in the defence of the hughes outers

[Rammy Blue]

seeing as the general consensus throws up Hiddink and Jose as the 2 main names it now begs the second of my questions.

why does it make any difference if it is a mid-season appointment or an end of season appointment?

surely if either manager has indicated they want the job then it is purely down to financials, i am sure if Sheikh Mansour threw an extra 10mil at Jose he would come now rather than the summer?

 

[Anonymous]

I just can't see past Hiddink and Mourinho. Rijkaard maybe as an outsider...can't see it being Mancini. Can't think of anyone else.

A question. Would anyone take Benitez in the summer?

hell no, Rafa makes Hughes look good....

LOL. Benitez has won the UEFA Cup, the European cup, La Liga twice, the Spanish league cup, FA cup et al - so I think you're underestimating him...

 

[Anonymous]

seeing as the general consensus throws up Hiddink and Jose as the 2 main names it now begs the second of my questions.

why does it make any difference if it is a mid-season appointment or an end of season appointment?

surely if either manager has indicated they want the job then it is purely down to financials, i am sure if Sheikh Mansour threw an extra 10mil at Jose he would come now rather than the summer?

I never said I think Jose would take the job. I think those two are probably the world class managers who are referred to in the article you were talking about. Personally, I think there is zero chance of Mourinho joining us either now or in the summer.

As for why the club shouldn't make the change now or mid season? Because it would be a fucking joke and would go against everything that they have preached about Hughes being given a chance to deliver. It would be knee jerk, it would be reactionary, and it would not be in keeping with the professional, calculated, and clever way in which they do business. If they sack Mark Hughes now, or in January, it begs the obvious question of why not just have done it in the summer...

 

[bizzbo]

I don't live in fear of Platini. I know that his proposals will take several years to come to fruition, and they'll likely be watered down substantially on the way. Perhaps because of this, I don't worry that Hughes is blowing our one and only chance.

What worries me is more personal than that. If, as I suspect, we finish 6th this year, we will have invested 250m in transfer fees in order to move from 9th to 6th. Whilst the owners may take a broader view on the value of that investment, to me it would be shameful to be spending the most yet only just holding our own with teams who spend a quarter as much. It would be an insult to my sporting ideals, and to be honest the prospect makes me slightly queasy.

If we spend the money, we must genuinely compete. Being in the top four at the end of the season is not essential. Scaring the pants off everyone then failing at the last hurdle would be great. Playing blinding football but losing would be fine. Limping along and playing average football is not an option.

I can't see us finishing beneath 6th. That would be palpable failure and a sacking offence. My worry is that we will finish 6th without ever having genuinely competed for the top four.... that continue playing average football, making unprofessional mistakes, getting average results, until the prospect of a top four finish is all but gone, then get our act together just enough to finish 5th or 6th. Like last season, with bells on, in other words. Hughes limps into a third season, the questions over his ability remain unanswered, and we go through it all again.

Please, let's not be scared of the fight, or be scared of failing. Let's just go for it. In every game, in every decision.

 

[franksinatra]

We have averaged over 40,000 for quite a while now and I guess the majority of those fans are still going so a few thousand here and there will not make a huge change in the outlook of the supporters. Most people on here who criticise Hughes are not new fans, aged ten or the like they just don't buy into the way he is going about making the club successful.

Like most Ive watched some terrible City teams and have been frustrated at the quality of the players and the results. This time it's a bit different, we have the players, everyting is in place for the team to be successful and yet we still seem to be stuttering along.

Every game seems to be the same, vulnerability at set pieces, start off really slowly, too many long balls not enough movement, inability to put passing moves together besides between the back four.
I never followed City to enjoy success, that is of secondary importance, watching great footballers and great football is most important to me and I cannot believe with the players we have we cannot play good football and so far have been dominated in many matches this season by the likes of Birmingham and Wigan etc
The new team is a poor excuse, that was used to defend Hughes last season, look what Harry Redknapp has done on a fraction of the money Hughes has had to spend.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't live in fear of Platini. I know that his proposals will take several years to come to fruition, and they'll likely be watered down substantially on the way. Perhaps because of this, I don't worry that Hughes is blowing our one and only chance.

What worries me is more personal than that. If, as I suspect, we finish 6th this year, we will have invested 250m in transfer fees in order to move from 9th to 6th. Whilst the owners may take a broader view on the value of that investment, to me it would be shameful to be spending the most yet only just holding our own with teams who spend a quarter as much. It would be an insult to my sporting ideals, and to be honest the prospect makes me slightly queasy.

If we spend the money, we must genuinely compete. Being in the top four at the end of the season is not essential. Scaring the pants off everyone then failing at the last hurdle would be great. Playing blinding football but losing would be fine. Limping along and playing average football is not an option.

I can't see us finishing beneath 6th. That would be palpable failure and a sacking offence. My worry is that we will finish 6th without ever having genuinely competed for the top four.... that continue playing average football, making unprofessional mistakes, getting average results, until the prospect of a top four finish is all but gone, then get our act together just enough to finish 5th or 6th. Like last season, with bells on, in other words. Hughes limps into a third season, the questions over his ability remain unanswered, and we go through it all again.

Please, let's not be scared of the fight, or be scared of failing. Let's just go for it. In every game, in every decision.

Hughes will not be given another season if he doesn't finish 4th this season. Irrespective of how close we come...

I agree with everything else in your post...

 

[Neil McNab]

No we're not, we're currently on 1.75

I stand corrected, must have forgotten to carry the square root of minus one.

which is not enough this season so far!

hmmm.... depends who you're asking!

Hmmmmmm! Indeed "square root of minus one" WTF just divide by 12!
"Depends on who you're asking!........Not really Spurs are clear in fourth even taking the game in hand to account.
Villa and Spurs are currently playing far more adventurous football than us and look to be much better sides, Hughes seems to be making no progress in creating a team.

 

[Ricster]

one question though for you all - assuming The Times correspondent was correct that ADUG have sounded out 2 world class high profile managers recently about taking over, who are they?

I just can't see past Hiddink and Mourinho. Rijkaard maybe as an outsider...can't see it being Mancini. Can't think of anyone else.

A question. Would anyone take Benitez in the summer?

Mourinho will be next City manager

 

[Rammy Blue]

hell no, Rafa makes Hughes look good....

LOL. Benitez has won the UEFA Cup, the European cup, La Liga twice, the Spanish league cup, FA cup et al - so I think you're underestimating him...

joking aside i think Rafa is an utter buffoon, yes he has won some titles but i judge him purely on his time in the U.K. where he has shown no qualities imo that put him into the bracket of world class managers. His constant tinkering has costs the dippers dear over the last couple of seasons and the number of players who have gone through the club are astonishing.

He inherited Gerrard and pulled off one masterstroke in getting Torres although seeing as he was a big Liverpool fan throughout his childhood makes me believe that it wasn't necessarily the lure of Rafa that took him to scouseland.

Those 2 players have kept Rafa in a job.

 

[Anonymous]

I just can't see past Hiddink and Mourinho. Rijkaard maybe as an outsider...can't see it being Mancini. Can't think of anyone else.

A question. Would anyone take Benitez in the summer?

Mourinho will be next City manager

I admire your optimism. I don't see it for a myriad of reasons. The biggest being that Mourinho won't take the job if we're not playing CL football, and if we DO finish 4th this season our owners are far more likely to give Hughes another season. Hell, if Hughes manages to finish 4th, I think even the most ardent of his detractors would accept that he deserves another season...