m27
Well-Known Member
I didn't make the journey lasy night and had to make do with Sky. When Terry Venables was asked about Hughes as a player at Barcelona last night he said that he didn't envisage him ever being a manager as he was just a "quiet lad".
Now this isn't the first time I've heard this from his ex-managers and team mates and it has got me wondering. I was a staunch supporter of Hughes last season to the point of nearly getting my head stoved in at Ewood Park when we were 2-0 down and a group near to me started singing "Hughes Out!". Luckily it all subsided when our second went in. I was of the opinion that Hughes had a lot to sort out behind the scenes and he should be given a summer to get rid of the bad eggs and bring his own signings in.
I thought my faith was justified after our start but now I'm just left feeling frustrated and I'm of the opinion that Hughes isn't cut out for the job.....but why isn't he? If Venables, Ferguson, Bruce, Robson and others are to be believed then he certainly isn't a natural leader. If he was a quiet type in the dressing room you don't just suddenly become Winston Churchill and a master tactician as soon as you hang up your boots. I'm not saying you can't grow into being a decent manager but is decent what we really want?
Whenever I have read about the top managers and all their old team mates are dragged out of the woodwork you always hear the same line, "He was born to be a manager." Is management just a career for Hughes rather than a passion? He can lead certain men and Craig Bellamy has Bobby Robson and Hughes up there with the best managers he has played under. Yet Bellamy obviously responds to a certain style of man managment, I suspect if you try the same style on Adebayor you will get fuck all out of him. Ireland responded brilliantly last season to Hughes but now that's all forgotten as Ireland seems lost in the current system. Yet to be where we want to be we need all 11 players motivated and ready to run through brick walls for the manager, not just three or four. It was also interesting to hear Stuart Pearce extolling the virtues of Harry Redknapp's man managment skills and it is a quality that it has never struck me that Hughes possesses. I don't know the man though, I could be wrong.
For everything a reason, and this is my theory as to why we are struggling at the moment (and we are struggling, please don't hide behind the two losses statistic), Mark Hughes simply has not got the leadership qualities to take us where we want to go. It's actually a shame for Hughes as well because if he had learnt his trade 'under the radar' at other clubs akin to Blackburn over the next ten years he could have been well equipped down the line to get a top job. Unfortunately, it's all come too soon it seems.
Please don't give it the "Oh great, another Hughes out thread" because it's not as such. I've tried to establish what excatly the problem is, why Hughes isn't the man (if indeed he isn't of course, we could go on a ten match winning streak and I'd be happy to eat my words) and why giving him time, might not actually be the best way forward as giving him time will only result in the same pattern of results and performances we have seen throughout his stay here (one week brilliant, next week awful, following week average...).
Now this isn't the first time I've heard this from his ex-managers and team mates and it has got me wondering. I was a staunch supporter of Hughes last season to the point of nearly getting my head stoved in at Ewood Park when we were 2-0 down and a group near to me started singing "Hughes Out!". Luckily it all subsided when our second went in. I was of the opinion that Hughes had a lot to sort out behind the scenes and he should be given a summer to get rid of the bad eggs and bring his own signings in.
I thought my faith was justified after our start but now I'm just left feeling frustrated and I'm of the opinion that Hughes isn't cut out for the job.....but why isn't he? If Venables, Ferguson, Bruce, Robson and others are to be believed then he certainly isn't a natural leader. If he was a quiet type in the dressing room you don't just suddenly become Winston Churchill and a master tactician as soon as you hang up your boots. I'm not saying you can't grow into being a decent manager but is decent what we really want?
Whenever I have read about the top managers and all their old team mates are dragged out of the woodwork you always hear the same line, "He was born to be a manager." Is management just a career for Hughes rather than a passion? He can lead certain men and Craig Bellamy has Bobby Robson and Hughes up there with the best managers he has played under. Yet Bellamy obviously responds to a certain style of man managment, I suspect if you try the same style on Adebayor you will get fuck all out of him. Ireland responded brilliantly last season to Hughes but now that's all forgotten as Ireland seems lost in the current system. Yet to be where we want to be we need all 11 players motivated and ready to run through brick walls for the manager, not just three or four. It was also interesting to hear Stuart Pearce extolling the virtues of Harry Redknapp's man managment skills and it is a quality that it has never struck me that Hughes possesses. I don't know the man though, I could be wrong.
For everything a reason, and this is my theory as to why we are struggling at the moment (and we are struggling, please don't hide behind the two losses statistic), Mark Hughes simply has not got the leadership qualities to take us where we want to go. It's actually a shame for Hughes as well because if he had learnt his trade 'under the radar' at other clubs akin to Blackburn over the next ten years he could have been well equipped down the line to get a top job. Unfortunately, it's all come too soon it seems.
Please don't give it the "Oh great, another Hughes out thread" because it's not as such. I've tried to establish what excatly the problem is, why Hughes isn't the man (if indeed he isn't of course, we could go on a ten match winning streak and I'd be happy to eat my words) and why giving him time, might not actually be the best way forward as giving him time will only result in the same pattern of results and performances we have seen throughout his stay here (one week brilliant, next week awful, following week average...).