Had one of these for MP2 and it's just for fans that wish to show any appreciation they might have for Mark Hughes for his short time here and it would be nice to keep the messages positive and friendly. I personally had reservations before he came but in my opinion it was a big task to get us safe from the demoralised rabble we had become under Pellegrino, especially with 4 matches to go and we needed at least 2 wins or we were toast. Yes Swansea did implode but we still had to get the 6 points and I gave us about a 1 in 4 shot at that point. So thanks Sparky, you achieved what you were brought in to do initially and the team's performances haven't been a million miles away this season but the results mean that you had to go. Best wishes in you future endeavours.
We'll always have Swansea, Mark. Thanks and good luck...just had no luck here. Can't believe we are 3rd for chances, but near bottom for chances converted.
I can still hear the chorus of "Marky, Marky, Hughes..." ringing in my ears from the Wigan game. Of course, we should have been beating Leage One opposition - even on a freezing cold afternoon on a bleak and windswept Northern hillside - but still; Hughesie kept the FA Cup dream alive a little longer, and he kept us in the PL. That's twice he's just come up short for Saints now - once as a manager, once as player. But imo he did his best on both occasions. Good luck Mark.
The best thing that he did here was to motivate Dusan and get him into top form and it's such a shame that the latter left in the Summer. Here's what Dusan said about Hughes during the run in last season... "He's made a big difference. He's a great coach and he was a great player," he continued. "He's a good guy and I think his assistants, Mark (Bowen) and Eddie (Niedzwiecki), they are great and they are helping us every day with advice and great work on the training pitches. "This has been important and finally we are seeing the benefits of that."
Good luck for the future, but he needs to get a real defensive coach in his back room team, to prevent more failures.
I am a bit sad about it, I reckon he did his best but didn't have the tools to do the job. I will always be grateful that he kept us up, but there wasn't much chance that he could do better. We haven't had much luck since he came, perhaps that may change with new blood in the Club. Good luck to him for the future.
That Swansea game joins a big list of my favorite get out of jail games. So, well done for handling the build up & match, the pressure was immense.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t if that’s how you feel. Just surprising given his performance and general demeanour. Obviously I’m biased as he was so terrible for us (QPR) but as far as I can see he kept you in the same position you were in when he took over last year, got lucky there were three such awful teams below you (including one of his own making), signed some pretty unspectacular players in the summer and started the season dreadfully this time. But that’s just one person’s view from outside the club.
I've enjoyed the football that has been served up this season so much more than most of last season but defensive errors have cost us dearly and time is not on our side.
His demeanour? We had a manager who refused to speak English (even though he could when he left for Spurs) and Puel (who could talk a corpse to death),,Mark was a pleasant revelation compared to them.
Totally understand your angst. The job he did at your place was abysmal. But, our points total this term doesn't tell the whole story. We've played better than our position suggests, and I honestly cannot remember having worse luck than I've seen in the last dozen games. And don't get me started on some of the ref decisions! But, in saying all that, we've been searching for someone who'll kick start our journey towards the southampton way for three years now, and the noises we're hearing today are hinting at finding that once again. So, fingers crossed this sacking leads us to some much needed stability. Or dull mid-tableness. Anything that isn't 1 win in 15, zero home wins this term, 11 pts dropped from winning pos, one league win at St Marys in a whole god damn year of 2018.
You were quite fond of the little guy's demeanour who was translating for Poch though, as I recall Fran...
I appreciate that Hughes tried to make it work. He’s clearly got no clue how to effectively coach and manage a defence, but at least he tried different players and formations. Results weren’t good enough and he had to go, but it was certainly a less frustrating tenure than his predecessor despite no improvement in results. Thanks for your part in helping keeping us up.
Mark Hughes wasn't MP. That alone is sufficient to get him credit in my book. If any club finds themselves in the unfortunate, yet also freakish, situation of having to pick between Hughes and MP as their next manager, then choose Hughes.
Cheers for Wigan and not letting Bournemouth relegate us Sparky, didn't work out but you gave it your all and have done quite well out of it too. No animosity from me and wish him all the best.
