City fans ponder Hughes as manager - Manchester City MCFC Fans

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There we have it. After weeks of speculation, when most of us got tired of watching out for news, Sven makes his departure with the usual lorry load of cash that seems to follow him around. It was a PR disaster but it has now finally been concluded, Sven is history.

Waiting for all of this to pan out, having the head buried in Gary James’ book, “Manchester – A Football History,” has maintained a sane state of mind (book review and opportunity to win a copy will follow later this summer.) In many respects the club was fortunate to get going in the first place but did so thanks to a combination of luck, geography and believe it or not, some good decision-making.

Fans’ patience is being tested to new levels now. But this is a broad Premier League trend that is making football history today. It’s just that City’s way of entering into a new phase of football history must, by historic definition, be more comical relative to our rivals.

Enter Mark Hughes. Welsh chappy isn’t he? So the 72 caps suggest anyway. We all kind of knew that one of the big big names such as Mourinho were beyond our reach. So who better to turn to than a man who left school and joined Manchester United. Lets put the United thing to one side for a second.

He’s a young manager. He became Wales manager in August 1999 and managed the team fairly well for 5 years. He then took over Blackburn Rovers on a miniscule budget, survived relegation, made an FA Cup semi-final, and then managed a top 6 finish in the Premiership having made some good value purchases in the transfer market. The subsequent UEFA Cup performance was reasonable given the resources available. A 10^th place league finish was followed by a 7^th this season. All in all not bad.

He is someone who we can expect to put the fire in the belly of our players. Most fans point to the second half of the season when we dropped off after the derby game, and we can speculate that this would not have occurred under Hughes. His knowledge of the Premiership is better than Sven having played and managed in it for longer. His transfers have been good on a low budget, but he may not have much say in the bigger names being targetted anyway. There is an argument for saying that Sven could attract big name players, but there’s a counter-argument for saying that Hughes would have avoided some of the players who don’t always put the effort in. Sven has a much more distinguished club career behind him plays the counter-argument that he may not be appropriate for today's Premiership where some of the younger, grittier managers seem to be succeeding outside the top 4.

In short Hughes looks like the best choice we have right now and actually could be an interesting choice given a bit of cash to spend. We need to get on with it though because time is running out before the new season starts. We need to lock down the uncertain players and get the new management in. Another frantic pre-season beckons.

In the meantime, it remains to be seen that worrying about Hughes is really the burning issue of the day.Sure it’s a concern that if things don’t go too well under his management for a while then he is more vulnerable to a fans reaction because of his past. However, it is clear that Dr.Thaksin’s “learning-on-the-job” will be of much greater importance to the club’s success as the next few years roll on. He must give the new manager a chance, and not give in to the temptation of becoming the man making all of the signings.

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Comments

written on 03-Jun-2008
jb says:
Earlier in May I posted somewhere else that the new City manager should be someone of the O'Neill or Hughes type (a man who bought a much better attacking line (McCarthy and Santa Cruz) for much less than the ill-fated Sven's own attacking line. I guess than looking from abroad gives you a clearer perspective. Yes, Hughes seems definitely to be the right man and you really don't see that many better options around. And Mal is quite right: "fire in the belly of our players" has been missing - and that is the last thing one is prepared to accept from the lads. Most of them might not be so gifted and brilliant but, please, let's at least put up a fight...
written on 04-Jun-2008
scribbs says:
Well the whole Sven episode is finally over. Thank God for that, it seems to me to have been a disaster that only City could be involved in. I didn't have a problem with Sven, questioned some of his tactics and team personel at times, but that was all in a being a 'footie fan'. I thought the treatment Sven received was atrocious, but in saying that I don't have a problem with coaches being sacked, it was the way all this was dragged through the media, I don't think anyone really had a clue what was going on, coach, players and fans.
Now Sparky, an interesting choice. I used to hate him when he played, was all aggression and gave 110% usually against us!!! What I did admire was the same aggression and how he played the game. Not a showman, not the most gifted, but someone that was usually one of the first names on the team sheet. He seems to have continued this philosopy at Blackburn.
Hopefully this will rub off on the players he is about in inherit, and I hope that the lessons from this insavoury episode have been learnt, players, management alike.
Would be nice for a couple of seasons not to worry about relegation, to play some decent football, and finally to actually win something!!!
Lastly, I'm a little worried about Ronny's eminent arrival from Barcelona, on a huge, huge salary. Now I know it's basically a marketing ploy, but I wonder what message it sends to the others players. Joe Hart for example in his contract dispute. To me no player is worth the money that they are talking about, John Terry for example earns more in a week, than my wife and I earn in two years. Some might say we have shitty jobs, but when the average person struggles along each year, footballers earn obscene amaunts. I remember back in the 60's when I first played 1st team football in New Zealand I got 10 shillings for a win!!!!! How times have changed.
Still if Sparky's take on the City job, I hope everyone give him a fair crack with the whip, fans and management alike.
Off to play with my 9 month granddaughter, beats playing football any day!!!!
Scribbs
written on 04-Jun-2008
malcylon says:
Good comments chaps. It has been a PR disaster but one that I dont think will be repeated. Partly because I think he has put people, PR co and other measures in place to prevent it. And partly because I think the media will be much more used to his style now that actually the news or lack of news will not be as sensational.
The Ronny issue is an interesting one and deserves more debate. I'm not so sure that too many of the players will have an issue with his arrival on a big salary. Probably the opposite in many cases as I think it will signal the club's ambition and players would love to play with him. But I do think that Hughes should get a say and a look at him to ensure he's fit and ready for the Premier League. We should be getting him for success on the pitch not off it. Have to admit it's pretty exciting tho!
written on 04-Jun-2008
Ghanaianblue says:
I was backing for Sven to stay,but since it can't be posible again,I think we should all give Hughes all the necessary support to move our darling team forward.
written on 10-Jun-2008
scribbs says:
Malc, I don't think signing Ronaldinho really signal's the clubs ambition other than selling merchandise and Nike gaining as well. A fit Ronny, maybe, but he's clearly past his used by date and I wonder if his head is in the right frame of mind as well. Barcelona want to get rid of him ,that's why they're trying to flog him to anyone with a bit of spare cash!!!
Still only time will tell, hope we're not making a big mistake - remember George Weah, World footballer of the year - lasted five minutes, then took off, Ronny won't like being kicked week in week out - will always be someone out to make a name for themselves.
written on 12-Jun-2008
ianthepainter says:
I think Ronnie is well past it. £200,000 a week can be put to much better use. I was pleased that Sven got the push, I was convinced he was a money grabbing time server, and so he proved. The team displays after January were poor, only our pre-Christmas points kept us out of the relegation zone. also think we should get rid of most of the players he brought in keeping only Corluka, Petrov and maybe (but only maybe) Elano.
written on 12-Jun-2008
malcylon says:
Yup there's good point there about Ronnie. There's the added issue of all the tv and media focus that comes with him. I'm not convinced that would be good for progress. If he could get fit and have a good season then i think it might be worth it. In general I think we're in for a cracking season if we can get the right signings in.
written on 13-Jun-2008
Ghanaianblue says:
I think signing of Ronnie will be waste of money.because his style of play will not suite in the EPL.Moreover he is not that Ronnie we know of yesterday.We should rather go in for guys like David Villa who i think will fit into the EPL like what his compatriot Torres is doing at Liverpool.
written on 14-Jun-2008
jb says:
I agree with most of you, guys. We didn't survive the prospect of Mourinho and Scolari (I campaigned against these two) just to end up with a pricey has-been... Just a clue: Argentinians are, in general, a much better buy than Brazilians. In my country and over the years I've seen Porto climbing to dominance through Argentinians... and Benfica drop into oblivion with Brazilians. Brazilians are not battle-hardened and don't have the pace. They might eventually get there after a few years of adaptation. But Argentinians come ready to use. We got Hughes... OK, so let's have the Hughes type of player.

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