http://backpagefootball.com/mark-hughes-the-most-deluded-man-in-football/50716/ (http://backpagefootball.com/mark-hughes-the-most-deluded-man-in-football/50716/)
A quick glance at Tony Fernandes's twitter bio sees the internationally renowned entrepreneur and Queens Park Rangers chairman describe himself as a dreamer.
Scroll a little further down and you will find him once again urging QPR supporters for patience; the message: "keep calm, we will come good."
It will seem all too familiar to fans, who, with more than a quarter of the season played and still no wins, are left wondering when Fernandes will wake up and bring the nightmare reign of Mark Hughes to an end.
The problem with the influx of wealthy outsiders into the game's highest positions is that they are not footballing men, they do not have the knowledge and understanding of the sport that past owners had, and rely heavily on advisers whose motives do not always match up with their own or those of the fans.
Despite spending the summer assembling a team of mercenaries akin to the latest Expendables blockbuster, Fernandes finds his team seven league positions worse off than at this stage last season, and must be scratching his head as to where he has gone wrong.
Fernandes is just the latest in a line of foreign owners to be disappointed by Hughes, and it is hard not to feel a tinge of sympathy towards him (as much sympathy as one can have for a multimillionaire).
Hughes spent an astonishing total of £272.75 million in just 18 months at Manchester City, failing to get anywhere near the best out of big name signings such as Adebayor (£25m), Tevez (£25.5m), Lescott (£22m), and Bellamy (£14m); and wasting big money on flops such as Robinho (32.5m), Jo (£18m), and Roque Santa Cruz (£17.5m). After a spell of just 2 wins in 11 league games he was replaced by Roberto Mancini who has since gone on to win the FA Cup and Premier League with many of the same players that Hughes had at his disposal.
It was therefore a surprise when Fulham owner Mohammed al Fayed gave him another chance to manage a Premier League club, but bizarrely after less than 11 months Hughes repaid him by resigning, stating: "as a young, ambitious manager I wish to move on to further my experiences." Leaving a bemused al Fayed to describe Hughes as "a strange man".
A year later Hughes was presiding over West London rivals QPR in a relegation dogfight, while Fulham finished in the top half of the table.
It wouldn't be the last statement to come back to haunt Hughes.
After losing the last game of the season at Manchester City and avoiding relegation by just 1 point in May he uttered the now infamous lines, "We'll never be in this situation again while I'm the manager".
With an extrapolated points total of just 15 if the remaining 28 games follow the same pattern as the first 10, many QPR fans would now happily settle for a situation in which they achieve survival come next May.
Watching his post match interview after the Reading game this weekend, you would think the Welshmans side had just come off the pitch at Old Trafford; not at home against a newly promoted club who had not won a game all season and were recovering from a draining 120 minutes of midweek madness against Arsenal in which they managed to concede seven times.
"Teams aren't going to allow us to play our expansive game and pass and move." he says. Newsflash: no team, not even Reading, are going to turn up and allow you to pass the ball around them and make them look like chumps.
If you are unable to assert your style of play at home against one of the weakest sides in the league one wonders if this style of play is really the best way forward, or indeed if it exists at all outside the realms of Hughes' imagination.
"The key is that first win, once we get that things will settle down and we can play our football." This is another of his favourite lines lately which suggests there is a Pandora's box just waiting to be opened at Loftus Road and upon the receival of three points we will all suddenly see a dazzling new QPR whizz up the table and take up their rightful place challenging for a Champions League spot with Barcelona style flair and possession.
For anybody still believing the fantasy that Hughes is a great footballing scholar in the mould of Guardiola or Del Bosque: his rough and ready Blackburn side finished rock bottom of the disciplinary table all 4 seasons he was in charge; last season his club captain was Joey Barton – he is by no means a purist. This is just the latest smoke screen to deter fans and Fernandes from unsatisfactory performances and results and to keep himself in the job a little longer; a job which will surely be his last in the Premier League.
There have been arrogant managers before him, great ones too, like Brian Clough and Jose Mourinho. They get away with it by coming across as charismatic, inspiring, likeable. There is nothing likeable about Hughes. He lacks charm and charisma, and has twice failed to get anywhere near the best out of two expensively assembled teams. His greatest achievement to date is leading Blackburn Rovers to the FA Cup semi finals, but listening to him in interviews you would think he had achieved as much as the greats mentioned above.
Fernandes certainly wants to believe the hype, confidently outlining plans last week for a new 45,000 capacity stadium stating "if we are playing good football and have a good stadium, people will come".
Hughes, who turned 49 last week, surely won't be at Loftus Road by the time he turns 50. The question is how many more dreamers like Fernandes will be conned by the dour Welshman and leave their club at the whim of his unique blend of arrogance, overspending and dangerous delusions of grandeur.
Spot on, really good read.
It is all summed up in who his agent is
Kia Joorabchian
It is like the Archbishop of Canterbury having the Krays as Head of Security
It's a good read but it barely touches on Hughes strong finish with us.
I lost patience with Hughes after we were left in the relegation zone on boxing day but after that match we never looked back. Bairds brace at Stoke changed our season and we finished 8th.
Still not sure why he left but I suspect that it was because his head was turned by the Villa and even the thought of managing Chelksi.
It would have been interesting to see where he would have taken us the following season and how far we would have got in Europe.
Hughes got lucky when he was appointed at Man City and has dined out on that since. Unless he turns QPR round soon he is in real danger of being found out.
The problem with the PL is that there is a lot of average managers - for every Alex Ferguson/Mourhino/Hodgson there have been at least 10 Gary Megsons/Neil Warnocks etc
he also got lucky with us Jimpav, inheriting a side that got to a European final.
To be fair he signed Dembele but it was jol, by converting him to midfield, that made the difference.
Hughes is a decent manager he did alright for us but Jol is different level to Hughes
Hughes has spent so much money as a manager with little or no success. He did well for us in the 2nd half of the season. but it was really mainly Roys team.
Many of us felt he never fitted FFC & he seems an even poorer match for QPR. It seems unlikely he'll manage a top club again, so where does he fit? I can only see a seat for him on the Sky sofa now.
Quote from: JackyFulham90 on November 08, 2012, 09:33:04 PM
Hughes is a decent manager he did alright for us but Jol is different level to Hughes
I agree, Mark Hughes is a good Championship manager, Jol is a Premier League manager.
Quote from: mr-ska on November 08, 2012, 09:36:40 PM
Hughes has spent so much money as a manager with little or no success. He did well for us in the 2nd half of the season. but it was really mainly Roys team.
I can't disagree with this, most of the team was Roy's team and I'm happy that Martin Jol is trying to change the team up and turn it into his own, I don't think Jol has made too many disappointing transfers if any.
Quote from: Jimpav on November 08, 2012, 09:03:47 PM
It's a good read but it barely touches on Hughes strong finish with us.
I lost patience with Hughes after we were left in the relegation zone on boxing day but after that match we never looked back. Bairds brace at Stoke changed our season and we finished 8th.
Still not sure why he left but I suspect that it was because his head was turned by the Villa and even the thought of managing Chelksi.
It would have been interesting to see where he would have taken us the following season and how far we would have got in Europe.
Hughes got lucky when he was appointed at Man City and has dined out on that since. Unless he turns QPR round soon he is in real danger of being found out.
The problem with the PL is that there is a lot of average managers - for every Alex Ferguson/Mourhino/Hodgson there have been at least 10 Gary Megsons/Neil Warnocks etc
Maybe it was that we had a strong finish despite Hughes, that the players took over and returned to the style put in place by Hodgson.
Dembele was apparently in the club sights before Hughes came so that purchase can hardly be credited to Hughes. Typical Hughes purchases are those prima donnas mentioned who failed at Man. City and the mercenaries who he has signed at QPR.
We had a very lucky escape.
Every time Hughes' mini-Great Escape post-West Ham comes up, I remember him sulking on the bench all through that game at Stoke when we finally played like a team. He looked like a mardy bloke who'd just had a row with the wife. So when the rumours surfaced about the players saying enough's enough, I for one believed them, and still do.
Hughes is horrible.
Quote from: mr-ska on November 08, 2012, 09:36:40 PM
Hughes has spent so much money as a manager with little or no success. He did well for us in the 2nd half of the season. but it was really mainly Roys team.
His success with us was only because Danny Murphy was managing the team by December. Hughes was just along for the ride. :dft012:
Quote from: RidgeRider on November 09, 2012, 02:38:07 AM
Quote from: mr-ska on November 08, 2012, 09:36:40 PM
Hughes has spent so much money as a manager with little or no success. He did well for us in the 2nd half of the season. but it was really mainly Roys team.
His success with us was only because Danny Murphy was managing the team by December. Hughes was just along for the ride. :dft012:
sigh
Quote from: JackyFulham90 on November 08, 2012, 09:33:04 PM
Hughes is a decent manager he did alright for us but Jol is different level to Hughes
I have to disagree. In my mind, a decent manager either makes good use of limited funds to bring in youngsters or those in their twilight to gel together and keep the ship level and builds on that, or has a great war chest, chooses good players and can make them gel together to win things. From all I have seen, Hughes, once given the funds, buys good players but has little idea as to how to get them to gel, and like-wise when he has little funds he is like a deer in the ehadlamps. I get the (uninformed) impression that he is a headline chaser, and lives off that publicity as much as possible. Unfortunately he still believe the lie that all publicity is good publicity.
Quote from: mr-ska on November 08, 2012, 08:22:01 PM
http://backpagefootball.com/mark-hughes-the-most-deluded-man-in-football/50716/ (http://backpagefootball.com/mark-hughes-the-most-deluded-man-in-football/50716/)
It was therefore a surprise when Fulham owner Mohammed al Fayed gave him another chance to manage a Premier League club, but bizarrely after less than 11 months Hughes repaid him by resigning, stating: "as a young, ambitious manager I wish to move on to further my experiences." Leaving a bemused al Fayed to describe Hughes as "a strange man".
A year later Hughes was presiding over West London rivals QPR in a relegation dogfight, while Fulham finished in the top half of the table.
I think this pretty much sums it up. I love MAF's comment 091.gif
I would not qualify him as a good manager but he can sell himself well. Managed four clubs, can retire afterwards.
Quote from: sipwell on November 09, 2012, 10:36:23 AM
I would not qualify him as a good manager but he can sell himself well. Managed four clubs, can retire afterwards.
From what I understand, the man owns half of Cheshire (which is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but still...) so could probably have retired to a life of sloth and decadence without ever entering club management. He does seem to have been one of those players who did not squander his wages, but took care to provide for his old age.
I think his desire to "prove" himself as a top manager is the problem here. He is a reasonably good manager. He did well with Wales, did okay with us. I know people keep banging on about Murphy and co taking over after Boxing Day, let's assume they did, why hasn't this come out publicly? Much of that team has now moved on, the likes of Etuhu have been widely quoted as criticising the current regime, yet nobody has come out and said that the players took over from Hughes. Seems strange to me.
So, by my reasoning, Hughes must have had something to do with the post-Christmas improvement, even if he was simply a good enough manager to actually listen to the players and take their views on board. This makes him a decent enough manager.
What he is not is what he wants to be, a top manager, Fergie mark two, if you will. Unfortunately, for him, he seems to regard the solution as having a lot of money to throw at players to prove his own managerial genius, which is why frugal old Fulham were not ambitious enough for him, thank God, and why QPHa are.
Quote from: Rupert on November 09, 2012, 11:10:36 AM
Quote from: sipwell on November 09, 2012, 10:36:23 AM
I would not qualify him as a good manager but he can sell himself well. Managed four clubs, can retire afterwards.
From what I understand, the man owns half of Cheshire (which is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but still...) so could probably have retired to a life of sloth and decadence without ever entering club management. He does seem to have been one of those players who did not squander his wages, but took care to provide for his old age.
I think his desire to "prove" himself as a top manager is the problem here. He is a reasonably good manager. He did well with Wales, did okay with us. I know people keep banging on about Murphy and co taking over after Boxing Day, let's assume they did, why hasn't this come out publicly? Much of that team has now moved on, the likes of Etuhu have been widely quoted as criticising the current regime, yet nobody has come out and said that the players took over from Hughes. Seems strange to me.
So, by my reasoning, Hughes must have had something to do with the post-Christmas improvement, even if he was simply a good enough manager to actually listen to the players and take their views on board. This makes him a decent enough manager.
What he is not is what he wants to be, a top manager, Fergie mark two, if you will. Unfortunately, for him, he seems to regard the solution as having a lot of money to throw at players to prove his own managerial genius, which is why frugal old Fulham were not ambitious enough for him, thank God, and why QPHa are.
:plus one: Spot on, he would have taken us to the cleaners if we bankrolled his ambition.
MAF summed it up perfectly "a strange man"-no perhaps not perfectly-a VERY strange man,who is the marketing face of a large team who have probably had their last shot at coaching a Prem team-but who knows..there's a few more Fernandes out there .
Quote from: SP on November 08, 2012, 09:42:16 PM
Many of us felt he never fitted FFC & he seems an even poorer match for QPR. It seems unlikely he'll manage a top club again, so where does he fit? I can only see a seat for him on the Sky sofa now.
Can't see that either if you sat Shearer next to him on a pundits sofa it would even make Shearer look charismatic
"We shall endeavour to prosper without him simply because, when the challenge came, it was not the Club but Mark Hughes who lacked the courage and ambition to take on the task of leadership. If people are looking for a flop, they only have to go no further than the man who has lost his spark."
Mark Hughes = played too much Football Manager.
Buy players, and let them play, no reason to manage a good player!
Honestly, I have a feeling that he lacks in communication, and has trouble expressing what he means. He may have good ideas, but has no idea how to express them to the rest of the team. Then again, he may just not have a clue what he is doing.
It is hard for me to believe that he has not been able to get QPR to play any better than they have. I saw a couple of replays, and I thought they had good spells of play against MC and Chelsea. I would love to see him "coach/manage" behind the scenes!
It's got to be a Welsh thing. Whether you like him or not, we played adventurous football on the road when he managed here, he signed Dembele, and HIS ONE SEASON at the Cottage saw us finish at the second highest level since we joined the football league.
Oh, and I do recognize that you guys don't diss the Welsh nearly as much as you do the Scots, but ... really.
Don't think anyone is disputing his record whilst here-it was conduct and reason for leaving that is the sole issue.
Sorry HD, but I am in the "success was inherited" camp with regards to our league position under Hughes.
Yes, he signed Dembele, but I don't really see any other legacy from the Hughes era.
There are a few reasons why I don't have fond memories of him. Firstly, he phased out some fan favourites (Gera and Paintsil), not to forget the way that he froze out Lewington. He refers to his players in interviews as 'the boy'. He has a much higher opinion of himself than his managerial career warrants, but most importantly for me, it was the way in which he left the club that ruined his reputation in my eyes.
Don't get me wrong, I was looking forward to what the next season under Hughes may bring, but we never got the chance to see it.
I know which door I would go through if I had to choose between football under Hughes or under Jol. The one with Berbatov, Ruiz and real opportunities for the younger players to shine.
Quote from: HatterDon on November 09, 2012, 09:10:50 PM
It's got to be a Welsh thing. Whether you like him or not, we played adventurous football on the road when he managed here, he signed Dembele, and HIS ONE SEASON at the Cottage saw us finish at the second highest level since we joined the football league.
Oh, and I do recognize that you guys don't diss the Welsh nearly as much as you do the Scots, but ... really.
Well done for being offensive. No, it is a football thing.
Fortunately Hughes left us otherwise we might well be in serious trouble given his transfer decisions, poor team selection and poor tactics as currently being displayed at QPR.
And Dempsey did much better under Jol than Hughes so that should kill any lingering sympathy for Hughes.
And now we have Jol who is clearly superior. Hurray!
I think if Fernandes has any sense he wont bankroll Hughes in January - because if he does they'll just spend the second half of the season gelling the team together again.
I still struggle to understand how some still think he is a good manager. He's now had to bites at being a manager since City and both times he has got the team into a relegation battle prior to Xmas.
For the record I dont believe Murphy took over the team, but the manager & coaches were shown up by the players when they said they wanted to change a few things and this led to the performaces in the second half of the season.
As for the second highest finish. Yes we were 8th, in a poor premiership season. No team has finished on 49pts before and finished 8th(season before you needed 61pts and the season after 52). 3pts seperated 8th - 14th that season.
He now seems only to be able to do one thing and thats spend money. He had a good squad at Fulham and we were linked with a lot of his ex players and a couple turned up at QPR.Thank god we missed out on those great buys.
Dembele was looked at before Hughes joined and yes he did sign him but its not as if he 'brought' him to the club. A lot of work had been done before.
One last thing..it was clear he did not want to qualify for europe and sent the team out to get yellows/reds. nothing else can explain how we went from a team of Dot Cotton's to Nick Cotton's.
Quote from: MJG on November 10, 2012, 07:42:04 AM
One last thing..it was clear he did not want to qualify for europe and sent the team out to get yellows/reds. nothing else can explain how we went from a team of Dot Cotton's to Nick Cotton's.
Not sure about that conclusion, why would he want to avoid Europa League football?
I think the style was just a reflection of the way that he used to play football filtering down into the way that he expects his players to play, i.e. being strong in a physical battle to make sure that you win.
It seems to me that he does not like losing, as shown by the reaction to Jol's post-match handshake last year.
Quote from: MJG on November 10, 2012, 07:42:04 AM
I still struggle to understand how some still think he is a good manager. He's now had to bites at being a manager since City and both times he has got the team into a relegation battle prior to Xmas.
For the record I dont believe Murphy took over the team, but the manager & coaches were shown up by the players when they said they wanted to change a few things and this led to the performaces in the second half of the season.
As for the second highest finish. Yes we were 8th, in a poor premiership season. No team has finished on 49pts before and finished 8th(season before you needed 61pts and the season after 52). 3pts seperated 8th - 14th that season.
He now seems only to be able to do one thing and thats spend money. He had a good squad at Fulham and we were linked with a lot of his ex players and a couple turned up at QPR.Thank god we missed out on those great buys.
Dembele was looked at before Hughes joined and yes he did sign him but its not as if he 'brought' him to the club. A lot of work had been done before.
One last thing..it was clear he did not want to qualify for europe and sent the team out to get yellows/reds. nothing else can explain how we went from a team of Dot Cotton's to Nick Cotton's.
Apart from the last sentence (only cos I cannot fathom why a manager would contemplate that course of action), I agree totally with all you say here.