It is a very wet and windy afternoon - remnants of the US snowstorm Jonas apparently. I have done a lot of useful stuff today and just back from a second bout of fresh air from biking into Ryde along the sea wall. The tide is up - waves are crashing - the hovercraft is stopped. Invigorating stuff.
My bike rides are a bit like meditating. Mind wanders. Sometimes it is deep and meaningful - today I ended up thinking about Man United's managerial dilemma! What to do. In half an hour I have solved it - ha! This is what I would do!
First of all the problem. Van Gaal might limp to the end of the season but it looks increasingly likely he will not. He certainly won't be there next season.
United need a new manager. What to do. I shall start with what not to do.
I cannot believe they would be daft enough to appoint Mourinho. In my opinion he is a spent force. People have seen through him. The bubble has burst. If he did get United going well you know what to expect - the Mourinho ego show - and that always ends in tears.
I wouldn't give it to Ryan Giggs. Reason - he has been nowhere else to find out who he is. Given the chance I think it is most likely he will try and do it as Sir Alex did it and he is not Sir Alex Ferguson.
So what would I do. I would jump at signing Mark Hughes. Why?
- MH had a stellar Man U career - one of their best strikers ever. He won a host of medals during his playing career, including two Premier League title medals, four FA Cups, three League Cups and two European Cup Winners' Cups. He also collected an FA Cup runners-up medal and a League Cup runners-up medal. Hughes was the first player to win the PFA Players' Player of the Year award twice, in 1989 and 1991. He also had spells at Barcelona and Bayern Munich as well as several other big clubs. While having an exceptional playing career is not an essential requirement for top management it is certainly not a hindrance. MH commands respect.
- MH is a competitor and a winner - but he is modest - no ego - just fierce, quiet determination. No histrionics. I remember a centre half (although I am struggling to remember who it was) being asked who his hardest opponent was. He said without doubt Mark Hughes. He said if you kicked Mark he wouldn't complain - he wouldn't lose it - but you would never beat him - he always came out on top. This is an aside - but it sums MH up.
- There are 2 reasons not to give MH the job as far as I can see. 1) his managerial record 2) he is not foreign! The second first. Yes it is fashionable to choose a foreign manager. Maybe the fans demand glamour - something more exotic than home grown. Personally I think it is rubbish especially as MH has played abroad and been an international manager for 4 years. A manager does not need to be "continental" to be successful - ask Sir Alec.
- OK MH's managerial record. It depends how you interpret it. First of all unlike Giggs he has worked under many top managers. Unlike Giggs he has had european club experience. He has seen a range of managers work. MH was never in doubt he wanted to be a top manager and while I have not heard him say it I am sure the pinnacle for him would be MU. Once there you can be sure of his total loyalty and fierce determination to get success for his Club - and MH knows what it takes because he has done it as a player.
- MH had 4 successful years as Wales manager so a lot of valuable experience of managing against foreign opposition. He is universally regarded to have done an excellent job with Wales and many feel he layed the bedrock for their current success.
- From Wales he went to Blackburn. (extract from Wiki)-
Blackburn Rovers
Hughes quit the Welsh national side in September 2004 to take charge of Blackburn Rovers in the FA Premier League, the last club he had played for.[16] His key aim was to keep Blackburn clear of relegation, which he succeeded in doing, whilst also taking the club to an FA Cup semi-final for the first time in over 40 years.[17]
In his second season, Blackburn surprised even the most optimistic supporters by finishing inside the top six of the Premier League and qualifying for the UEFA Cup, beating teams such as Chelsea, Manchester United (twice) and Arsenal along the way. After just missing out on the League Cup final, his team sealed their spot in Europe by defeating champions Chelsea 1–0 at home.[18] On 4 May 2006, Hughes and assistant Mark Bowen signed new three-year contracts to remain at Blackburn until the summer of 2009.[19]
Hughes then set about creating a formidable side at Ewood Park. He entered the transfer market, bringing in players such as Benni McCarthy (£2 million), David Bentley (£500,000), Ryan Nelsen (free), Stephen Warnock (£1.5 million), Roque Santa Cruz (£3.5 million), and Christopher Samba (£400,000). Rovers finished 10th in the Premier League in 2006–07, and reached the UEFA Cup round of 32, where they were knocked out by Bayer Leverkusen 3–2 on aggregate.[20] Rovers faced Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final, their third consecutive semi-final since Hughes took charge. The match ended in defeat 2–1.[21] He won the Premier League Manager of the Month award for October 2007,[22] and eventually led Blackburn to a league finish of 7th in 2007–08, Hughes's final season in charge at Ewood Park. - MANCHESTER CITY I think MH was sacked because of a run of draws. It was a very unsettled time at City. They wanted to spend big. Many players came in. Most proved to be successful. The City job has proved to be handful for everyone. I think MU was successful at city and would have learned an awful lot. (below is the wiki summary)
- On 2 June 2008, Manchester City sacked manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.[27] Hughes was reported to be the first choice of City owner Thaksin Shinawatra to replace Eriksson.[28] However, interest was also reported from Chelsea, who had recently sacked their manager, Avram Grant.[29] Blackburn Rovers confirmed on 2 June that they had agreed to allow Hughes to talk to Manchester City.[30] The following day, Blackburn agreed to a then-world record compensation package for Hughes to take over as manager of Manchester City, and he was appointed as head coach on 4 June 2008 on a three-year contract.[31]Following the appointment, Manchester City's executive chairman Garry Cook stated that "The Club intends to invest in new players as well as securing the long term services of key members of the current first team squad. Mark has already identified some of the players and backroom staff that he wants to see here at City, and we will begin the process of recruiting them immediately."[32] The players who did arrive were Jo, Tal Ben Haim, Vincent Kompany, Shaun Wright-Phillips returning from Chelsea and Pablo Zabaleta. Hughes's first game in charge resulted in a 4–2 loss at Villa Park but was followed up with 3–0 wins against West Ham United and Sunderland.On 1 September 2008 Manchester City were taken over by the Abu Dhabi United investment group,[33] who made large amounts of transfer funds available to Hughes, allowing City to break the British transfer record and sign Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5 million.[34] Hughes was very active in the January 2009 transfer window, signing Wayne Bridge from Chelsea, Craig Bellamy from West Ham United, and Shay Given from Newcastle United, as well as Nigel de Jong from Hamburg. City finished 10th in Hughes's first season with the club, as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. City's home form was among the best in the league, but their away form was among the worst.In the summer of 2009, Hughes added the likes of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn Rovers, Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Touré from Arsenal to his squad, while Carlos Tevez also joined after his two-year deal with Manchester United expired. In addition, he also signed defenders Joleon Lescott from Everton for a reported £22 million, and Sylvinho, a former Arsenal and double Champions League winner with Barcelona, on a free transfer.[35]Hughes started the 2009–10 campaign with a 2–0 away win at his former club Blackburn Rovers.[36] A further 1–0 win against another former club Barcelona in the Joan Gamper Trophy at a capacity Camp Nou.[37] was followed up by a 1–0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Eastlands.[38] Hughes's team then beat Crystal Palace in the League Cup 2–0 and Portsmouth 1–0 to maintain a 100% clean sheet start to the season.[39] City continued in good form, beating Arsenal 4–2 and West Ham 3–1 either side of a 4–3 derby day defeat to Manchester United. City would then, however, go on a run of seven straight draws.[40]Manchester City beat Scunthorpe United 5–1 and Arsenal 3–0 in the League Cup to reach their first semi-final since 1981. Hughes then led City to their first victory over his former club Chelsea for five years with a 2–1 victory. That last victory was one of only two wins in eleven successive Premier League matches, and Hughes left City before their League Cup two-legged semi-final against Manchester United. He was sacked on 19 December 2009 and replaced by Roberto Mancini.
- FULHAM MH was a success at Fulham. He left because of ambition. It was not his greatest move. (see Wicki below).O
- On 29 July 2010, Hughes became the new manager of Fulham, following the departure of Roy Hodgson to Liverpool. Hughes agreed a two-year contract with the London side and was officially unveiled to the media on 3 August 2010, before his first game as manager on 7 August against Werder Bremen. Hughes was joined at Fulham by his backroom team of Eddie Niedzwiecki, Mark Bowen and Kevin Hitchcock.[42][43] His first league game in charge of the Cottagers came exactly a week later, when they drew 0–0 at Bolton Wanderers on the opening day of the Premier League season, followed by a resolute display against Manchester United in a 2–2 draw at Craven Cottage.[44]
- Draws followed in four of Fulham's next five Premier League games against Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers, Everton and West Ham United, with a solitary 2–1 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. This meant that at that stage – including the 7-draw streak at Manchester City before his dismissal the season before – all but two (86%) of Hughes' last fifteen Premiership games had been drawn. The bizarre run, exclusively made up of draws or 2–1 results, continued with 2–1 defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and West Bromwich Albion in the second half of October 2010. At the end of the 2010–2011 season, Hughes led Fulham to an 8th-placed finish in the league and UEFA Europa League qualification through the Fair Play league.
Hughes resigned as manager of Fulham on 2 June 2011, having spent less than 11 months at the club. Following his departure, he said, "As a young, ambitious manager I wish to move on to further my experiences".[45] Fulham owner Mohamed Al-Fayed hit back at Hughes for questioning the club's ambition; Al Fayed called Hughes a "strange man" and a "flop" and says he rescued him from becoming a forgotten man after being sacked by Manchester City.[46] In September 2013, Hughes admitted he made a mistake in leaving Fulham when he did. - QPR it was a mad time at QPR. The Club wanted instant success but didn't really have the name or status to attract really top players. It was all done in a rush and too much to dovetail into a team. I think MH probably felt he wanted to prove Man City wrong for his sacking and maybe got a bit carried away. I can understand that and he must have learned an awful lot about himself and what it takes to build a team. (Here is wiki)
Queens Park Rangers
On 10 January 2012, Hughes agreed terms with Queens Park Rangers and signed a two-and-a-half-year contract as their new manager, replacing the recently sacked Neil Warnock.[48] Hughes's first game in charge of QPR came on 15 January 2012, a 1–0 defeat away to Newcastle United.[49] Hughes's first win as QPR manager came on 17 January 2012, a 1–0 victory over MK Dons in a FA Cup third round replay at Loftus Road.[50] His first Premier League victory was on 21 January 2012, QPR beating Wigan 3–1 at home.[51] In January 2012 Hughes brought in two defenders Nedum Onuoha and Taye Taiwo and two strikers, Djibril Cissé and Bobby Zamora.[52][53][54][55] Cissé made an immediate impact scoring on his debut against Aston Villa.[56] However defeats against Wolves, Blackburn and Fulham prevented QPR from pulling themselves away from relegation trouble.[57] Victories over Liverpool, Arsenal, Stoke City, Swansea City and Tottenham Hotspur meant that they went into the final match of the season two points ahead of Bolton Wanderers.[58] They faced Hughes's former club Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium who needed a win to secure the Premier League title. Despite scoring twice through Cissé and Jamie Mackie two late goals from Edin Džeko and Sergio Agüero earned Man City a dramatic victory.[59] However Bolton's failure to beat Stoke meant that QPR survived in the Premier League.[60]
In the summer of 2012 QPR brought a large number of high-profile signings with the intent of establishing themselves as a Premier League club. In came Kieron Dyer, Ryan Nelsen, Andrew Johnson, Robert Green, Samba Diakité, Fábio, Park Ji-Sung and Junior Hoilett all before the start of the season.[61] However Rangers's new look squad got off to an awful start as they crashed to a 5–0 home defeat against Swansea City on the opening day of the season.[62] Hughes branded his players performance as "embarrassing".[63] Hughes then signed José Bosingwa, Júlio César and Esteban Granero but saw no improvement in results going twelve matches without victory.[64] He was sacked as manager on 23 November 2012 after the team suffered a 3–1 home defeat to Southampton six days earlier and replaced by Harry Redknapp.[2][65][66]
STOKE CITY - the story goes on. It is widely regarded that MH has done an excellent job at Stoke. He has changed the Pullis culture - not easy to do. He has not had masses to spend - he has been shrewd - sold well and signed a lot of misfit or loan players that he has subsequently done very well with. Stoke play attractive and direct football and the term Stokealona is being used. They are hard to beat. MH has made some shrewd signings and it is very unusual for Stoke teams not to give it everything - which reflects very well on MH. He has also shown he can get the best out of complex personalities and has again shown he is capeable of building year on year and improving his squad. (here is wiki)
Stoke City
2013–14
Hughes was appointed manager of Stoke City on 30 May 2013 signing a three-year contract taking over from fellow Welshman Tony Pulis.[67][68] Speaking after being announced as Stoke's new manager, Hughes admitted that he had a point to prove following his disappointing spell at QPR.[69][70] Hughes's first task was to release Rory Delap, Mamady Sidibe, Matthew Upson, Dean Whitehead, Carlo Nash and Matty Lund, at the same time giving Jermaine Pennant a new contract.[71][72] He made his first signing on 28 June 2013 with Dutch international left-back Erik Pieters arriving from PSV Eindhoven for a fee of €3.6 million (£3 million).[73][74] Hughes's first match in charge of Stoke on 17 August 2013 ended in a 1–0 defeat at Liverpool.[75] Hughes's first win as Stoke manager came in his next match as Stoke beat Crystal Palace 2–1 at the Britannia Stadium.[76] This was followed up by a 1–0 win away at West Ham United.[77] On 2 September 2013, transfer deadline day Hughes brought in Austrian forward Marko Arnautović from Werder Bremen and Stephen Ireland on loan from Aston Villa.[78][79] Meanwhile, Michael Kightly, Cameron Jerome and Ryan Shotton all departed the club on long-term loans.[80][81][82]Stoke soon lost their early form however and they went through September and October without a league win, picking up just two points and scoring only three goals.[83] Stoke improved in November and December going a run of one defeat in seven matches including a 3–2 win over Chelsea on 7 December 2013.[84] December ended badly for Stoke and Hughes though as they were on the receiving end of a 5–1 defeat at Newcastle United in which Stoke were reduced to nine men and Hughes himself was sent off.[85] Stoke went through January 2014 in poor form and managed to pick up just a point and a 1–0 defeat at Sunderland on 29 January left Stoke just above the relegation zone.[86] The one piece of transfer activity Hughes did was to swap Kenwyne Jones for Peter Odemwingie in a player-exchange deal with Cardiff City.[87] The arrival of Odemwingie enabled Hughes to alter his tactics and formation and it immediately paid off with a 2–1 victory over Manchester United.[88] Stoke's form continued to improve and they went through March unbeaten with wins over Arsenal, West Ham United, Aston Villa and Hull City. Stoke proceeded to end the season strongly with wins over Newcastle United, Fulham and a 2–1 win against West Bromwich Albion on the final day of the season saw Stoke finish in 9th position, their best finish since 1974–75.[89]
2014–15[edit]
For the 2014–15 season Hughes signed Sunderland full-back Phil Bardsley, Fulham midfielder Steve Sidwell and Senegalese striker Mame Biram Diouf on free transfers.[90][91] Also arriving for small fees were Slovakian defender Dionatan Teixeira and Barcelona forward Bojan Krkić whilst wingers Victor Moses and Oussama Assaidi joined on season-long loans.[92][93][94][95] Departing the club were Matthew Etherington, Michael Kightly, Cameron Jerome and Ryan Shotton.[96][97][98][99] Stoke had a mixed start to the 2014–15 season as they lost 1–0 to Aston Villa on the opening day, drew 1–1 with 10-men Hull City and then beat the reigning Premier League champions, Manchester City 1–0.[100] Stoke's inconsistency continued through the autumn as Stoke managed just three wins beating Newcastle United, Swansea City and Tottenham Hotspur.[101][102][103] Whilst suffering frustrating home defeats against newly promoted Burnley and Leicester City.[104][105] Stoke found form in December beating Arsenal 3–2, Everton 1–0 and West Bromwich Albion 2–0.[106][107][108]In January 2015 Hughes began talks with the Stoke board about extending his contract with the club.[109] Hughes only new arrival in January was that of German centre back Philipp Wollscheid from Bayer Leverkusen.[110] Stoke suffered a number in injuries to key players in January and February most notably to Shawcross and Bojan.[111] In February Stoke suffered back to back 4–1 defeats against Manchester City and then in the FA Cup against Blackburn Rovers.[112] Hughes signed a new contract with Stoke in March 2015, keeping him contracted at Stoke until the summer of 2019.[113] City then went a run of three wins against Aston Villa, Hull City and Everton and then three defeats against West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace and Chelsea. Stoke ended the season strongly with victories over Southampton (2–1), Tottenham Hotspur (3–0) and Liverpool (6–1) ensuring a second consecutive 9th-place finish.[114][115][116]
2015–16
Hughes made a number of alterations to his squad in preparation for the 2015–16 campaign. Leaving the club were the long-serving trio of Asmir Begović, Robert Huth and Steven N'Zonzi with Stoke receiving their record transfer fee in the process.[117][118][119] With the money available Hughes broke Stoke's transfer record paying Inter Milan £12 million for Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri.[120] He also brought in Spanish striker Joselu for £5.75 million, Dutch midfielder Ibrahim Afellay, Shay Given, Jakob Haugaard, Glen Johnson and Marco van GinkelStoke are going well. Hughes is mature and experienced but still relatively young and definitely ambitious. He has had big club political experience. He has one or two blips but he has come back stronger. In interview (and PR is important at a big club) he his thoughtful, intelligent, dignified, honest and loyal. I always get the impression that you wouldn't mess with Mark Hughes. He did a great job with Adebayor, signed talented misfits like Pennant and Ireland and got a lot out of them. I think he is an outstanding candidate and would be a sure bet to sort out MU without spending billions. He is the man United need not some flash harry largely in it for himself.
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