Citysmith
Well-Known Member
Mark Hughes is here in the Mirror. You get more of an insight into why Elano went and no way is Robinho leaving in Jan
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...n-managing-Manchester-City-article197955.html
Mark Hughes is not given to outbursts of melodrama so he does not say there were times last season when he hated himself.
But he does admit to feeling deeply uneasy about the way he had to turn a blind eye to the behaviour of some of his Manchester City players.
He does not mention Robinho’s now notorious flouting of the team dress code on the club’s visit to play FC Copenhagen in the Uefa Cup last February, an action that was interpreted as a direct challenge to Hughes’s authority.
While everyone else wore the official club suit, Robinho combined his jacket and trousers with white trainers. He had not bothered with a tie and his shirt was untucked.
Hughes does not mention any other individuals, either. Nor their offences, however trivial, however serious. But be sure that he noted them all.
He did not act then because he was not in a position to act. He was still in the throes of stabilising City and his own power base. So he bit his lip and bided his time.
But now things have changed. Now Hughes is his own man again. He can be true to himself.
That does not mean being an autocrat but it does mean a set of rules and a system of respect for the club and each other that he and his players have worked out together.
Hughes is a thoroughly modern manager, a man who treats his players like adults. And this is his team now. All last season’s draining speculation about his job being in danger seems an age away.
No one is talking about Jose Mourinho swanning in to take over at Eastlands any more. No one is talking about City’s Arab owners demanding a big name to manage their billions.
Hughes has crossed that Rubicon. He is a big name himself now. The perceptions of him and a first rate staff of Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki and Kevin Hitchcock have changed.
Because of what he has achieved and the calm, accomplished, dignified way in which he has achieved it, there is unanimous recognition that Hughes is the man to lead City’s assault on the Premier League and then the Champions League.
There were many who were utterly convinced Hughes would not be in charge of City at the start of this season but he is a smarter man than his doubters gave him credit for.
He knew that if he had confronted player power last year, the squad would have slipped into a damaging civil war and results would have suffered.
“Last year,†Hughes said, “there were occasions when I compromised my own standards and values and that didn’t sit comfortably with me so I knew it wouldn’t continue.
“Little details involving disciplinary indiscretions become big problems if you don’t address them but in the short term, I couldn’t do anything about it. It was the wrong time.
“The benefit of addressing those little details at that time would have caused problems. Instead of solving problems, they would have created bigger problems. That was why at times I let things go. Not to my comfort, I have to say.
“But I knew there would be a time last summer where any of those issues created by certain people would be addressed because those people would leave.
“Managing a football club is about building a culture. I would suggest a lot of other managers don’t get involved in trying to build a mentality but I don’t think you can be successful without it.
“It is about trying to get a work ethic and a way of thinking that enables you to be successful as a group. If you have too many pulling in the wrong direction, you have to cut them off.
“My values won’t be compromised in the future because we are in a different place now.â€
After the problems with Robinho and his Brazilian compatriot, Elano, who was transferred in the summer, Hughes decided to put a stop to the indiscipline before the start of this season.
He did not impose his demands on his millionaire superstars. He knows outright dictatorship can’t work in English football any more. So he debated the issues with his players and they came up with the new guidelines together.
“It’s not about being autocratic,†Hughes said. “It’s about involving the players in the process. It’s about them setting the rules about how they should behave.
“I asked a question about it and threw it out to the room: how do you think an elite team should behave? We had a workshop on it and discussed it and came up with a set of values and rules we expect everyone to adhere to.
“We will all be judged by the same standards. The problems we had last year frustrated some of the guys as much as they frustrated me.
“You look how we go to games now and there is a difference. The dress code was an issue because of Robbie and it was a stick to beat us over the head with.
“The reasons put forward not to have a dress code didn’t stack up against the reasons why we should. Some of them said they felt more comfy in a track suit. And I said ’right, what else?’. But there wasn’t anything else.
“In favour of the dress code was looking like a team, going to away grounds collectively smart, looking the business. There is a raft of reasons why there should be a dress code.
“We don’t allow mobiles for the players at the training ground. At times they forget and we have to jump on them. They are not allowed them on the coach going to games but they can have them after games.
“But we don’t want rules for rules’ sake. Anything we have in place is because the guys have said that is not how top teams or top players behave.â€
Occasionally, though, just occasionally, the consensual approach gives way and Hughes lays down the law.
He was insistent, for instance, that Robinho would still be at City next summer.
So he wouldn’t be sold in the January transfer window.
“No chance,†the boss said.
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...n-managing-Manchester-City-article197955.html
Mark Hughes is not given to outbursts of melodrama so he does not say there were times last season when he hated himself.
But he does admit to feeling deeply uneasy about the way he had to turn a blind eye to the behaviour of some of his Manchester City players.
He does not mention Robinho’s now notorious flouting of the team dress code on the club’s visit to play FC Copenhagen in the Uefa Cup last February, an action that was interpreted as a direct challenge to Hughes’s authority.
While everyone else wore the official club suit, Robinho combined his jacket and trousers with white trainers. He had not bothered with a tie and his shirt was untucked.
Hughes does not mention any other individuals, either. Nor their offences, however trivial, however serious. But be sure that he noted them all.
He did not act then because he was not in a position to act. He was still in the throes of stabilising City and his own power base. So he bit his lip and bided his time.
But now things have changed. Now Hughes is his own man again. He can be true to himself.
That does not mean being an autocrat but it does mean a set of rules and a system of respect for the club and each other that he and his players have worked out together.
Hughes is a thoroughly modern manager, a man who treats his players like adults. And this is his team now. All last season’s draining speculation about his job being in danger seems an age away.
No one is talking about Jose Mourinho swanning in to take over at Eastlands any more. No one is talking about City’s Arab owners demanding a big name to manage their billions.
Hughes has crossed that Rubicon. He is a big name himself now. The perceptions of him and a first rate staff of Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki and Kevin Hitchcock have changed.
Because of what he has achieved and the calm, accomplished, dignified way in which he has achieved it, there is unanimous recognition that Hughes is the man to lead City’s assault on the Premier League and then the Champions League.
There were many who were utterly convinced Hughes would not be in charge of City at the start of this season but he is a smarter man than his doubters gave him credit for.
He knew that if he had confronted player power last year, the squad would have slipped into a damaging civil war and results would have suffered.
“Last year,†Hughes said, “there were occasions when I compromised my own standards and values and that didn’t sit comfortably with me so I knew it wouldn’t continue.
“Little details involving disciplinary indiscretions become big problems if you don’t address them but in the short term, I couldn’t do anything about it. It was the wrong time.
“The benefit of addressing those little details at that time would have caused problems. Instead of solving problems, they would have created bigger problems. That was why at times I let things go. Not to my comfort, I have to say.
“But I knew there would be a time last summer where any of those issues created by certain people would be addressed because those people would leave.
“Managing a football club is about building a culture. I would suggest a lot of other managers don’t get involved in trying to build a mentality but I don’t think you can be successful without it.
“It is about trying to get a work ethic and a way of thinking that enables you to be successful as a group. If you have too many pulling in the wrong direction, you have to cut them off.
“My values won’t be compromised in the future because we are in a different place now.â€
After the problems with Robinho and his Brazilian compatriot, Elano, who was transferred in the summer, Hughes decided to put a stop to the indiscipline before the start of this season.
He did not impose his demands on his millionaire superstars. He knows outright dictatorship can’t work in English football any more. So he debated the issues with his players and they came up with the new guidelines together.
“It’s not about being autocratic,†Hughes said. “It’s about involving the players in the process. It’s about them setting the rules about how they should behave.
“I asked a question about it and threw it out to the room: how do you think an elite team should behave? We had a workshop on it and discussed it and came up with a set of values and rules we expect everyone to adhere to.
“We will all be judged by the same standards. The problems we had last year frustrated some of the guys as much as they frustrated me.
“You look how we go to games now and there is a difference. The dress code was an issue because of Robbie and it was a stick to beat us over the head with.
“The reasons put forward not to have a dress code didn’t stack up against the reasons why we should. Some of them said they felt more comfy in a track suit. And I said ’right, what else?’. But there wasn’t anything else.
“In favour of the dress code was looking like a team, going to away grounds collectively smart, looking the business. There is a raft of reasons why there should be a dress code.
“We don’t allow mobiles for the players at the training ground. At times they forget and we have to jump on them. They are not allowed them on the coach going to games but they can have them after games.
“But we don’t want rules for rules’ sake. Anything we have in place is because the guys have said that is not how top teams or top players behave.â€
Occasionally, though, just occasionally, the consensual approach gives way and Hughes lays down the law.
He was insistent, for instance, that Robinho would still be at City next summer.
So he wouldn’t be sold in the January transfer window.
“No chance,†the boss said.