I thought Hughes's signings were brilliant -- bringing in quality to the club while weakening rivals. I loved the tone he took with the media, and he seemed like a good guy to have in charge. I admit I'm sad to see him go, especially this way.
But the performance on the pitch the past 1.5 seasons have been so unacceptable, it's hard to argue with ownership's decision to part ways with Hughes.
I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone about last season's awful away performances-- losses against two of the relegated clubs and a bunch of other poor, poor results -- or how City finished below a club that needed a miraculous escape the previous season to avoid the drop. Seventh place was the absolute minimum acceptable finish for City, and they failed to achieve even that.
Going into the summer, the expectation for this season was set at a top six finish. Then City ended up embarking on a massive summer spending spree and it was acknowledged that the timeline for The Project had been accelerated. Suddenly, Hughes and Cook no longer were sharing the objective for the season with the public.
Now we've seen that Liverpool don't even look like a side that will qualify for the Europa League, let alone the Champions League. Arsenal have been very, very beatable, so suddenly even third place is up for grabs. And what have City done to take advantage of this opportunity?
They showed a defensive fragility that made no lead safe. Just thinking about some of the results in the past few months makes the head explode.
Burnley have lost all seven other away matches this season, with a -19 goal difference in those matches. Their only away point of the season? At CoMS, naturally.
Hull City are soon to be 0-1-7 in their other eight away matches this season, with a -18 goal difference. Yet they came to Eastlands and left with a point.
Then there was the 0-0 at Brum, the squandered two-goal lead at home against Fulham, and last weekend's 3-3 draw at hapless Bolton.
But none of this compares to the insipid performance City turned in midweek. Facing a Spurs club coming off a home loss to lowly Wolves and with internal problems stemming from the players' holiday party, City went to White Hart Lane and proceeded to crap on the club badge for 90 minutes. It was an absolutely shocking combination of apathy and ineptitude that convinced me Mark Hughes was no longer the man for the job.
City have -- at worst -- the third-best roster of talent in the Premier League. (You could make a strong argument for them being second only to Chelsea.) The results of the past few months have fallen so far below any reasonable expectation of performance, ownership would have had trouble telling any future transfer targets of their lofty aims if they allowed Hughes to stay on.
It's a shame, but in the end, Hughes only has himself to blame. Not good enough. No longer employed.