He may be one of the best young British managers in the
Premiership, along with Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill and Everton’s
David Moyes. He has taken Blackburn to two top six finishes in the
last four years, on a relatively modest budget. He has also
demonstrated an eye for a bargain in the transfer market (although
for every David Bentley and Roque Santa Cruz there’s an Andre Oijer
lurking menacingly around the corner). And his teams could never be
accused of lacking fight or spirit, an accusation frequently
levelled at City over the last few years. You can’t imagine, for
instance, one of Hughes’ teams losing 8-1 or, indeed,
6-0.
But…… it’s Mark bloody Hughes, for christ’s sake. I spent much
of my childhood loathing the man. To me he was the very embodiment
of Manchester United for much of the 80s and 90s. And I’ve still
not forgiven him for his cowardly assault on Richard Edghill whilst
playing for Southampton. The only scant consolation is that my
United supporting friends (an oxymoron, surely?) are equally aghast
at the prospect of Hughes taking over.
I guess it’s not without precedent; Matt Busby was a Blue, after
all, and more recently the cases of Messrs Schmeichel and Cole have
taught me, if nothing else, that all footballers are shameless
mercenaries, and most fans are incredibly fickle.
His Manchester United links aside, it doesn’t strike me as being
a particularly progressive move by the club. I’m underwhelmed by
the prospect, and concerned that our main route into Europe (i.e.
the Fair Play league) may be jeopardised by his appointment. His
curriculum vitae doesn’t stand up to Eriksson’s, and his teams
aren’t known for playing particularly attractive football. Then
again, neither did City in the second half of last season.
To many fans though it felt like we were making great progress
under Sven; we had a nice blend of youth and experience in the
squad and there was a sense of unity and purpose amongst the
players. Eriksson’s sacking seems to have lost that momentum, with
strong rumours that the likes of Richard Dunne, Michael Johnson and
Micah Richards are on the verge of leaving City.
But there is little point in dwelling on the past. Hughes
is appointed as City manager he’ll have my full support (until
things start going wrong that is; I imagine he won’t be granted
much of a honeymoon period by the fans). But I’ll stop short of
calling him ‘Hughesy‘ or, even worse, ‘Sparky’. The very notion
makes me slightly nauseous. He’ll always be Leslie to me. Les, at a
push, if we start to warm to him.
