The appointment of Mark Hughes at QPR got me thinking about how many great players go on to become successful managers. Dalglish, Mancini and Hughes are the only former 'greats' in Premier League jobs at the moment. There are quite a few 'good' players, though, who had very successful careers - Lambert, O'Neill and McLeish won leagues and European trophies, and even McCarthy has some World Cup fun despite being a total clogger. And many others who had a fair few top flight games and/or success in the second flight or Scottish Premier (Martinez, Jol, Ferguson, Coyle, Redknapp, Pardew, maybe Moyes at a stretch). That only leaves a few who had little or no playing success. I wonder whether there is a trend one way or the other here - if we looked at the 2001, 1991 and 1981 lists, for example, how would they differ, or would the distribution be similar?
Brian Clough i would say is the Only Great Player who became a Great or Greater Manager. Most of the successful ones have been average to poor as players. Look at SAF as a prime example and even Morinho for that matter.
Sven can't kick a ball to save his life and he's a **** manager Terry Venables was pretty good at both Roy Keane and John Barnes great players, dreadful managers. What was Terry Dolan like as a player? I'm not sure there's a pattern here.
Barmby aside, Jan Molby and Mark Hately are probably the best ever players to manage City and look at how they worked out as managers.
Not even sure I would have Hughes down as a good manager, for me a good manager would unearth raw talent and bring players throug the academy, even if just one or two a season, from what I've been told hughes isn't interested in that side and told qpr if they want him he needs 30 million war chest. I guess that the whole problem is people want immediate success , but to be honest I can't see him lasting at qpr,
Lothar Matteus of Germany is a classic example of a great player not having the same impact as a manager, Bryan Robson also
On a slightly different slant, with Hughes being appointed QPR manager, it was rumoured that when PB was sacked that Hughes was approached about City's job. If that was the case, has Hughes expectation now gone down, as QPR are not in a dissimilar position to us at the time, or are we just an unfashionable club?
mark hughes wasnt a great player and will neverbe a great manager. eddie gray was a good player. streets ahead of hateley and molby. i bet cliff britton was as well.
Warren Joyce and Brian Horton were better managers than Molby and Hately, and were decent players at the same level they managed.
Dean Windass was a cracking striker but his managerial record wasn't too great. Would love to have seen his press conferences at Darlo. Think he was also caretaker at Bradford at some point.
Hughes not a great player? I disagree - his combination of strength and control was almost unrivalled in his day, and he had good spells at Bayern and Barcelona in between his two very successful Man Utd careers. One of the most underrated players of his generation if you ask me, and someone any striker or winger would simply love to play with.
Being able to manage men, inspire and organise them, is something few players have in football. So your going to get a handful of good players who can, and a lot of ordinary players who certainly can. Actually SAF was a very good player.
I thought Mark Hughes was a great player, I'm not so sure he's a great manager, but I always enjoyed watching him play.
Hughes was a class player, old fashioned centre forward brilliant at holding the ball up with great technique, scored some belting volleys.
