The Independent Blog - Michael Holden Managerial Methods: Who is the better manager â Mark Hughes or Neil Warnock? Some lively debate has been doing the rounds on Twitter this week after Warnock was sacked by QPR, with Hughes immediately lined-up to replace him, but the above question is one that few seem to have asked or addressed in any great detail. Initially, there was a groundswell of support for Warnock from those who instantly sensed injustice. They believed he wasnât given a fair crack of the whip after leading the club from mid-table mediocrity to the Championship title in his first full season at the helm. Fresh blood had come through the door in August and it was wrong of the club to demand a winning formula from Warnock so soon afterwards. His remarkable achievement in getting the Râs into the Premier League ahead of any reasonable schedule surely warranted a higher degree of trust. However, this source of conventional wisdom was soon diluted, primarily by those who simply dislike Warnock on a personal level. He can be a pretty abrasive character in the vicinity of a football field and never more so than when he has a microphone thrust in front of his face moments after a game. His spiky nature and not-so-subtle attempts at sarcasm when he feels hard done by are always liable to rub people up the wrong way. Needless to say, we were always going to see the worst of Warnock in the interviews that led up to his dismissal when the pressure was starting to mount and so, with his most recent outbursts still sharp in focus, there was no shortage of people willing to toast the demise of a man known to many as Colin. Meanwhile, the news that Hughes was the number one candidate was initially greeted with virtual applause. Hughes was instantly viewed as an upgrade, a manager of genuine Premier League pedigree and a solid appointment better prepared for the calibre of players that Rangers are trying to attract. According to many, Hughes would enter the building and instantly bring a more professional outlook by virtue of his greater experience of life at the top level. He had achieved good things with Wales and Blackburn, and then he departed with his head held high from further stints at Manchester City and Fulham. However, Hughes is not without his detractors and they surfaced in growing number once the ink had dried on his two-and-a-half year contract. Interestingly, many of those most willing to counter the conventional wisdom about the Welshman are those who follow his previous two clubs, neither of which he left on particularly bad terms. There was little animosity towards the Welshman at either City or Fulham at the time of his departure but their supporters have been quick to enter the fray when others saw fit to parade Hughes as a beacon of progress and ambition. The notion that he comes with a guarantee of relative success is one they are only too willing to challenge. Neither set of supporters believes their team was in any better or worse position when Hughes left compared with when he arrived. Progress might have been made but it was so slow as to be deemed immeasureable, barely in-keeping with either his budget (at City) or the quality of the team he inherited (at Fulham). Potential was the keyword often banded about, with Hughes always insistent that, behind the scenes, he had put solid foundations in place and the full rewards were yet to come. However, as a City fan myself, I would vouch for the latter view that there was little evidence of an impending boom on the pitch. Put simply, if the over-riding emotion at the time of his appointment was excitement, by the end it was indifference. So everybody has their own opinions on one side or the other but, alas, few have sought to draw direct comparisons between the two men and thereâs probably a good reason for that. The truth is, as questions go, they donât really come any more abstract or subjective because the two men might as well be from different worlds. Itâs like comparing Stan Bowles with Les Ferdinand. Different styles, different eras. Except in this case itâs not different eras at all and the question is one we should attempt to answer because both men are available for work right now and one has just taken the otherâs job. So whatâs holding everyone back? If time isnât the obstacle, what is preventing people from discussing the relative merits of the two men in respect of the situation facing QPR? In my view, it all comes down to a glass ceiling. Neil Warnock isnât viewed as a Premier League manager and he never will be. He hasnât played in the top flight and he isnât connected to the aristocracy by virtue of having worked for anyone who has. In simple terms, he is a second-class citizen, an unkempt and lonesome individual who has gained entry to an elite gathering on a couple of occasions by virtue of his own successes against the odds. Hughes, by contrast, is the complete opposite. His entire career was spent playing top-level football, he is extremely well-connected and, perhaps most importantly, he can put his medals on the table for any players with big egos who might wish to question his judgement. Never would Hughes take a job in the Championship or lower down. Itâs beneath him and he wouldnât know where to start in any case. One struggles to imagine that heâs ever been to watch a lower league game off his own back. But therein lies the crux of the problem for Warnock and the reason why, sad though it is to say, QPR were probably right to make the change they have this week. No matter what he achieves in the game and regardless of his many undoubted talents, Warnock simply doesnât belong in the Premier League and this decision, although made with a heavy heart by Tony Fernandes, shows that he isnât welcome. My opinion, for what itâs worth, is that Warnock is the better manager â and by some distance. It might not count for a great deal in the Premier League, but you can only work with the resources youâre given and you can only beat whatâs put in front of you, and few men will ever come close to matching Warnockâs seven promotions, which it must be pointed out, are spread rather progressively across what we now know as the Conference, League Two, League One and the Championship. Furthermore, three of those promotions have been achieved in four attempts via the play-offs, which is perhaps the greatest testament to Warnockâs man-management and motivational ability because we all know the tension that surrounds those games and how equal the competing teams tend to be. Three promotions and a lost final from four lotteries, thatâs more than just luck. However, success is always relative and he was never going to take QPR to the standards they now aspire to because his humble background ensures that players of proven Premier League calibre â the sort of players that QPR have signed since winning promotion, and more of whom they still wish to attract â would never buy into Neil Warnock and his methods. They will always focus on what he doesnât know rather than what he does. And it doesnât matter who you are and what youâve got to say, youâre never going to make a difference if the people youâre relying on to carry out your orders arenât listening. A prime example to illustrate this inherent lack of respect can be provided by Joey Barton and his public remarks about Adel Taarabt barely a few weeks after he walked through the door at Loftus Road. Taarabt, as everyone knows, is a complicated character and an enigmatic sort of player, yet Barton, in no uncertain terms, questioned his ability to cut it at this level. Iâm sure there was no malice intended. Indeed, Barton probably believed he was doing it for the benefit of the team as a whole but his comments were ill-conceived and, in an instant, he had created a problem, not only for the player but also his manager. If Barton had cared for one second about the time and energy that Warnock had invested to get the best out of Taarabt over the past 18 months, had he stopped to think about where QPR would be right now without the Moroccanâs magic in the Championship last season, then his conscience might have prevented him from undermining the authority of his manager and the confidence of a new team-mate. Instead, it merely serves as a shining example of why both QPR and Neil Warnock are probably better off with the job going to a man who will do nothing in particular but cater for the whims and habits of players on big money who are good enough to keep the Râs in the Premier League without needing a great deal of direction. And if a situation ever arises that leads those players to question whether Hughes really knows what heâs doing? Well, he can always put his medals on the table. For more betting news and views, please visit Bestofthebets.com. You can also follow Mike Holden on Twitter: @Miguel_BOTB Independent
He comes across simply as someone who has been paid good money to write a few words. There's nothing of any substance there. He says he thinks Warnock is the better manager, but then cites greater success only at lower levels. Whereas Sparky has been succesful at Premier League clubs, and has managed an international side. What he fails to say is that every time Warnock has managed a club at the top level he has been uniformly unsuccessful at keeping teams up. Whereas Hughes has never been relegated. Oh - and he takes the opportunity to have the obligatory dig at Barton. Well done. If there was common ground against which to measure the two men, then he's done very well to ignore it. Yet another piece of drivel from our media friends...
Neil Warnock a good Championship manager. Mark Hughes a good Premier League manager. In the words of Neil Warnock: "Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story".
NorwayRanger is right! Still ,we dont really know who's better after all sparky hasn't got a single match on his belt yet.........
In general for me Neil's record clearly says he is the better Manager. But then I'm not quite so aware of the PL being a League where some kind of sporting variation on football is played to that in the leagues right under it, as many on here seem to be. But I don't think the question, with the very relevant additional better for QPR, can be aswered until Mark has also been with us for about as long as Neil was. If Mark can bring QPR as far as Neil managed in 21 months, then he also will be one of all time greats - what he did or did not achieve before he joined us doesn't mean much for me.
It depends what league your in, in the lower leagues its a no contest to Warnock, in the PL is a no contest to Hughes. Warnock is a proven success in lower leagues and a proven failure in the PL, I cant see why anyone would want him now were in the PL.
I opened this thread expecting the blog to have some substance regarding strengths and weaknesses in the various functions of management (e.g. training, motivation, tactics, scouting). Instead we have an immensely long blog that provides zero insight into the day-to-day methods used by NW and MH. I wish I was a journalist sometimes, money for old rope!
Sparky's been in club management for 7 years, all in the Premier League, he's never even played lower than the top flight. Warnock has been doing it for 30+ years, admirebly climbing the league ladders culminating in his appointment with us. Without his success Neil wouldn't have landed the QPR job. Warnock has had one and a half year in the Premier League (two and a half if you count the top flight with Notts County). Everytime by his own hand which is great, but he has never been appointed by any top flight team. I know there's been offers, Chelsea when at Notts County, but they couldn't have been that good if he didn't take 'em. There is no coincidence here, and definitely reasons to why. I hate these debates as they only turn into slating Warnock when in fact he's been brilliant everywhere he's been (albeit in the lower leagues)! I love him for what he's done for us, a job i think no one else would have managed, not even Mark Hughes. But that does not change the fact that Mark Hughes is better for us where we are now. A sad state we're in, but that's unfortunately the name of the game.
Agree with the first bits mate but think NW was well worth his chance in the Prem with us. IMO he had earned that right. But results and performances were becoming very worrying as were reports that he had lost the dressing room. We gave him a chance. He deserved at least that. But were we to stay with him blindly and fall back to the Championship without a decent fight?
I will start judging Hughes at 5pm on Saturday and not before. I can say that he will find it virtually impossible to exceed the motivational powers of Warnock but should he fail to produce astute tactics more suited to PL players I will be very disappointed indeed.
I thought he should have been replaced in the summer, I was very confident he would fail. It looked like I was going to be wrong than then it all started going tits up. i cant blame the club for not doing that as they are loyal to him but for me I see it as no different to Warnock dumping the players that helped in the NPC but were clearly not good enough for the PL. I liked him but we were going down with him, I would not be confident about handing over £15m of my money to spend either. Ill judge hughes after a few months, if he constant ignores things that are obvious to every or plays really negative (hes known for an attacking 442) then I will be on his back but I dont think that will be the case.
What gives you the right to a pretentious arse then? very rarely do you write anything creative, imaginative or original In fact most of it is very beige and copied . I can be pretentious however as I write things that end up on billboards and sides of buses worldwide .
you have to ask What has sparky achieved in the premiership and he has had a few clubs now.....the truth is absolutely nothing except got sacked and walking out of a club......The £10+ million wages is the main factor of him taking the job. his actual ability is nothing to write home about.....great player though in his day.....
I think you'll see that both our clubs would be over the moon if we could finish where Mark Hughes' teams have finished in the past.
Saw a tweet from the legendary winger Jason Puncheon yesterday: jasonpunch Jason Puncheon Hope the arse licking an nervousness stopped today???? @anton_ferdinand @jaybothroyd ..... @aslfitzhall @swp29 @RealDJCampbell Wondering if anyone had any insight into what/who he was talking about. My first thought was Warnock ''arse licking'' certain players. Or maybe players doing it to the manager.
It's interesting reading the stuff you post. Interesting from a "how does someone as mentally deficient as you manage to use a keyboard". People that piss up a wall have their output on billboards worldwide. So I don't see that 'writing on a bus or a billborad' makes you anything other than the juvenile dribbler you seem to be. I think that it's best I just put you on ignore now - before you go and say something that gets you and me into trouble with the mods, because you're not worth it. I hope you enjoy your little world where you post nothing about QPR, mistake crudity for innuendo, and mistake your own inflated opinoin of yourself for the way others see you. I'm no longer a part of it.
What an amazing article. Puts into words what I've been feeling all along. I feel for NW. I know what that feels like - it's the same as somebody like me, a lowly commoner, wanting to become a part of Queen's family. It's them and us, and they're above us by what they believe is their god-given right to be superior. Same sort of idea. It's like the Monarchy picking Officers for its army from Dukes and Earls and we can only ever be footsoldiers.
