Good Article in the Independent

[Wooderbeen]

All that said, Hughes is still the manager of my football club and he will get my full support until either he is sacked or until such a time as HIS team show clear signs of making zero progress (and I don't mean the team he inherited from Eriksson).

Do you not think that an ability to coach, motivate and get the best out of players already at the club is an essential skill our manager should have?

I think, judging from Stephen Ireland, SWP and Garrido, to a lesser extent, he's done that for certain players.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not letting Hughes off blame-free, I couldn't be more nonplussed with his tactics at times, but (and I don't want to harp on with a point that's been mentioned ad nauseum) his signings have on the whole been good. Even if you disregard Robinho. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in the transfer window and judging him at the end of the season - if he's still around.

Let me ask you, do you not think that the players have a responsibility to give 100% regardless of their feelings for the manager?

 

[1961RICH]

There seem to be alot of people who think they know the inner workings of the club the way they pontificate on here.

I would say 99.99% of us have not a clue what the relationship between Hughes and the players are but we seem to take it as fact that there is a "war" going on. Unless someone can substantiate these rummours why dont people wind their necks in and stop regurgitating rumours that they have either read on here or heard in the pub.

Now is the time for us all to get behind the TEAM and cheer thme on the atmosphere at the CoMS was awful last game and we need to be the 12th man and Xmas will be hugely important to us in where we finish this season.

Great post and something I've been thinking about a fair bit recently. It makes laugh how 'informed' some people think they are on here. They manipulate and construe newspaper reports for their own agendas. The pro-Hughes camp criticise Elano for not keeping internal gripes out of the press, but then praise Hughes when he goes to the press and criticises his players right before a crucial game. The Hughes Boo Boys love to go on about Hughes losing the dressing room, but then shy away when the likes of SWP come out in support of the manager (and some refuse to lay the blame at the feet of the players - which I will NEVER understand).

I don't know what the hell goes on in the dressing room and I don't claim to. What I do know is that performances this season haven't been good enough. Now Hughes must accept part of the blame, as must the team.

All that said, Hughes is still the manager of my football club and he will get my full support until either he is sacked or until such a time as HIS team show clear signs of making zero progress (and I don't mean the team he inherited from Eriksson).

And a quick point on Hamann, like him or loath him, it is clear to all that he simply doesn't have the legs anymore. This was one season too far for him and I believe he shouldn't be anywhere near our team.

Agreed.

Also this article in the "independent" is shit strirring. Destabilising the team and undermining our club. Other clubs are more likely to benefit from this sort of article not city. What was his motive for writing it ? I do not believe this "leak" has anything to do with our Management team.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Do you not think that an ability to coach, motivate and get the best out of players already at the club is an essential skill our manager should have?

I think, judging from Stephen Ireland, SWP and Garrido, to a lesser extent, he's done that for certain players.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not letting Hughes off blame-free, I couldn't be more nonplussed with his tactics at times, but (and I don't want to harp on with a point that's been mentioned ad nauseum) his signings have on the whole been good. Even if you disregard Robinho. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in the transfer window and judging him at the end of the season - if he's still around.

Let me ask you, do you not think that the players have a responsibility to give 100% regardless of their feelings for the manager?

It's not like flicking a switch. Players have to want to improve. Think about Pearce taking over from Keegan and that run we went on. The players mostly didn't like Keegan, he'd lost interest and training was virtually non-existent. So when Pearce came along they got a it of a lift, started playing well and winning. But that didn't last and it was clear that Pearce couldn't make any of the squad better players or the team a better team overall. In fact he made them worse. Peter Reid was another example.

But what really good managers like Wenger & Ferguson do (and have been allowed to by their boards) is build a winning culture throughout the club. It's about fitness, technique and attitude. They weed out the ones that can't or don't see it their way and replace them with players that do. That isn't a quick task.

We've all known for a while that our fitness has been poor, with players running out of steam after 70 minutes. And when you're physically tired you lose concentration. Dunne giving that corner away against Everton was a prime example. Yet the top 4 teams can run for 90 minutes and how many games have they won late on?

 

[moomba]

Do you not think that an ability to coach, motivate and get the best out of players already at the club is an essential skill our manager should have?

I think, judging from Stephen Ireland, SWP and Garrido, to a lesser extent, he's done that for certain players.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not letting Hughes off blame-free, I couldn't be more nonplussed with his tactics at times, but (and I don't want to harp on with a point that's been mentioned ad nauseum) his signings have on the whole been good. Even if you disregard Robinho. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in the transfer window and judging him at the end of the season - if he's still around.

Let me ask you, do you not think that the players have a responsibility to give 100% regardless of their feelings for the manager?

Absolutely, but I don't think any player makes a conscious decision not to try 100%. There are a lot of factors involved, confidence, environment, reward etc. And one consequence of having a team not yet capable of winning things straight away is that there will be players with flaws in it. Some will not have the skills of the top players, some will not have the mentality. Getting the best out of those playes is a tough job, but it's something I expect of our manager. There will always be the odd "lost cause" but it seems at the moment it's a fair bit worse than that.