Never have we enjoyed so many column inches in all the rags... http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/295783/Look-Mark-Hughes-in-the-money
LOOK MARK HUGHES IN THE MONEY Mark Hughes can now match pound for pound Sunday January 15,2012 By Colin Mafham IT would be no surprise if Mark Hughes didnât even bother checking his Lottery ticket last night â heâs just won the Premier League version for a second time. Little more than two years after enjoying the £20billion backing of Sheikh Mansour at Manchester City, QPRâs latest manager makes his dug-out debut at Newcastle today with the financial support of the leagueâs second-wealthiest backer, Lakshmi Mittal, who has around £17bn in the bank. Hughes spent a significant amount of the sheikhâs cash, forking out a then British record £32.5million on Robinho from Real Madrid and spending big on Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy, Shay Given, Nigel de Jong, Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott â and, of course, Carlos Tevez. He starts his job at Loftus Road with another pot of gold. All he has to do in return for the time being is keep QPR in the Premier League. If he does that, the real test comes in the summer, when Hughes will be handed more money to attract the world-class players who can make QPRâs wealthy ownersâ dream of winning the Premier League title come true sooner rather later. âThat has to be the ultimate goal,â said chief executive Phil Beard. âWe have owners who are ambitious but what you have to get right is what happens on the pitch. âWe have a man, with a team behind him, who can help develop the club and certainly get us to stay in the Premier League this season,then grow. January is going to be very difficult, but if we can bring one or two in we will. Going forward, we will look at what Mark wants to bring in, then we will look at it again in August.â That bold statement was as good as an open challenge to Roberto Mancini that anything Manchester City can buy Hughes can now match pound for pound. Beard said: âTony Fernandes (the chairman), his partners, Amit Bahtia and the Mittal family see projects through.âVery rich people are successful in making money, investing it and holding on to it. We want to make sure they can invest here for all the right reasons. âItâs crazy to speculate how long it will take to get to the stage where we are competing for the title and Champions League places, but if you donât have those goals thereâs not much point doing this,â he added. If that sounds like a mighty tall order, Hughes didnât seem at all fazed by it. After all, he has the sixth-richest man in the world behind him, and another pretty wealthy one in Fernandes. His bosses havenât told him precisely that nothing but the title will do, but heâs got the message. âYou have to have ambition,â Hughes said. âIt will be a long roadand there will be a few bumps along the way, but we are prepared to ride those out to go forward. It is really exciting and we have just got to see it through. âPeople view me now as a competent Premier League manager, and at the end of my tenure here, whenever that might be, I would like to think they will think of me as a great Premier League manager. âIf we keep building steadily rather than running before we can walk, it will give us a real opportunity to do it in a considered and proper way.â Hughes has wasted no time in doing that. He is understood to have a bid in for Chelsea defender Alex and has three players he knows well from City and Fulham â Nedum Onuoha, Wayne Bridge and Bobby Zamora â on his January shopping list. But first, Hughes faces Newcastle and has nothing to lose, according to Toon boss Alan Pardew. Pardew said: âWhen youâre at home in your first game, itâs very important to win. âMark is not expected to win here â and I think thatâs what makes it more dangerous for us. He can probably attack it if he feels that way inclined.â Even so, the manager with more money than almost any other in the world is ready for an unwelcoming start. âTheyâre playing very well and it is a tough one,â Hughes admitted.
