Reaction to the media reaction on Mark Hughes departure
The past two days have seen City take centre stage in the media once again and it’s not been pretty. In fact it’s probably been more brutal than the sacking of Hughes, who is now being described along the lines of the greatest manager ever.
Whenever a manager is sacked, there’s always an outcry by people in the media, fellow managers and former players who say he should have been given more time, etc. This is all the more vociferous as City’s (foreign) owners have had the audacity to sack a “British Manager”, which appears to be a protected species. And then we’ve replaced him with a foreigner! Behind his back! Without a due period of mourning, and no time to write ‘City in no-manager crisis’ articles.
As a renowned player and formerly promising young manager who conducts himself well, Mark Hughes enjoys a fair amount of good will from the press. From the tabloids to the broadsheets they were lining up today and it’s not hard to spot the Hughes fans.
Ian Ladyman at the Mail is arguably the worst with his “Betrayal of a decent man” by “what used to be known as a decent football club.” The bias is dripping from every line.
John Dillon at the Express also laments how we have lost the “spirit of the old people’s club of Maine Road”. Dreadful.
Their nostalgia is getting a little to misty if they can’t recall any chaotic managerial changes taking place in the Peter Swales era, or the years that followed.
Henry Winter, another Hughes fan, was quick to put the boot in on Khaldoon, but there are some interesting articles coming out of The Telegraph at the moment.
Jason Burt describes how Cook formerly offered the job to Hiddink at the start of the month. The article goes on to claim that Mancini and Clarence Seedorf have been used as unofficial transfer advisors for some of Hughes’ purchases. This seems a little far-fetched as there was never any indication from Hughes that signings after Robinho were anything but his own.
There’s also a piece describing how Mancini was socialising with Khaldoon in January.
Garry Cook and Brian Marwood get the worst treatment, accused of stabbing Hughes in the back. More realistically, it is said the decision to remove Hughes was made by Sheikh Mansour and Khaldoon. Once that decision had been made by Sheikh Mansour, then Cook would be charged with sorting out a deal with a new manager. That’s not a nice thing to have to do, but that’s part of his job.
Likewise Marwood was brought in as a ‘football administrator’ to serve the best interests of the club – not Hughes. If he had concerns about some of the transfers or other things, then it was his job to voice them.
A few years ago I remember thinking it rather harsh when Bruce Rioch was sacked by Arsenal after guiding them to a Uefa Cup place. Afterall, he’d done well at Bolton. Arsenal appointed that little known Frenchman Arsene Wenger who’d been out in Japan and had no experience of English football. Nobody remembers Bruce Rioch now.
If Mancini is a success, then all this will be considered a decisive and necessary act – just as it was with Scolari at Chelsea.
As ever, it’s a results game.
On the plus side, there are some decent articles telling us more about Mancini. Here’s one by the BBC and another by Gabriele Marcotti at the Times. Richard Williams also profiles the man whose favourite colour is blue “in all its shades”.
Stuart Reed
21 December 2009 - 5:30 pm
Good feature – it articulates everything I’ve felt over the past few days. Since The Arabs(!) took over at City we’ve been hammered by the press & other media (worst offender is Alan Green of Radio 5). Hughes was getting slagged off upto last week for the run of draws. But now he’s the Messiah that we’ve had crucified. It’s all part of the constant media attack on City. This has given em more fuel. I’m sorry that Hughes has gone in this manner but it’s still my City not there’s. Hopefully this will be forgotten when we qualify for the CL but paranoia tells me that there’s a concerted effort to do as much as possible to stop it
CiTyBlUe
21 December 2009 - 5:40 pm
I dont care what anyone has to say about the Hughes sacking or Hughes, he clearly was not good enough so our owner has acted swiftly.
Well Done to Sheikh Mansour, heres one City fan saying Thankyou for giving me the best Christmas I could have wished for.
Manchester City with a real leader.
Stuff the City haters and stuff their opinions right where the moon dont shine.
Mark
21 December 2009 - 7:11 pm
I agree. The last few weeks I have been constantly hoping that Hughes was replaced. I have nothing against him personally, but the simple truth is he was not good enough to get us into the top four, even with all the money in the world.
If there are fans that are happy with 2 wins in ten games then maybe they should support Portsmouth, but I certainly wasn’t.
I am not completely sure about Mancini however, and would have prefered Hiddink or Mourinho, but I will give him a chance, for at least he has won championships as a manager, something Hughes has never done, nor would ever do.
Ignore the so called expert journalists, they will have another band wagon to jump on soon, where once again they can practice their cheap excuse for journalism.
I want us to be a top four club, and the simple truth is, that would not have happened under Hughes.
pjdemers
22 December 2009 - 1:37 am
Right decision, wrong time, wrongly executed.
I completely understand your reservations about Hughes as a manager but for you to imply his sacking was handled swiftly and profesionally is just a bit off the mark.
all ADUG essentially had to do was summon Hughes before them, state their case that they were not seeing signifigant return on their investments and that they had lost faith in his abilities. In other words be fair, forthright and decisive. I have yet to see even a shred of evidence that any of this happened. Mark Hughes found out he was sacked as most of us did, through media leaks and rumors that a so-called professional organization allowed to circulate and fester. Not exactly confidence inspiring.
but lets bypass all that and say ADUG conducted themselves by the highest of standards. Appointing a new manager (and I’ll concede I actually rate Mancini highly)in the middle of the season does not strike me as good business sense but a risky and potentially dangerous gamble. World class players rarely move in January and the middle of the season is hardly the best of times to make wholesale changes. ADUG have given Mancini a very samll window in which to achieve results.
If the ship was sinking you’d have a very valid argument but it wasn’t. The publically stated targets of a 6th place and 70 points were still on target even if we were reaching it despite Hughes. It sets a very bad precedent, not to the media, but to the class of players and managers we all want to see at City. I doubt Hiddink or Mourinho are too impressed about how City is being run at the moment. I doubt too many international class players are impressed either.
ADUG in my opinion should issue a public statement as quickly as possible, not for their decision to sack Hughes but for the half-assed manner in which they conducted it. This is the reason Hughes is a public sympathy figure and this is the reason the media are now lining up behind him.
Again Mancini and the squad have my 100% support and loyalty but don’t ask me to give it to ADUG just yet, not until they admit they handled the whole affair poorly. That would go a long to help re-establish my trust as I’m sure it would for alot of other City fans who don’t share your blind faith in our executives at the moment
Ian
22 December 2009 - 9:18 am
Your article is yet again an oasis of common sense in a media frenzy of quite simply, poison, directed at MCFC, it’s owners and directors. Premier league football is now big business and in all big businesses it is common practice to be nuturing contacts, constantly keeping in touch with options available and head-hunting people who are likely to be of benefit to the organisation in the future.
I would be extremely dissatisfied with Sheik Mansour, Gary Cook and the board if a replacement for Hughes wasn’t ready and waiting to step in. Obviously, as you say, it would suit the media to be writing about a club that makes knee jerk decisions without any thought of the next move – MANAGERLESS CITY SHAMBLES headlines would abound.
bluemanc
22 December 2009 - 12:22 pm
i do feel for Mark Huges however he was not good enough for city. he might have the respect from the player but he does not have the conrol over the player. Around £60 million has been spent on the defence yet we draw almost every game! Even though we’ve only lost twice we r still 6th on the table.well why? ? The meadia criticise that we should have given huges more time BUT if we did and we dont end up in the top 4, the media will still be criticising that we should of sack him! so STUFF the media, STUFF the united “fan”,STUFF everyone else and support our beloved city nd the manager dat could put us in the top 4…Mancini. The media is only looking to make money, so why should we listen to them? Sheikh Mansour is our only hope for us to get into the top four so i thank him 🙂 CTID
Tom
22 December 2009 - 4:18 pm
I think the Sheik was and is a very patient man. £19mill paid for JO and then he is allowed to leave on loan and play for another premier league. Being honest if someone had of rifled my pockets and wasted money like that then I would not have be so patient.
In the last 3 games we leaked in 9 goals, my priority would not have been to extend a defenders contract for a further 4 years. I like Zabeleta but not that much.
Hughes is probably a nice guy…. the dark side won nothing under nice guys, they had to get the biggest tosser in the country as their manager before they won anything.
Sven done as much as Hughes with little money and before the press get to carried away he is hardly on the breadline. He left Blackburn when it suited him and he will have his contract paid up so its hardly a harsh punishment.
If he is good enough, he will come back to haunt us but I somehow doubt it.