Do you believe in Hughes ability to succeed here?

[C_T_I_D]

As above really and it's a question I have been asking myself, just wanted your thoughts on it.

I never really liked him at Blackburn, but he done really well with Wales in making them an hard team to beat. There's a part of me not buying into this manager but I don't know why. It's not because of him playing for the rags, I'm not old enough to remember that. And I'm wondering whether it's because of my lack in belief of his ability to succeed here. Istanbul, Istanbul are we really coming? Think we'll need more than prayers! But nonetheless he's doing alright here, quarter finals of UEFA Cup and chance to finish 7th to 9th which would be a fairly good achievement given the start he had.

But belief for the season of 2009 / 2010? Part of me wants stability and to see how he does, but another part of me wonders whether we'd just stand still and not do any better than the previous season.

Rather than making this a slagging off Hughes thread, please can we be reasonable and have a decent debate about it for a change? Cheers.

 

[Pam]

I don't think he talks a good game and I do think you have to question a manager who by April, has achieved only one solitary away victory with a pretty expensive squad and manages to crash out of cup competitions to the likes of Brighton and Notts Forrest. We've had a run in the Uefa right enough but we've been riding our luck for the most part. That said, seventh place isn't unthinkable and a cup final in a European tournament would redeem the situation entirely... so I don#t know.

 

[scotty]

To be fair Pam, i was at the forest game when we were dump on our arse and i truly believed he was out, but i strongly still believe at that time the players were trying to get him sacked, since then there has been a firming of support from higher up and they either now know he is here to stay or he is going at the end of the season. either way thay are playing well again. as for Trusting hughes, i believe we have to give him the whole of next season to really see where he could take us before swapping managers again. HUGHES for me

 

[mancity5]

Im not gonna slag him off, and dont want slagging off for saying it, But i just dont think he is good enough to take us where we wanna go. If we were hoping to be a mid table team consistently then fine, But with all our money now and new ambition, Then in my opinion he aint the man....

 

[Pam]

And I tend to agree with 5. I don't think Hughes has entirely lost the small time mentality he had to have when he was at Blackburn. I'm still annoyed about the RSC thing as well, though possibly not as annoyed as the Blackburn Rovers board are likely to be on that score.

 

[scotty]

Surely he has got to be given more time, de jong , kompany, zabaleta, more signings of Hughes taste and we wqill be very tasty

 

[Pam]

I just wish we had a better team, for all the accolades heaped on the individual buys, it would be nice if we hadn't been involved in so many woeful performances this season. I think people miss the big picture sometimes.

 

[PragueBlue]

Not convinced either way yet. I'd give him until Christmas to prove his worth.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

Yes.

He has clear ideas of what he expects and if the latest and greatest doesn't fit into that plan, then they are going to be moved on. I think he is trying to come to terms with whether or not he can live with VERY creative players who sometimes do not put in a shift. If you look at the likes of SWP and Ireland, they will ALWAYS get a look in from him, as they graft without the ball and have pace on it. THAT is what he likes and, with a sprinkle of magic dust from Elano or Robinho, we have seen some unbelievable attacking football this season, The problem is that we do not have the depth of grafters to grind out results away from home and have "turned off" too many times at crucial late stages of games.

Zab, Kompany, DeJong, Bellamy, Bridge....common thread? Grafters!

If he can find the right mix of quality, hard working players during the summer, I think he can do VERY WELL at City in the 3 season time frame in which we expect to see Champions League qualification.

We need to see if Boj really is the business many of us think he is. We need to see if Robbi really does wnat to be here and will work for his place. We need to see if either Robbi or Petrov WILL actually give the left full back some support, or whether they are determined to only be attacking midfielders. We need to see if Jo comes back and if so, what he looks like. We need to see if Johnno returns and in what form. We need to see if Micah, Ned, Dunny and Bridge can actually keep a clean sheet or two. We need to see which if those potential GAINS might occur and WHO ELSE might fit the bill where we are lacking. THAT is the biggest job MH will have in the next 9 months, because there are so many "might be's" in the squad and HE is the only one who can make the determination of who will and will not make the 2009/10 squad.

I expect to see about 5 new faces during the off season and I expect ALOT of the deadwood to move on, mostly to Championship teams. We need a SOLID squad of 20, with some fringe youngsters in the 22-24 first team squad to aid their development. Of the 5, I expect 1 or 2 defender, 1 (possibly 2) midfielders and 2 forwards. I hope one of the forwards is NOT RSC, as I do not rate him anywhere near the money we almost paid for him in January, and I hope the defender/midfielders are left footed.

Anyway, I think the action this summer will probably make or break NEXT season, and MH's tenure at City.

 

[whitefield_blue]

Great signings and an evident improvement in football, attitude, confidence ect....

I think Hughes has been great for the club and given time he will deliver what we all eventually want....... Tropheys.

Judge him and the players on next season, we are still in a massive transition period and he needs a decent period of time to get it right.