m27
Well-Known Member
From The Times
December 23, 2009
Mark Hughes must reflect on Manchester City sacking before deciding next path
"Hughes could do worse than first examine his own shortcomings as a manager
By James Ducker
So what is next for Mark Hughes? Will he come back better and stronger for his experience at Manchester City? Or will “the best young British manager” (copyright Sheikh Mansour, City owner, September 2008) be permanently scarred by the humiliating end to his 18-month reign?
As far as City are concerned, Hughes is yesterday’s man, yesterday’s news. The Welshman, however, is likely to be left looking back for some time. The wounds will be raw, but once the feelings of betrayal subside, soothed in part by a healthy compensation package, he could do worse than first examine his own shortcomings as a manager.
There will be no use in him dwelling on the fact that City were only six points off fourth place with a game in hand and in their first semi-final of a leading cup competition for 28 years.
He must look to address the weaknesses that City’s owners felt made him the wrong man to spearhead their push for the top four.
Stubbornness was one of those. The City board felt that Hughes would have benefited from the presence of a coach who offered a different perspective, who could perhaps do a better job at motivating, inspiring and winning round temperamental and potentially undermining foreign “stars” such as Robinho and Emmanuel Adebayor. Mark Bowen, Hughes’s assistant, and Eddie Niedzwiecki, the first-team coach, for all their abilities in certain areas, were thought to be too firmly entrenched in Hughes’s mindset.
Perhaps understandably, Hughes rejected the idea of having someone he did not know, who was not in his inner circle, brought in, but maybe he would have stood to benefit from looking outside his cosy “Welsh mafia”. Hughes obviously has an ability to get the best out of difficult characters — Craig Bellamy is the obvious case in point — but is the Wales forward an isolated example?
When Robinho asked Bowen last Christmas if he could have two days off, Bowen said “No”. When Robinho was given the same answer by Hughes, the Brazil forward is understood to have said: “Just remember that I’m more important at this club than you are.” Would a player have had the audacity to ask such a thing of Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsène Wenger? Hughes needed to be stronger with his players but too often seemed to let others do his fighting for him, coaches such as Bowen and players such as Bellamy and Shay Given.
Hughes’s interests may be best served by a stint coaching abroad. It has certainly served Steve McClaren, the former England manager, well so far. McClaren’s Twente are top of the Dutch league. With his experience of managing Wales and of playing abroad for Bayern Munich and Barcelona, it is hard to think there would not be a big club on the Continent willing to give him a go.
Having performed wonders at Bolton Wanderers, Sam Allardyce found himself back working at a similar club on an equally tight budget, Blackburn Rovers, after his stab at the big time with Newcastle United backfired. Now Hughes must try to ensure his own career does not follow a similar path, or “trajectory”, as Garry Cook might call it."
He failed. Examine why he failed. Over to you Mr Winter.
December 23, 2009
Mark Hughes must reflect on Manchester City sacking before deciding next path
"Hughes could do worse than first examine his own shortcomings as a manager
By James Ducker
So what is next for Mark Hughes? Will he come back better and stronger for his experience at Manchester City? Or will “the best young British manager” (copyright Sheikh Mansour, City owner, September 2008) be permanently scarred by the humiliating end to his 18-month reign?
As far as City are concerned, Hughes is yesterday’s man, yesterday’s news. The Welshman, however, is likely to be left looking back for some time. The wounds will be raw, but once the feelings of betrayal subside, soothed in part by a healthy compensation package, he could do worse than first examine his own shortcomings as a manager.
There will be no use in him dwelling on the fact that City were only six points off fourth place with a game in hand and in their first semi-final of a leading cup competition for 28 years.
He must look to address the weaknesses that City’s owners felt made him the wrong man to spearhead their push for the top four.
Stubbornness was one of those. The City board felt that Hughes would have benefited from the presence of a coach who offered a different perspective, who could perhaps do a better job at motivating, inspiring and winning round temperamental and potentially undermining foreign “stars” such as Robinho and Emmanuel Adebayor. Mark Bowen, Hughes’s assistant, and Eddie Niedzwiecki, the first-team coach, for all their abilities in certain areas, were thought to be too firmly entrenched in Hughes’s mindset.
Perhaps understandably, Hughes rejected the idea of having someone he did not know, who was not in his inner circle, brought in, but maybe he would have stood to benefit from looking outside his cosy “Welsh mafia”. Hughes obviously has an ability to get the best out of difficult characters — Craig Bellamy is the obvious case in point — but is the Wales forward an isolated example?
When Robinho asked Bowen last Christmas if he could have two days off, Bowen said “No”. When Robinho was given the same answer by Hughes, the Brazil forward is understood to have said: “Just remember that I’m more important at this club than you are.” Would a player have had the audacity to ask such a thing of Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsène Wenger? Hughes needed to be stronger with his players but too often seemed to let others do his fighting for him, coaches such as Bowen and players such as Bellamy and Shay Given.
Hughes’s interests may be best served by a stint coaching abroad. It has certainly served Steve McClaren, the former England manager, well so far. McClaren’s Twente are top of the Dutch league. With his experience of managing Wales and of playing abroad for Bayern Munich and Barcelona, it is hard to think there would not be a big club on the Continent willing to give him a go.
Having performed wonders at Bolton Wanderers, Sam Allardyce found himself back working at a similar club on an equally tight budget, Blackburn Rovers, after his stab at the big time with Newcastle United backfired. Now Hughes must try to ensure his own career does not follow a similar path, or “trajectory”, as Garry Cook might call it."
He failed. Examine why he failed. Over to you Mr Winter.