Great read.. about ambitious Hughes...

[MrCheviot]

"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."

[CH FFC]

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!

[HatterDon]

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.

[west kowloon white]

Don't think anyone is disputing his record whilst here-it was conduct and reason for leaving that is the sole issue.

[Herbie]

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.  

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

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!

[General]

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.

[MJG]

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.

[Herbie]

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.

[Logicalman]

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.