Where would you place Hughton in the all time list of Norwich Managers? Based on achievements such as league placings, home results, away results, style of football etc. There are many legendary football managers that have graced Carrow Road from the days of Ron Saunders, John Bond, Ken Brown, Dave Stringer, Mike Walker (twice), Peter Grant, The Rodent and of course Paul Lambert. I think from day one I would place him on a par with Mike Walker's Second Spell as Manager. Hughton took over a proven squad of players that stayed in the Premier League very comfortably the season before under Lambert. I'm just interested to see how you view his legacy and where does he sit in the list of modern day Norwich City Managers.
I think the timing of this question is indicative of a binner looking to cause trouble with a stupid question at a time when emotions are running high! I'm mindful of deleting it, but I'll wait for my mod companions to help a decision!
JWM - please don't stir it up. We all need to get over Hughton, including myself as one of his strongest critics. We all need to look forward whatever our opinion of him was/is.
Consensus seems to be to give this the benefit of the doubt and see how it runs. I'd like to think this thread can be kept fairly objective though, and rather than bringing Hughton's dismissal into it, concentrate on how he'll be remembered in the future. For me, he's probably in the same class as Nigel Worthington, although admittedly my memories of previous managers are limited. In the transfer market, both Worthington and Hughton had some hits but perhaps more misses when given money to spend, for whatever reason. Both were "nice guys" and were determined to do their job, but both were ultimately forced out by the atmosphere at Carrow Road, despite the board perhaps being tempted to give them more time. He wasn't as incompetent as Gunn, as provocative as Grant or Roeder, but nor was he as successful as Lambert and some of the older greats.
Honestly guys this isn't an attempt to WUM but thinking about it more carefully I can see how it must look! I know the timing may not be great but I would certainly be interested to see how you rate him compared to other managers in you history!
JWM, I'll let it go for now, but I will let you know I saw the exchange between you an Guru on your own board, so in safety, I was not impressed!
In the scheme of things I would suggest the bottom of the top third. He is behind the elite group which includes John Bond as well of course. However, to have retained top flight status does put him above many during the last 40 or 50 years and I am also mindful that as each year goes by, the expectations increase and have factored this in. I always admired Ron Saunders as he was the first manager to get us into the top flight but to be totally honest our football in those days was shocking and made the modern day Stoke of recent years look like Barcelona! Seeing the outcry against CH for his style of football, dear old Ron would have been ousted prior to promotion.
Of the "modern era" I would go for this ; 1) Lambert 2) Walker (1st time) 3) Saunders 4) Bond 5) Brown 6) Stringer 7) O'Neill 8) Worthington 9) Rioch 10) Hamilton 11) Hughton 12) Deehan The rest I will ignore. But the worst IMO was Roeder,especially how he treated Hucks
Top 5 since I've been supporting City (which isn't really that long): Lambert Walker Worthington O'Neill Hughton
For what it's worth I think that Dave Stringer is the best manager you have had as he built the foundations for your success during the Walker years! I cant remember why he actually left but he was a very good manager and its a shame that he couldn't see the job through.
Out of interest why would anyone put O'Neil in their top 4 list when he was only with you for a few games! Is it because of the O'Neil "Name"? I guess not many of you were around to see the Dave Stringer era?
Obviously we have different criteria on how we judge people Dave. I assume you are not prepared to participate other than finding fault in others selections.
For me, it's because he was a better manager than the other options and was arguably more successful during his tenure. Considering he is my 4th choice and Hughton is my 5th, I don't think that is really unfair. EDIT: these were some of the other major options I had Roeder Grant Gunn Rioch Hamilton Megson O'Neill was an easy choice for my top 5.
Fair play mate! Just looking at the list of all the managers you've had since 1972 it's quite a hefty old list! EDIT - Not saying its a good or a bad thing btw!
