Six years ago today the Club announced, "Fulham Football Club has today confirmed the appointment of Mark Hughes as its new Manager on a two year contract. Hughes begins his work with the team immediately, following their return from pre-season tour, and will take charge in the dugout for the friendly fixture against Werder Bremen on August 7, and will be officially unveiled to the media at a press conference on Tuesday August 3." please log in to view this image Two 'What Ifs?' for Sparky. Results in the first half of the season were pretty dire, so where would we have been if the dressing room (that is Danny Murphy) hadn't confronted him in the January and forced Hughes to change his tactics/strategy/formation? The second one is hyothetical, although probably with hindsight the biggest 'What If?' in recent times. Having got back on track by the end of the season, where would we have been if MAF had give financial support and Hughes had stayed for the second year of his contract?
I never warmed to Mark Hughes as a personality, before he came to us or at the time, but I always felt that he got a rough ride from the supporters, with performances in the first half of the season better than results. Looking at the job he's doing with Stoke reinforces what I felt at the time of his departure: if he'd stayed, I think we'd have done well under him. Mind you, the same was true for Jol at first, and after 18 months or good progress we suddenly fell apart, so who knows?
