Mark Hughes confident of mandate .../

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Mark Hughes confident of mandate .../

Postby Whassat » Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:05 am

Mark Hughes confident of mandate to usher in Manchester City's new era

The Manchester City manager feels certain he will be given enough time to shape a winning side

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* Paul Wilson
* The Guardian, Friday 14 August 2009
* Article history

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Mark Hughes has dismissed the pressure associated with his role as manager of Manchester City. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

Mark Hughes was 44 when he took over at Manchester City last summer, exactly the same age as Sir Alex Ferguson when he arrived at Manchester United. If it is fair to say no one expects City's manager to last half as long, it is appropriate to remember also that in 1986 few predicted a new and seemingly endless golden era would be ushered in by the confrontational Scot.

"Mark has aggression and determination, two excellent qualities in a manager," Ferguson once said. "I think I am made the same way." That was before Hughes and City became such a close-to-home issue.

One suspects there will be no more fond tributes along the lines of "a warrior you could trust with your life" now that Hughes finds himself in charge of "a small club with a small mentality". If City are going to be the story of this season, now that they have settled down after the hectic flurry of activity last summer, then Hughes's managerial future will be the most striking of many sub-plots.

So much so that at a press conference this week he was congratulated on simply having survived the summer. The general supposition appears to be that a club in possession of a fortune must be in need of a managerial makeover as well as a new set of players, though Hughes is having none of it. "I have been quite relaxed about the position," he explained. "I knew very early on what the situation was going to be this season. People were speculating without being in full possession of the facts, so I didn't let that bother me."

Hughes' credentials as a manager are not seriously in doubt. Anyone who knows him will attest to what his impressive achievements in a short space of time with Wales and Blackburn already suggest. As a manager he commands the same respect he did as a player, and brings the same steely determination underpinned by undoubted class. "Mark has an aura about him, he doesn't say a lot but when he does say something you listen," said Gary Speed, captain of Wales during Hughes' time as manager. To Robbie Savage, Hughes remains "an idol, an absolute legend", while Neville Southall reckons he is only behind Ferguson and Arsène Wenger in the Premier League pecking order with plenty of time to get better.

The only question is whether Hughes is the right manager for City, at this point in their history. Given that Sven-Goran Eriksson was chewed up and spat out in under a year it is tempting to wonder what sort of manager would be the ideal choice for the Eastlands project. No one has tried to turn a joke club into a Champions League force through unlimited spending power before, so the template probably does not exist.

Jose Mourinho is widely credited with an instant transformation of Chelsea, and winning the title in his first season in England remains a spectacular achievement, though the side he inherited was a strong one and with the money at his disposal and the kudos that came from winning the Champions League with Porto he was able to hit the ground running. Wenger winning the double in his first full season with Arsenal – that is, the first campaign after the Frenchman had been around to supervise pre-season preparations – was an equally stunning feat, particularly as Wenger not only worked to a more limited budget but actually boosted the club's finances by judicious trading. Yet 1998 seems a long time ago now. Arsenal just had to force their way past Manchester United back then. They did not have to deal with a permanent top four, and they did not start from a position of having won nothing for more than 30 years.

Hughes is careful not to set definitive targets for the coming season, all he will say is that City are looking for improvement and will be disappointed if they do not do better than last time. Given the amount of money they have spent that is hardly setting the bar impossibly high, and what is at present unknown is the Abu Dhabi owners' own definition of success. City really ought to be able to improve to the extent of qualifying for the Europa League, for instance, yet they were already at that level before the new money came in and competing in Uefa's secondary tournament makes it much harder to gain a league placing high enough to gain entry to the Champions League.

A view is growing that City must go all out for a top-four place this season, because without European distractions they will probably never have a better chance, and while Hughes patiently points out that it may take several more transfer windows there is no guarantee that he will remain in charge of the project if sufficient strides are not made this season. Then again, taking into account the money that has been ploughed into revamping the training ground at Hughes' insistence, City's owners may believe they have the right man and be prepared to give him as much time as United gave Ferguson. No one knows yet what sort of a project will take shape at Eastlands, though in conventional terms there is agreement that Hughes has what it takes as a manager.

"Financial backing alone is no guarantee of success, Newcastle had that while I was there," Shay Given, one of Hughes' most astute signings, said. "It was the instability that came through changing managers every couple of years that wasn't good. Mark Hughes knows his players now, he commands huge respect, and we need him here if City are to move forward." Savage, now at Derby after playing for Hughes for Blackburn and Wales, believes that City may have bought one or two players too many. "I don't know how he's going to fit them all in the team, but if anyone can handle the situation Mark can," Savage said. "I fully expect him to take Manchester City to the next level and show people how good a manager he is."
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Re: Mark Hughes confident of mandate .../

Postby BlueMoonAwoken » Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:57 am

it is a wierd thing that hughes was the same age as fergiescum when he took over , but good read i liked it.
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Re: Mark Hughes confident of mandate .../

Postby Lionel » Sat Aug 15, 2009 5:08 am

A very good read, and if we are all honest about Mark Hughes, he has made very few mistakes as City manager.
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