Hi Rocky, it means "being popular" really - ie. there's lots and lots of tweets about him. Last week Cheryl Cole was trending and before that Ryan Giggs.
honestly this is a shambles. The club should come out and state he's not going anywhere. Last night they refused to comment specifically on the Villa job and stated they were concentrating on tying him to a new deal. It should never have come to this. 3 weeks before our first Europa game and it feels like deja vue.
Thanks Penguin for indulging someone whose trendiness has long gone! It's all a game of poker it seems to me. Is Hughes holding out for a 'better' club or a better deal at the Cottage?
You know yesterday I said Hughes is gone, well that was after talking to some Guardian folk. Well today, according to Pat Murphy at the BBC Sparky is staying. All I know is he is currently in a meeting with Mackintosh and Al Fayed thrashing out a deal or a resignation letter. No-one knows what the hell is going on. This is the opposite of what Jol did to us last season, because we are now Ajax! Hughes is banking on having some spending power and knows he is in the driving seat. I have a headache from trying to work out what's going on. Also little rumour that Rafa Benitez is in Birmingham at the moment. He rejected Athletico Madrid the other day so you never know. Very very very confusing.
I think FFC4L and Rocky have hit the nail on the head - MH is doing a Jol and using Villa to better his deal with MAF. Lets hope he's successful but its a dangerous game - I can see MAF being pushed too far and losing patience with him and preferring to move on to the next person (whoever that may be). Interestingly, FFC4L, I've heard that Martinez is also being considered by Villa!?!
Latest news from an insider at QPR is that Fulham have just turned down a 3mil bid for AJ. nothing as yet from WBA. Norwich and Wigan are said to be in the frame. (Oh I do hope so)
Martinez But honestly, if Sparky manages to get Mo to invest more in playing personnel then maybe it could end up well for us. Until then, I'm waving goodbye to my fingernails.
Ok ok, panic over. (Sort of). The break clause window was on MONDAY (Once again Pat Murphy is my source). Since he didn't activate it he is contracted with us for another year. He could still leave us though (ala Roy)
No news is good news ... the longer this thing takes, the more I think it works in our favour. There are a bunch of good, unemployed managers out there. If Hughes is playing hardball (baseball term) in the Villa negotiations, Villa are likely to hedge their bets and open talks with other candidates. Remember the whole Martin Jol fiasco last year? Jol played hardball with Ajax over his contract, using Fulham's interest as leverage to get a better deal - and he got it. I'm hoping that's what's going on here.
He's already gone according to the numpty who updates his profile on wikipedia! I think that there are a number of potential suitors if he pushes MAF too far. He's not quite in the driving seat yet, one cheek maybe! I still think that consistency is the best policy and getting him to stay for another 2 years or so would be great. IMO
From BBC:"Aston Villa have been in touch with Premier League rivals Fulham to assure them that they have not been in contact with Cottagers boss Mark Hughes." http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13628221.stm As Cravingawin says there are many managers who would be happy to get into the Fulham job. They know they have a strong squad and European Football. It is our board that need to sort this thing out very clear once and for all.
All (and especially Rocky) MH is no longer trending on twitter (which ties in with the BBC link posted above). Does this mean the crisis has been averted? Or there wasn't a crisis at all and it was all media hype? Or does it mean we have to live through more of this until he either signs a new contract or goes? The last I fear.
Trouble is it's all media hype in the end. Turn on 5Live in the morning and 25% of the stories are about what will happen that day (EG politicians' speeches, events etc.), 25% about what they predict will happen that day (remember the BBC & Jol last summer?), 25% fluff (who cares if Cheryl Cole is on the Krypton Factor?) and you might get a real bit of interesting, factual information. I suppose we're all part of it in these chat rooms really. In the end it does get boring when you realise that you don't know the half of what's going on behind the scenes - well why would you when everyone's playing their cards close to get the best deal possible?
