Was Ashley right to sack Hughton?

You accused me of being on the wind up before I called you a prick

The board were a shambles the year we went down. Absolute turmoil. The club was a mess. But Martins missing sitters, Viduka not scoring, Xisco generally didn't play. Owen underperformed. Duff underperformed. Players like Bassong played well, as did Jonas, also Enrique towards the end. There was unrest but the players we lost were mostly mercenaries.

David Nugent and Francis Jeffers are both international goalscorers. I rate Carroll highly, however his greatest assets for us was his ability to win 90% of things in the air. And his never say die attitude. Both which were more down to him than the manager. His technical side improved in the Championship and credit to Hughton for that. He showed him faith and it paid off. Think it was mainly due to Carroll's attitude though, because if we look at Ranger, Hughton tried but failed to do the same with him.

 

Have you even seen Pardew's PL record? He has plenty of experience... of relegation! Perhaps that's what the board wanted him to achieve?

As i've said, Hughton won the title and had us in mid-table. Did you think he was out of his depth after we spanked the Mackems 5-1?

I'm guessing not.

It's very easy with hindsight and with us sat 4th to suggest it was the right decision but he should never have been sacked with such a good record.

 

Where as Pardew has completely succeeded with Ranger then?

 

Look at your history, the last caretaker manager of note was Glenn Roeder who had a fantastic run and took us to Europe for the last time. The board put their faith in him and we floundered, sometimes that little bit extra time in the job are useful, whether you've struggled or not.

 

I see, so it doesn't matter what you achieve, whether that be relegation or Europe, just as long as you've been there a long time?

 

Not at all, but there's plenty of good managers that have been relegated before, and I believe Pardew is one of them.

I'm leaving it at that because the last time I had a drawn out debate with you all you did was smilies and point dodging like a WUM of the highest (lowest?) calibre. I'm not wasting my time doing so again.

 

... yeah right. Hughton should not have been sacked and anyone with an ounce of decency would agree.

 

It wasn't right to sack him, completely stabbed Hughton in the back after all he saved us BIG TIME. I still don't know what to think of Pardew's appointment, it came at a very bad time but I don't think he had anything to do with Hughton's dismissal so I hold nothing against him. It did in fact fit into Ashley's '5 year plan' at the time, which we all laughed off as it was all about 'stability' something this club hasn't seen for years. However after the business done over the summer it's seems quite clear that we could see this plan followed through, we got rid of big earners and brought the wage bill gradually down- anyone who believes players were forced out, you need your heads looking at. We made some quality free transfers in Marveaux and Ba but also Yohann Cabaye for just £4.5 million- unbelievable when you look at the money we were throwing at players a few years ago who didn't posses have half the quality and potential that this guy does (even better when we got £4 million out of West Ham for Nolan).

I think I may have strayed from the OP, no he wasn't right to sack him but I believe his on the right tracks to redemption through Pardew.

 

Just like that really.

 

Bless you. I didn't realise you were so sensitive to the smilies provided on here - what points am I dodging on this?

<deliberatelackofsmiley>

 

Think eveyone needs 5 minutes "quiet time"

 

I think some are looking back at things slightly differently to reality for me. Its a results game, end of story. Hughton had the results right as we were 11th in the league the year after being promoted. Should not have been sacked and a god awful decision to anyone who knows anything about football. Problem is the modern way is to get trigger happy. It matters not really because we went and got a manager with a horrendous track record who has gone on and done a very good job for us. Funny old game football. He's done no better or no worse than Hughton, which in my book means he's doing well.

As for who is the better manager, too early to say. Pardew is doing well but then so was Hughton. We were 11th when he left, we finished 12th. Pardew is only 20 odd league games into his tenure and I hope he is given a lot more time than Hughton was. If our form drops off and we end up 11th mid season, do those who think it was the right decision also think it would be the right decision to discard Pardew? Afterall you can't have one rule for one and one rule for another. I hope not because we'll never progress with this attitude. And can we stop cherry picking the games we want to back up our argument! We had bad results against Bolton and West Brom. We were a promoted side FFS!! We also around the same time hammered the mackems 5-1, beat Arsenal 1-0 away and got a draw with Chelsea. You can dress it up however you like, the bloke was doing well.

To be honest I think it is insane to even suggest he should have been sacked. The same people would presumeably sacked Fergie when he made a much hash at Man U originally. Patience is a virtue beginning to be lost on people.

 

Have to disagree. Hughton kept his head down, kept quiet and got on with the job. Pulled the team back together and instilled a real back against the wall lets show them attitude. Maybe thats his forte.. take a struggling team and make them feel the hunger again, I dont know... *shrugs* Is he the man to keep a team at the top or just to get them to the prem... dont know.. but whatever the good and bad, theres ways of doing stuff, and this wasnt the way

 

Well that's not at all relevant. My point was, the success with Carroll was largely down to his hunger to succeed and not because Hughton was a genius of some sort.

 

If the management of Nile Ranger is not at all relevant, why did you mention it in the first place?

I never said Hughton was a genius, I said that Andy Carroll developed whilst he was under Hughton's management. Not being present while they worked together, I couldn't say how much of an effect CH had - looking at Carroll's career since though, it hasn't gone too bad for him.

 

I mentioned his attitude in comparison to that of Andy Carroll. As a point to show it is not always down to who the manager is, but how determined the player is.

 

I agree there is no comparison as far as their work ethic is concerned but I think you have to praise both the player and coach for development - not just say it's the players attitude that will make him a success. You conceded earlier that Hughton developed Carroll with the technical side of his game.

 

That's right, full credit to Hughton for giving Carroll his chance in the Championship and helping him improve certain aspects of his game. It certainly helped us. But people like Loven, Nolan, Guthrie, Shola, Enrique, Colo, Simmo, Harper etc. The majority of the team were signed by others and could have got into any other team in the league. Hughton done well to keep morale up, but he wasn't making any progress on his faults and he was never going to be the right man for us to progress in my opinion.

 

Disagree he was making progress for me. Very very young in management terms and his tenure was all of two seasons. As I say I realise the modern way is now now now, but it doesn't mean its the right one. If we go on a horror run and end up 11th or lower in Dec, I hope Pardew is not treated in the same way. We need steady progress. Like Hughton he has made steady progress, and still will be even with a horror run. 5 games and three or four bad results and you're a bad manager nowadays.

 

Right, so unless a manager signs all the players in the team, he can't take credit for the results? ...you're class son!