Mark Hughes: The Man in Charge

On 4 June 2008, City appointed Mark Hughes as manager. His appointment was greeted with mixed reactions amongst the City faithful. Some sections of the support welcomed the appointment as his star was rising as a bright, young, British manager who had worked wonders at Blackburn Rovers, making them a difficult side to beat and consistently punching above their weight on what Blackburn admitted was limited transfer funds.

Other sections of City’s support were nervous about the appointment, to say the least.  Here was a manager who was about to take on a job far bigger then Blackburn, with far greater pressure and expectation. City is a club notorious for behind the scenes machinations, in-fighting, politics and a distinct flair for self destruct. 

These traits led former player and Chairman, Francis Lee, to quip, “if there were a cup for cock ups, City would win it.”

City were also in a state of flux when he arrived. Then Chairman Thaksin Shinawatra was in the midst of trying to attract investment into the club due to his very well publicised difficulties back in his native Thailand.

Add to that Hughes’ previous connections with City’s hated rivals and it is understandable why some fans were slightly non-plussed by the appointment.

Then in came ADUG with their petro-billions and all of a sudden, things in the City garden looked incredibly rosy.  The icing on the cake was the £32.4 million capture of Robinho from Real Madrid from under the noses of Chelsea—a feat that sent shock waves throughout the footballing world.

Fast forward almost seven months and the City curse strikes again.  In spite of all the money in the world, superstar signings and a world class academy regularly producing talented players, City are hovering one place above the relegation zone.

So what has gone wrong?

During his first 26 games in charge at City, the Blues have seen the sublime and the ridiculous. A thumping 6-0 home win over Portsmouth, to one shot on goal during the home Derby. Coupled with bizarre tactical decisions, an apparent lack of plan B and odd substitutions during games, it is understandable why the faithful are now starting to question Hughes’ ability as a manager. 

One only has to look at the forlorn figure of Micah Richards playing at left back in some games, in spite of there being at least two, natural left backs at the club to see evidence of the bizarre during Hughes’ reign. 

It has even got to the point, given recent public protestations from Elano and outright mutiny from Ball and Hamman (though later denied by the players), that many people have come to the conclusion, rightly or wrongly, that Hughes has lost the dressing room.

I believe that the responsibility lies solely at Hughes’ door. 

Yet, in spite of this, statistically, he is actually performing better, currently, than he did at Blackburn.  His record is as follows:

TEAM	FROM	TO	RECORD
			P	W	D	L	%
Blackburn Rovers	15/09/2004	03/06/2008	188	82	59	47	43.6
Manchester City	04/06/2008	Present	26	12	9	5	46.1

His record at Blackburn can be broken down further:

TEAM	SEASON	RECORD
		P	W	D	L	F	A	%	Pos
Blackburn Rovers	04/05	38	9	15	14	32	43	23.7	15
Blackburn Rovers	05/06	38	19	6	13	51	42	50.0	6
Blackburn Rovers	06/07	38	15	7	16	52	54	39.4	10
Blackburn Rovers	07/08	38	15	13	10	50	48	39.4	7

In all seasons at Blackburn, Hughes has double figure losses.  Save one halcyon season in 2005, it is probably fair to assume with a low win ratio of 39.4% in those final two seasons at Blackburn, the league must have been pretty poor to have achieved a top 10 finish.

Have City picked a winner?  On this evidence, clearly not.

With ADUG in charge of the club, it seems Hughes has their overwhelming support.  However, I would have thought, given the money now at City’s disposal, the under performance of the manager and the desire amongst the new owners for success, then moves ought to be afoot to replace him.

Why would this be the case given the public support of the current manager? 

City are looking to attract quality players such as Kaka, Aguerro, Santa Cruz ad infinitum.  Which of those players is realistically going to want to come to a team that are currently staring a relegation dog-fight in the face, let alone be able to offer any form of European football next season?

No, for me, the wisest use of any money City wish to throw at the football world right now would be to approach Inter Milan and say name your price.  Not for their star player, but for their star manager.

Make no mistake, the Manchester City manager’s job is a very special job and it takes a Special One to execute it successfully.