Was Ashley right to sack Hughton?

You love to manipulate people's words don't you Joke.

 

I'm not a believer in "the ends justify the means", but if a better option is available you surely take it? If Best and Ba rattled in 20 goals each this season and Messi was available, the question wouldn't be "do we play Messi?", it would be "do we drop Best or Ba".

I couldn't ever have seen Hughton taking us forward as a club, beyond where we were, but with Pardew I think our progress will be restricted by factors other than his management. No Hughton didn't deserve to be sacked, but the club doesn't exist to return favours.

I also don't agree with what Warm Pouch said about Pardew having a horrendous track record. He worked miracles at West Ham and was minutes away from winning the FA cup. At Charlton he took over a sinking ship, but the results were solid considering the team he had. And he was sacked by Southampton for shagging the players wives, not the best man management but it doesn't detract from his tactical nous. Players who've worked under him rave about his management.

 

True, but who at the time considered Pardew to be a better option than Hughton? He had a mixed track record and the only advantage he held over Hughton was experience. Your argument was accepted at the time though, many of us saying we would understand if we were to approach O'Neill or Jol.

Hughton certainly had potential to take us into Europe. We started very well and while it wasnt as good to watch as it is now, it was very effective and I dont think Carroll, Nolan, Barton or Enrique would have left had Hughton stayed. He was the first domino in that particular collapse.

The rumours from Southampton about Pards sleeping with a players wife were never proved to be true by the way.

 

Horrendous is probably harsh but his record is patchy at best. I thought his sacking at West Ham was harsh but he had them dead and buried by December. Still I think it is harsh when he had done well first year up. His record was patchy in the fizzy pop. For all the resources he failed to get them into auto promotion. All in an average time. FA Cup yes but Gullit got to one of them. Charlton was an unmitigated disaster. The relegation was not his fault. But the subsequent 11th with strong playing staff was poor and the fans hated his football. Another failing campaign and he was gone. A very poor time. Southampton. Again had huge resources and to be fair he did well results wise. But obviously he lost the players for whatever reason and couldn't get on with the chairman. Good result wise but obviously the other side is part of management. Hasn't had a lot of time at any club but that is the norm now.

 

Evidently Ashley. It's all well and good saying on paper Pardew didn't look much better than Hughton, but Ashley would've spoken at length and in depth with both men before making the decision. If you'd had access to the evidence Ashley had it might have been a no-brainer.

At the time I didn't even want O'Neill or Jol (who I didn't and don't rate any higher than Pardew by the way, and O'Neill never would've happened any way). It seemed like a needless risk to take at that point of the season, but it all depends on Ashley's ambitions for the club; if he wants us to just stay in the Premier League it was terrible, if he wants to try and push the club to the next level it could've been the right decision. His running of the club suggests to me that he just wants to keep us in the PL, which makes the decision to sack Hughton baffling.

I disagree with this, the defence were a shambles and we lacked imagination going forward. The attention to detail wasn't there to get us into Europe, we got by on fight and spirit and camaraderie, but that only takes you so far. There's a reason no one moved to snap him up straight away, and that's why he was lumbered with such a ****ty job at Birmingham.

 

This makes so much sense.

 

I didnt think or expect O'Neill or Jol, but they at the time were identified as managers who were significantly better than Hughton by the majority of us and Pardew certainly wasnt. Ashley was alone in thinking he was an improvement (aside from a tiny minority of fans).

He wasnt as in depth as Pardew, nor as attention-to-detail. The team is better now but that one had more character and was only a few signings short of being European standard. Our midfield was doing very well and Carroll was in **** hot form, it could have happened (although I do think it's more likely now under Pardew).

 

This was the club's reason for sacking him:

In that respect I think it's fair enough, that they were trying to push the club forward. But for me their handling of every other situation has lacked ambition to me. I still don't really understand why the decision was made or what Ashley's intentions are. Taking Hughton's sacking out of it I think Pardew was a good appointment, I think if anyone was being axed though it should've been Llambias.

 

I think Ashley has gotten very very lucky with Pardew. He was a spectacularly unpopular appointment with the fans and nothing much in his past suggested he would do so well. Ashley wouldnt have seen anything we didnt either, he knows **** all about football and was worried Hughton was too popular with the fans IMO.

 

Why should that be a problem though? It takes the heat off Ashley a bit. Ashley obviously doesn't give a toss about us but his life is surely easier if he doesn't have people protesting outside the stadium. Nothing he's ever done has really added up.

 

Exactly. All we can do is speculate with Ashley.

I think with Hughton's contractual situation, him being so loved by the fans gave him too much say and that worried Ashley, so he got rid of him before he did too well (and became more respected and liked), ironically.

 

One thing I think that helped with calming severe backlash against the board was Chris leaving with such dignity and making no feud public or expressing angst in public. I really commend the guy for that and ill always be really glad with what he did with Newcastle.

 

Will always be a gentleman. That week Big Sam was sacked as well and he was whinging to the press within hours, Hughton didnt even comment for a week or two and even then had nothing bad to say.

 

Simple answer, at the time, No.

 

I'd say yes. Perhaps Pardew wasn't the name we hoped for but Hughton was nothing special. I think his nice guy demeanour was a hindrance with the players to a large extent. Take for example the fact that we had three players on 3 game bans at the same point. No Man U or Spurs players would dare do that because they know they'd be fined, reprimanded and even dropped, our squad, lead by Barton and Nolan etc knew they were above the manager and held more sway. It reminded me of the classroom of the teacher that just wanted to be everyone's mate.

And tactically he was poor and one dimensional. He never had a plan b, made subs way too late and relied on Harper pumping balls up to Carroll.

I do think the way he was sacked was cruel, but it would appear the club used the breakdown in his contract talks, coupled with the fact they didn't have an assistant to pay off, as the ideal time to get rid. For me, the perfect situation - albeit an impossible one - would have been for an experienced manager to come in and work with Hughton, but that was never going to happen.

 

Manipulation? Never!

 

Was it true that Pardew resigned just after the transfer window when fat mike shafted us and broke his promise by not replacing judas mandy?
I have heard from several different sources this was the case but the board we buffed it and talked him out of it.
Not sure i believe it but hey ho.
Pardew has done well so far this season still annoyed how his inept tactics against wba dropped us a decent final position and below Sunderland after being 2 up at home.

 

The players deserve more blame for that than Pardew does.

 

It's a Yes and a No because at the time it was an insane risk to replace the guy who the fans and players all loved and respected with a guy most people were pretty indifferent too and who didn't exactly have the worlds most amazing track record as a manager.

But really, from our position now, with a technically weaker defense performing far better than it did under Hughton and with a new, more fluid style of passing and build up play, it was clearly the right decision to make. I just don't think there's any way Ashley could really have known it would all turn out this way - it was a gamble, something he is fond of.