What do we reckon to second favourite Hughes? Now at 2-1 with Skybet Hughes history Wales (1999–2004) Hughes was appointed Welsh national coach in 1999.[11] Initially appointed on a temporary basis alongside Neville Southall to replace Bobby Gould, Hughes had soon done enough to earn himself a long-term contract, with Southall soon leaving the set-up.[12] When he had taken over Wales were going through a bad patch, but in the five years with Hughes in charge Wales came close to qualifying for Euro 2004. In their qualifying group Wales beat Italy—only to be denied a place in the final tournament after losing to Russia in the playoffs. [edit] Blackburn Rovers (2004–2008) Hughes quit the Welsh national side in September 2004 to take charge of Blackburn Rovers in the FA Premier League, the last club he had played for.[13] His key aim was to keep Blackburn clear of relegation which he succeeded in doing, whilst also taking the club to an FA Cup semi-final for the first time in over 40 years.[14] In his second season, Blackburn surprised even the most optimistic supporters by finishing inside the top six of the Premier League and qualifying for the UEFA Cup, beating teams such as Chelsea, Manchester United (twice) and Arsenal along the way. After just missing out on the League Cup final, his team sealed their spot in Europe by defeating champions Chelsea 1–0 at home.[15] On 4 May 2006, Hughes and assistant Mark Bowen signed new three-year contracts to remain at Blackburn until the summer of 2009.[16] Hughes then set about creating a formidable side at Ewood Park. He entered the transfer market, bringing in players such as Benni McCarthy (£2 million), David Bentley (£500,000), Ryan Nelsen (free), Stephen Warnock (£1.5 million), Roque Santa Cruz (£3.5 million), and Christopher Samba (£400,000). Rovers finished 10th in the Premier League in 2006–07, and reached the UEFA Cup round of 32, where they were knocked out by Bayer Leverkusen 3–2 on aggregate.[17] Rovers faced Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final, their third consecutive semi-final since Hughes took charge. The match ended in defeat 2–1.[18] He won the October 2007 Award for the Premier League Manager of the Month,[19] and eventually led Blackburn to a league finish of 7th in 2007–08, Hughes' final season in charge at Ewood Park. During his spell in charge of Blackburn, Hughes' side was accused of being "over-physical" and "dirty" on multiple occasions[20][21][22] and the club finished bottom of the Premier League disciplinary table in all four of Hughes' seasons in charge.[23] [edit] Manchester City (2008–2009) On 2 June 2008, Manchester City sacked manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.[24] Hughes was reported to be the first choice of City owner Thaksin Shinawatra to replace Eriksson.[25] However, interest was also reported from Chelsea, who had recently sacked their manager, Avram Grant.[26] Blackburn Rovers confirmed on 2 June that they had agreed to allow Hughes to talk to Manchester City.[27] The following day, Blackburn agreed a compensation package for Hughes to take over as manager of Manchester City, and he was appointed as head coach on 4 June 2008 on a three year contract.[28] Following the appointment, Manchester City's executive chairman Garry Cook stated that "The Club intends to invest in new players as well as securing the long term services of key members of the current first team squad. Mark has already identified some of the players and backroom staff that he wants to see here at City, and we will begin the process of recruiting them immediately."[29] The players who did arrive were Jo, Tal Ben Haim, Vincent Kompany, Shaun Wright-Phillips returning from Chelsea and Pablo Zabaleta. Hughes first game in charge resulted in a 4–2 loss at Villa Park but was followed up with 3–0 wins against West Ham United and Sunderland. On 1 September 2008 Manchester City were taken over by the Abu Dhabi United investment group,[30] who made large amounts of transfer funds available to Hughes, allowing City to break the British transfer record and sign Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5m.[31] Hughes was very active in the January 2009 transfer window, signing Wayne Bridge from Chelsea, Craig Bellamy from West Ham United, Shay Given from Newcastle United as well as Nigel de Jong from Hamburger SV. City finished 10th in Hughes' first season with the club as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. City's home form was amongst the best in the league while their away form was amongst the worst. In the summer of 2009 Hughes added the likes of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn Rovers, Carlos Tévez from Media Sports Investments, Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Touré from Arsenal to his squad. In addition he also signed defenders Joleon Lescott from Everton for a reported £22m and former Arsenal and twice Champions League winner with Barcelona, Sylvinho on a free transfer.[32] Hughes started the 2009–10 campaign with a 2–0 away win at his former club Blackburn Rovers.[33] A further 1–0 win against another former club Barcelona in the Joan Gamper Trophy at a capacity Camp Nou.[34] was followed up by a 1–0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Eastlands.[35] Hughes's team then beat Crystal Palace in the Carling Cup 2–0 and Portsmouth 1–0 to maintain a 100% clean sheet start to the season.[36] City continued in good form beating Arsenal 4–2 and West Ham 3–1 either side of a 4–3 derby day defeat to Manchester United, City would then however, go on a run of seven straight draws. City did beat Scunthorpe United and Arsenal 5–1 and 3–0 respectively in the Carling Cup to reach their first semi-final since 1981 which they eventually lost to rivals Manchester United, despite winning the first leg. Hughes then led City to their first victory over his former club Chelsea for five years with a 2–1 victory. That last victory was one of only two wins in eleven successive Premier League matches, and Hughes was sacked on 19 December 2009 and replaced by Roberto Mancini.[37] [edit] Fulham (2010–2011) On 29 July 2010, Hughes became the new manager of Fulham, following the departure of Roy Hodgson to Liverpool. Hughes agreed a two-year contract with the London side and was officially unveiled to the media on 3 August 2010, before his first game as manager on 7 August against Werder Bremen. Hughes was joined at Fulham by his backroom team of Eddie Niedzwiecki, Mark Bowen and Kevin Hitchcock.[38][39] His first league game in charge of the Cottagers came exactly a week later, when they drew 0–0 at Bolton Wanderers on the opening day of the Premier League season, followed by a resolute display against Manchester United in a 2–2 draw at the Cottage.[40] Draws followed in four of Fulham's next five Premiership games against Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers, Everton and West Ham United, with a solitary 2–1 home win over Wolves. This meant that at that stage – including the 7-draw streak at Manchester City before his dismissal the season before – all but two (86%) of Hughes' last fifteen Premiership games had been drawn. The bizarre run, exclusively made up of draws or 2–1 results, continued with 2–1 defeats to Tottenham and West Bromwich Albion in the second half of October 2010. At the end of the 2010-2011 season Hughes led Fulham to an 8th placed finish in the league and Europa League qualification through the Fair Play league. Following end of 2010-11 Premier League Season, Hughes was linked to become a Chelsea manager after sacking of Carlo Ancelotti and Aston Villa manager after Gérard Houllier resigned due to illness. Hughes resigned as manager of Fulham on 2 June 2011 having spent less than 11 months at the club. Following his departure he said "As a young, ambitious manager I wish to move on to further my experiences".[41] Fulham owner Mohamed Al-Fayed has hit back at former manager Mark Hughes for questioning the club's ambition. Al Fayed called Hughes a "strange man" and a "flop" and says he rescued him from becoming a forgotten man after being sacked by Manchester City If we cannot get O'Neil, then he for me is the next best choice
What Billy Davies? Motherwell Davies went on to player-coach and then manage Motherwell, helping them first avoid relegation with few games remaining in his first season in charge, In the next season he took them to the brink of European Football. The subsequent season was less successful, due mainly to the clubs financial situation, the club sold nine first-team players in the off-season, and Davies was sacked after poor form saw Motherwell gain just 3 points from seven matches at the start of the 2001–02 season.[2] [edit] Preston North End Following his dismissal as Motherwell boss, Davies moved south to England and took on the role of assistant manager to former Scotland national coach Craig Brown at Preston North End. Following Brown's departure in 2004 Davies was installed as caretaker manager [3] before being given the job on a permanent basis. Davies took Preston to the brink of the Premier League via the play-offs in May 2005 but lost in the final. Despite a difficult start to the 2005–06 season, Preston went on to qualify for the play-offs for a second successive season although the side again failed to win promotion as they were knocked out by Leeds United after losing the semi-final second leg, where he famously left Elland Road (the 1st leg) issuing the quote "Job Done" to the media, just to be beaten at home and knocked out of the play-offs. Davies's success at Deepdale saw him linked with a number of other jobs. He was interviewed for the position at Charlton Athletic when it was announced that Alan Curbishley would be stepping down after 15 years as manager, but Davies was unsuccessful and the job went to Iain Dowie instead.[4] Davies then accepted an offer to manage Preston's Championship rivals Derby County in June 2006.[5] [edit] Derby County In Davies's first season as Derby manager he led them to third place in the league and then won the play-offs after defeating Southampton in the semi-finals and then West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium, ending Derby's five year absence from the top flight. Davies signed a one year extension to his contract. Derby struggled in the Premier League, gaining only six points from fourteen games. After criticising Derby's board for lack of investment, Davies left Pride Park by mutual consent in November 2007 with the club bottom of the league. Some critics believed that Davies was a victim of his own success after overachieving in his first season at Pride Park,[6] while others cited his apparent tactical inefficiencies at top flight level[citation needed], poor big money signings (including £3m Claude Davis[7]) and suggested Davies had engineered his own departure, in the form of an outspoken rant against the board[8] so as to avoid having a relegation on his CV. Davies was later linked with the managerial positions of the Scottish national team after Alex McLeish stepped down to take charge of Birmingham City[9] (Davies would eventually withdraw interest from the post),[10] Leicester City (after Gary Megson defected to Bolton Wanderers), as well as Dundee and Hibernian. Davies was also considered a candidate to become assistant manager to Everton boss David Moyes, a role which came vacant when Alan Irvine left to take charge of Davies's old club Preston.[11][12] [edit] Nottingham Forest On 31 December 2008, it was announced on the official Nottingham Forest website that the club was in negotiations with Davies to succeed the recently-sacked Colin Calderwood.[13] Davies was confirmed as their manager on 1 January 2009.[14] In the summer of 2009 Davies made several additions to his squad and spent around £4m. Despite having six first-team strikers, the season did not get off to the best start, with Forest playing well but failing to get the results many thought their performances deserved. However Forest embarked upon a 18-match unbeaten run starting at the end of September and including 10 wins, 5 of which came successively, to rapidly climb the table into a playoff position at the end of November.[15] Davies was nominated for the manager of the month award for October after guiding Forest to three successive wins and a draw, but he missed out to Dave Jones of Cardiff City.[16] Following failure in the play-offs for the second season running, on 12 June 2011 Davies was sacked as manager of Nottingham Forest
Billy Davies would be the ideal man for you - he's been there done that Question would be whether you would accept him?
