To All The Hughes Inners

[M18CTID]

Whoever you believe, top 4 or top 6 was the target this season and despite a mediocre run of results we're not miles adrift of either.

Perhaps not yet but the next three games are crucial to this, don't you think?

I agree - 7 points minimum is what I'm looking for but we should be looking to pick up 9 for sure, regardless of our recent form.

 

[M18CTID]

You might laugh at this but although I couldn't stand him and there is no way Bally would've had us amongst the top 3 teams in the country if we'd stuck with him, I think sacking him 3 games into the 96-97 season was the wrong move. Granted, he'd got us relegated, but it was the first 10 or 12 games of his reign that did for us. We were nothing short of awful in that spell, but after that we actually played some decent football and showed mid-table form over the rest of the season but ended up getting relegated by the narrowest of margins - goal difference. The start of the following season saw us beat Ipswich and lose to Bolton and Stoke but I'd have given him another 10-15 games of that season at least and then assess where we were. I honestly don't think we would've found ourselves in the third tier of English football by the end of the 97-98 season if we'd stuck with him. Remember he took over Portsmouth when they were lower than us at around the same time we sacked Frank Clark and got Joe Royle in, yet it was Pompey that stayed up and we went down.

That's not to say he was a managerial genius because he wasn't. I just think his time at City is seen as being even worse than it was because of that terrible start to the 95-96 season.

It wasn't the wrong move, he walked out on us.....we didn't fire him

I thought he left by mutual agreement - courtesy of a gentle shove by Francis Lee. Lee said at the time that once the fans turn against someone in the kind of numbers that happened at Stoke then it's difficult to turn that situation around. That sounds to me that it wasn't just a case of Ball resigning.

 

[whp.blue]

I'm talking 4 months with his summer purchases and after our owners stating in the summer that Hughes was to remain as manager. With that fresh vote of confidence in the summer, he isn't going to be judged on his results last season but on what his results are this season. Whoever you believe, top 4 or top 6 was the target this season and despite a mediocre run of results we're not miles adrift of either.

whilst we are not miles away at the moment , the problem is we are in a downward spiral of poor results that I don't see ending soon,
the average points per game will continue to drop and we can never get back dropped points against the weaker sides.
the draws we had were defended in isolation and at the time they did not seem so bad however the full harsh reality hit us smack in the face at shite heart lane.

we have already blown a great opertunity and I am not sure we are in a position to reverse this situation.
imho of course

 

[djelanomcfc]

Hughes in.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

It wasn't the wrong move, he walked out on us.....we didn't fire him

I thought he left by mutual agreement - courtesy of a gentle shove by Francis Lee. Lee said at the time that once the fans turn against someone in the kind of numbers that happened at Stoke then it's difficult to turn that situation around. That sounds to me that it wasn't just a case of Ball resigning.

I was at the Stoke game(Dickov's debut)and it was pretty bad, but you also have to remember that Stoke had more than a small axe to grind with the little asshole themselves

 

[M18CTID]

I thought he left by mutual agreement - courtesy of a gentle shove by Francis Lee. Lee said at the time that once the fans turn against someone in the kind of numbers that happened at Stoke then it's difficult to turn that situation around. That sounds to me that it wasn't just a case of Ball resigning.

I was at the Stoke game(Dickov's debut)and it was pretty bad, but you also have to remember that Stoke had more than a small axe to grind with the little asshole themselves

Oh, I totally agree. It was the Stoke fans that started the anti-Ball abuse after they scored the first goal. At that point, I don't recall any City fans around me joining in. But when they scored a second a short while later (didn't Mike Sheron score for them that day?), it seemed like at least half the City end (perhaps more) joined in with the Stoke fans. I reckon if they hadn't instigated it, nowhere near as many blues would've gotten involved that day. It was quite surreal at the time witnessing 2 sets of opposing fans, who aren't renowned for being particularly friendly towards each other, roundly abusing one particular person.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

I was at the Stoke game(Dickov's debut)and it was pretty bad, but you also have to remember that Stoke had more than a small axe to grind with the little asshole themselves

Oh, I totally agree. It was the Stoke fans that started the anti-Ball abuse after they scored the first goal. At that point, I don't recall any City fans around me joining in. But when they scored a second a short while later (didn't Mike Sheron score for them that day?), it seemed like at least half the City end (perhaps more) joined in with the Stoke fans. I reckon if they hadn't instigated it, nowhere near as many blues would've gotten involved that day. It was quite surreal at the time witnessing 2 sets of opposing fans, who aren't renowned for being particularly friendly towards each other, roundly abusing one particular person.

Well it wasn't just any particular person!!!! Ball had that gift of being able to bring people together and yes Sheron did score that day for them!

 

[masterwig]

Are things that bad that people are defending Ball's record?

 

[Bill]

poor result poor performance, agreed.

we who support hughes are city inners, not jose inners, gus or hughes inners, just city inners.i have seen city sack managers now for almost 45 years, its done us no good.if hughes is replaced then the new man will get our support, hughes has never been given a chance by some on here, lets see if they are the same when the new guy comes in and low and behold he once drove past old trafford whilst out shopping.i dont care what the new managers history is i just want city to win something.

Me too but you have to admit we have a lot better chance of achieving that with a world class manager on board.

somethings not working mike, we'll will never know what till we make a change, thats why i dont mind being linked with gus and jose, whats gets my beef is people who either want him out for his past rag connection or who from day one thought him not good enough. every manager needs time, that said it can't go on, a big improvement is required, we can't stop the bent refs but we can get so far in front they can't hurt us, same with dodgy defending, we'll survive one blip but 2 or 3 in a match will kill us every time.

big test for the manager this festive period so lets see if we are up to it.

i said in other threads that as city fans we can't lose, either hughes bags us a trophy or he gets hoofed and we get a top notch guy in.
to be fair to hughes he has steadied and tidied up a pathetic club with a pathetic squad, for that he deserves respect and maybe a little slack.
not too much mind.

 

[City's Twelth Man]

Keep changing managers and we'll never be successfull. We've been underachieving for years and every time the shit hits the fan its another manager out and a new one in. Keep the faith, get behind the team and manager and lets justify why people call us the best fans in the land.