Taken from another board...................... A Blackburn's fan view of Hughes. Blackburn Fan In Peace! Iâm sure your all quite worried about the prospect of your future under Sparky however I thought that I may offer my opinion which in turn may ally some of your fears. Backroom Staff- His backroom team are second to none and you can expect your team to be the fittest in the league, he buys into all that prozone malarkey. First of you can expect allot of staff changes and this will be done as we had Tony Parkes at our place for 27years until he was sacked and replaced with Hughesies buddies where the following are likely to arrive: Mark Bower Assistant Manager â Clever Guy and I for one believe he is defiantly the brains behind it all, he will one day make a fantastic manager, does allot of the touchline stuff during games. Eddie Niedweski First Team Coach â Ex Arsenal coach who follows Mark everywhere. Glyn Hodges Reserve Team Coach Kevin Hitchcock Goalkeeping Coach Damian Roden Fitness Coach Mike Rigg Technical Director - Is responsible for the gems discovered such as Chris Samba,Ryan Nelsen etc. Kevin Cruickshank Scouting Coordinator Playing style â This varied with us when he took charge of us 8/9 years ago when we were involved in a relegation battle and at the time a very poor squad however I have noticed that everywhere he goes he makes you tight at the back and tough to beat, no doubt he will use the word âresoluteâ in post-match interviews. We were very physical but never dirty but due to excellent fitness levels we matched every team man for man on the pitch and we closed them down very quickly and were âtoughâ to beat but we always finished bottom of the fair play! It wasnât pretty football but it wasnât boring certaintly no tippy tappy stuff but good solid hard organised work where quality of the delivery was paramount. We had probably the best passer of the ball I have ever seen in Tugay and Bentley had a wand of a right foot for crosses. Transfer Record â David Bentley (700k) Ryan Nelsen (0) Chris Samba (400k) Stephen Warnock (1.5m) Moussa Dembele (5m) Santa Cruz (3.5m) This is proof that he is excellent without money however I donât think I would ever allow him stupid money because he gets carried away redknapp style but for a club of your size heâl work well in the transfer market. Mark Hughes globally can attract big names but sometimes with these names comes big wages. Big test for Tony Scholes,does he know the word ânoâ? My View- I honestly couldnât predict how he will turn out for you guys, I was so sure he would turn QPR around but there seems to be deep routed problems beyond Hughes at that club (Sounds So Familiar) Fulham on paper was a great job but I remember Fulham fans reminding our boards at the time near xmas about there league position (17th) and apparently Danny Murphy galvanised and turned it around for them where they secured 10th. He subsequently left that very summer at the earliest opportunity. I think you have to give him time, history wise he never starts the season well! (Firsts few games) BUT I think he will at least hel keep you midtable with a few European astute signings (Gone are the days of Whitehead & Whelan for you guys). Donât expect charisma because heâs got less charm than tony despite his suit but its his last chance in the Prem and I think heâl have a point to prove to himself because he should have replaced SAF at Old Trafford if heâd have stayed at ours but he always touted himself away when something half big came along (Newcastle, Man City, Chelsea) and thatâs his main problem, his arrogance. Hughes benefits from a strong chairman, I get the impression Fernandes at QPR was a bit of a melt and got walked over however when we had John Williams (Probs the best chairman) he was on a bit of a leash and I think Hughsie under someone like Coates could be moulded in the same way as Williams. Good Luck Guys, Good Appointment Overall, i don't think the was a better candidate on the balance of "Potential", well done on dodging the financial bullet MON.
good post.....sparky will be fine once he settles in and gets to know the players....you cant use qpr as a benchmark as the club is badly run anyway...old harry could not do anything with them so why should sparky have.....dont forget he did well for wales and we are **** and he got some good results....He is a good man..
Interesting read from the OP- my thoughts on Hughes's time at Fulham are; He didn't buy into the club and felt he was superior to us. Lots of reports that he wasn't involved in training and did most of his managing from afar. Tried to mix things up when he arrived, took us to 17th (and lost to West Ham in Dec in one of the worst performances I've ever seen) before reverting back to our Hodgson formation and team with Murphy (by all accounts) managing the side from the pitch. When playing AJ up front as a lone striker we were playing long balls. We went from being a side that very rarely won or lost by more than a goal to one that either won or lost big. He played Eddie Johnson longer than any sane man would. Part of the problem was that he was still bitter about Citeh. Maybe he has changed but I suspect if he does have any success he will be out the door like a shot.
Fulham fan in peace, Just to let you my thoughts on Hughes. He has the nickname of Mr.Ambition something we tried to warn QPR fans about, but they were suckered by him. It seems to me Stoke fans have no delusions of grandeur the way QPR fans were telling us they'd be playing in Europe, New 40,000 Stadium, they had the richest owners in the world, and Hughes was the man for them to take them to the top. The Blackburn fan has got a lot of things right, but I think he paints too bright a picture. He's correct about the amount of staff he brings with him, but that could be a problem if things go wrong. The reports were that Hughes wasn't hands on in training turning up to do team talks, leaving it to the coaches to do training and talk tactics, our play was very disjointed as if each section had been given different tactics. The Blackburn fan got it right at Christmas we were 3rd from bottom under Hughes but we were still only 16th and in relegation trouble in April, it was when some senior players got back into the side and we beat 4 of our fellow relegation teams to climb the League. Another problem you may have is that Hughes has an adviser called Kia Joraabchian who helps him in transfer business. This is a guy the FA have banned to be a players agent as his past dealings include ownership of Tevez and Mascherano, that caused problems at West Ham. You'll find yourself being connected to a lot of expensive South Americans, luckily our chairman saw through him, and showed him the door. If he does do well I'm sure Mr.Ambitious will turn his sights on moving to Chelsea or Barcelona. But it sounds like he did well at Blackburn, but may be not so much at Man City, QPR and Fulham. So Stoke might get the best from him.
Thanks for all the opinions guys, much appreciated. It'll be an interesting summer for sure. Feels like a step into the unknown to be honest.
Yes, Boswinga, who I would love you to take off our hands, double CL winner and all. He'll never kick a ball for QPR again. He also got Fabio in on loan from United last season, but did have the habit of playing Onuoha, a natural CB at RB. Good luck lads, he's not as bad as some make out.
