferance at City!

Its an effective approach, it worked for us so he will continue to use it at City. Ferguson, Mourinho, Benitez and Wenger are all precisely the same. If we get Ten Cate for example I would imagine a similar approach.

[Eddie]

He's said nice things now, in after-the-fact smaller issues. When was presented to the press he hardly said a good word about us and made it clear that he had wanted out for a while. It's easy to say a nice thing to a newspaper that you know will be read almost exclusively in Blackburn, when the world's mics were pointed at him he chose to take the easier option...something that seems to be a trend of his.

[philipl]

I'm just happy he said something poitive in the end.

[gumboots]

He's said nice things now, in after-the-fact smaller issues. When was presented to the press he hardly said a good word about us and made it clear that he had wanted out for a while. It's easy to say a nice thing to a newspaper that you know will be read almost exclusively in Blackburn, when the world's mics were pointed at him he chose to take the easier option...something that seems to be a trend of his.

If you were going to work for a nutter wouldn't you toe the party line?

[Eddie]

I'd hope to have more of a spine than that.

[gumboots]

I'd hope to have more of a spine than that.

Not if you'd just taken the job the day before and wanted nice bucket loads of cash to spend you wouldn't. You'd smile nicely for the cameras and do what you were told. It's alright hoping you'd have stood up for what you knew was right but very few people do, particularly in the situation where you have to persuade yourself you've made a correct decision even when you suspect you haven't.

[grizfoot]

Hated the headline today in the LET.

Hughes: Why I had to leave Rovers.

He didn't have to do anything, it wasn't as if he was kicked out of the door or given no option in the matter. He went purely for the funds avaiable to spend at Man City but as we know money doesn't gurantee you success. Surely here at Rovers he'd just about built up a squad purely of his own players and was in good position to strengthen it further this summer, going to City he's going to have to start the progress all over again. I was at some point expecting him to leave in the future, but I thought it would be two or three seasons downline the line when either Chelsea or United came calling. But neve rwould I have expected him to jump ship to Citeh espeically with Sinatra ownership fiasco going on.

Be interesting to see how the fortunes of both ourself and City go over the next couple of seasons. Personally I can't see much changing, both teams will end up mid-table amongst the likes of Everton, Villa, Tottenham & Portsmouth. I can't see City breaking into the top four anytime soon unless something drasticially goes wrong at one of the 'big four'.

[Dan]

This whole thing has made me sick. I always thought Hughes had more class than this. Seeing all the pictures in the paper and listening to the city fans, it's like all of a suddenly they are Barcelona. Hughes saying we didn't match his ambitions, is very annoying. If he'd have played our BEST players, in their BEST positions we may have done better. We were well on course for finishing in a Euro spot, possibly even top four. We collapsed after he got manager of the month. Even if we'd have spent £10 million I don't think we'd have done much better. The games we didn't win were more than winnable with our squad. Coventry, Larrissa, Brum away etc etc Nothing to do with the Clubs ambitions, it was HIS managerial skills.

After the F.A. Cup game with Coventry, I was thinking there is something seriously wrong. Some of his choices for that game were crazy. I think we'll benefit from a change, IF we get the right man and keep the core of our team and add to it wisely. Just seems as if our poor performances is blamed on money rather than him losing the plot.

[waggy]

And your basis of this is??? ....

Are you forgetting that they are possibly also protecting the long-term interests of the club and not throwing money at it that was blitzed by the likes of Kidd, Hodgson.

Might as well throw the towel in now then, as it stands this is possibly the best it is going to get. Get used to it

not backing the manager in january is what i base it on,not a problem to me but premiership survival is all we will get with that attitude,things have changed since hodgson and kidd.JACK IS NO LONGER WITH US.

[thenodrog]

After the F.A. Cup game with Coventry, I was thinking there is something seriously wrong. Some of his choices for that game were crazy.

Don't be daft. He'd be doing his best to win the thing. It's the players who wern't. If he had won the FA Cup there's a good chance he'd be sitting in an office at the Bridge now instead of living out his own personal 'Sword of Damocles' existence under that lunatic.

But if him and Bowen keep banging on about trying to get away for 12 months (despite signing new deals)then I hope that they will refund BRFC for the salaries that they kept drawing under false pretences.

btw I wonder why the bloke interviewing Bowen wasn't so ingratiating and ask why they had signed those new deals?

Edited June 7, 2008 by thenodrog

[RoyRover]

How could he possibly shake this man's hand ?

A man who is reviled across the world, with allegations of dictatorship, corruption and abuse of power.

A wealthy individual with a terrible worldwide reputation as somebody who tried to destroy democracy. He wanted to suppress the media and grind his opponents into the dirt.

How could Thaksin Shinawatra possibly shake the hand of a disgraced man like Tony Blair ?

Thaksin should be ashamed of himself.

With regard to our former manager Mark Hughes, I'm extremely disappointed that he has welcomed with open arms the prospect of working for this despised Thai dictator, who has had his assets frozen following allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

But he's prepared to work for a Thai who has been condemned by Amnesty International for serious human rights abuses and has had his assets frozen following corruption allegations.

I'd be interested to know if you two gentlemen, Paul and Alan, still believe that Hughes is a man of principle - because sadly I don't.

I feel that Hughes has handled this episode extremely badly and let down a lot of people. I have the strong suspicion that he was in secret talks with Man City before Sven was officially sacked.

The statement from Blackburn Rovers on Monday morning: "Mark has made it clear to the board he would like the opportunity to talk to Manchester City," indicated an indecent haste on the part of Hughes, who seemingly didn't even want to wait five minutes until after Sven had officially been sacked.

I feel that going to Man City will do nothing to enhance Hughes's reputation. Certainly in terms of his reputation for loyalty, sincerity, commitment and honourable values, Hughes's reputation has taken a nosedive as far as I'm concerned.

After all, on January 14th, 2008, following a question as to whether he was interested in a move to Newcastle, Hughes told Sky Sports: "I have the support from the chairman (John Williams) and the board. That is something you do not give up lightly. The fact is I have continuity here and a good situation. Things are in place and I am very conscious of that."

"I am Blackburn manager and have a job to do here. In football you need time and I have been given that. I am proud to be manager of this club."

(A link to these quotes from Hughes are HERE)

He claimed to be proud to have been the Blackburn Rovers manager in January this year - telling Rovers fans "I have a job to do here" - but that job lasted just a few more months before he wanted to bugger off to a club which has finished lower than Rovers in the Premiership in each of the last three seasons. A club which has not won a trophy for 32 years since the 1976 League Cup.

In the 2005/06 and the 2006/07 season Man City finished in the bottom half of the table. In the 2007/08 season City did better under Sven and finished 9th, but he was still sacked. What if Hughes finishes only 9th or lower next season, will he be sacked too? Shinawatra seems to think that 9th isn't good enough.

When Hughes looked so downbeat in his TV interview after the 4-1 loss to Birmingham on the final day, I wonder whether he was also concerned after hearing that Man City had lost 8-1 to Middlesbrough. Perhaps back in May, with Sven looking likely to go, Hughes had already cast his eyes on the City job.

Perhaps before the final game of the season back in May there had already been contact between City and Hughes. Who knows? But what I do know is that given Hughes's desperation to get into bed (metaphorically) with a man like Dr Shinawatra and earn himself a significant salary increase in the process, Hughes's reputation has been badly damaged in my eyes.

I feel that Hughes has put money before principle. For me he's now the Welsh Lucas Neill. Extremely disappointed with the man.

I've got to agree with you. My opinion of Hughes has dropped significantly after his move to Man City. The things that he has said over the last few months made it clear that he still had work to do with Rovers, that he wanted to build upon their good league finishes and Cup semi finals and wasn't willing to let our best players leave because of what he could achieve with them if they stayed. To up and leave at the drop of a hat, only a few weeks after the season has finished leaves a sour taste in the mouth and makes me question the character of the man. I could understand him leaving for Chelsea, I wouldn't like it, but it would make more sense. For all the money that City have and he will be able to spend, I don't see them challenging the top four, and they will end up chasing 6th like the rest of us.

He has done a good job for us and has taken us a long way, that's why it hurts so much that he has left. However after his decision to leave all of a sudden, to a team who will probably do little more than ourselves, just to match his sudden high ambitions, I don't wish him well at all and hope that he fails miserably. Over the past few seasons we have seen how the grass isn't always greener elsewhere with Souness, Neill and Bellamy and I pray that this turns out to be the case with Hughes.

[Hasta]

I've got to agree with you. My opinion of Hughes has dropped significantly after his move to Man City. The things that he has said over the last few months made it clear that he still had work to do with Rovers, that he wanted to build upon their good league finishes and Cup semi finals and wasn't willing to let our best players leave because of what he could achieve with them if they stayed. To up and leave at the drop of a hat, only a few weeks after the season has finished leaves a sour taste in the mouth and makes me question the character of the man. I could understand him leaving for Chelsea, I wouldn't like it, but it would make more sense. For all the money that City have and he will be able to spend, I don't see them challenging the top four, and they will end up chasing 6th like the rest of us.

He has done a good job for us and has taken us a long way, that's why it hurts so much that he has left. However after his decision to leave all of a sudden, to a team who will probably do little more than ourselves, just to match his sudden high ambitions, I don't wish him well at all and hope that he fails miserably. Over the past few seasons we have seen how the grass isn't always greener elsewhere with Souness, Neill and Bellamy and I pray that this turns out to be the case with Hughes.

In that case you may have been a little bit blinkered for the past 12 months. You should have become hardened to the idea. He has regularly been letting slip comments about the lack of funding available to him at Rovers and how frustrating he finds it. These have been said mostly in the transfer window. It was also plainly obvious that he wanted the Newcastle job if he was offered it. If he wanted that job then it was always very likely that he'd consider the likes of City, Villa, Everton, Spurs etc..

Edited June 7, 2008 by Hasta

[joey_big_nose]

He's said nice things now, in after-the-fact smaller issues. When was presented to the press he hardly said a good word about us and made it clear that he had wanted out for a while. It's easy to say a nice thing to a newspaper that you know will be read almost exclusively in Blackburn, when the world's mics were pointed at him he chose to take the easier option...something that seems to be a trend of his.

He says what it required I guess, thats part of the way he approaches things. From his point of view when all the talk is of City etc the thing with the most value in the present tense and showing commitment to the new position.

When he joined Rovers he didn't spend much time eulogising about managing the Welsh national team.

I wouldn't do it the way he has gone about it, but he isn't acting any differently to how he has conducted himself as a manager since he started his career.

[Drummer Boy]

He's done a good job for us

He's conducted himself pretty well in my view - waiting until season end before moving on when he could have done earlier as he had clearly decided a new challenge was in order around about February

I wish him luck (though not enough to do well against us of course) as he's going to need all that is going if he is to meet City's expectations which are as outlandish now as they have been for the last 35 years

Like all the others he will be chewed up and spat out after failing because he didn't finish above MUFC

I expected him to leave at some point over the next 2/3 years but though he had better judgement than to go to one of the two Premiership poisoned chalices of Man City & Newcastle where people are sacked before they've warmed the seat and continuity and effective management off the pitch is something they've read about or seen somewhere else

Ah well, another one who thinks he can turn around a club with delusions of grandeur, he'll learn - maybe that's another topic for a thread, what is it that makes a club "big"? Attendances? Performance on the pitch? Expectations of others? How it is run off the pitch? Global recognition of the brand? History and tradition? Number of overseas fans? Shadow cast over rival clubs in the same catchment area?

Any thoughts anyone?

[philipl]

Comment piece suggesting that Hughes meekly taking whoever Thakson gives him is damaging his standing as a Manager.

Anyway very shortly, Thaksin will have given Sparky £65m in transfer funds and will have spent the first £40m himself!

[den]

To me, with that list of candidates, it feels like Hughes left years ago.

[waggy]

yesterday signing of JO shows why sparky left,spent more in one transfer than he did in his whole time at ewood