Decent article this;
Does Mark Hughes lack respect for other managers? | Sport.co.uk
Mark Hughes was a fine player, wasn’t he? Maybe not by the end of his career, when Southampton, Everton and Blackburn used to prop him up in the middle of the pitch like Harry Enfield’s Mr Dead in order to elbow opponents and win free kicks. But, for Manchester United and, to a lesser extent, Chelsea…yeah, what a player. Some cracking volleys, as I recall.
And didn’t he do well as manager of Wales? And subsequently at Blackburn? His initial, sole tactic of sending Aaron Mokoena out to crock the other side’s most effective player – like Mr Burns releasing the hounds – may have palled at first, but over time he guided Rovers to the upper reaches of the Premiership on a budget that consisted more or less of pocket lint and Werther’s Originals.
What a shame, then, that he’s become such an odious cretin since taking the reigns at Manchester City. Now, before the more humourless sections of the Eastlands faithful start steaming out of their ears: this is not an(other) attack on your club. Just on your highly objectionable manager, whom you could only see fit to defend at the moment out of myopic tribalism and nothing else. Even if you cannot admit or even see that.
It’s as if the more he comes to resemble Father Ted, the more repugnant, utterly graceless and downright brass-necked he becomes. This is also a shame, because Father Ted was a great show. As opposed to the holy show that ‘Sparky’ is making of himself with comments such as the following:
"I have never had to court publicity myself because I played for top clubs. I was reticent to say too much at all when I was playing. The truth is I never had to, because my performances generated headlines anyway. I was good at what I did and that was enough.
"That has been my way for 45 years so I don't think I will suddenly become one for mind games. But other managers feel that their profile has been raised and they have to do that. Maybe it is because they have not played at a certain level.
"I'm aware managers are saying things about us at the moment but I see that as trying to ease pressure on themselves - that is predictable."
Yes, ‘Sparky’, you were a good player. But what the airborne fudge does that have to do with all of this? It’s just outright boasting, and entirely misplaced at that.
Granted, being a football player and being a football manager fall within the same stratosphere. But the fact Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez and David Moyes – all managers that never played at “a certain level” – have proved themselves to be your superiors in your current field serves only to further fuel the oft-proven mantra of Great Players Don’t Make Great Managers.
In essence, then, Hughes’ comments could be compared to an inferior milkman telling other milkmen to pipe down because he used to be jolly good postman back in the day, don’t you know. His comments are bewildering. Can you imagine a humble, god-fearing man such as Moyes thinking, “At last! My name shall spread far and wide, and I shall feast on the blood of my rivals for life eternal! Mwahahaha!”
And why on earth would Ferguson, Wenger and Benitez feel the need to court even more attention than they’ve already received for their genuine managerial achievements? Let’s examine some of the heinous broadsides they’ve been firing in Hughes’ direction…
“It won't be easy for them to win anything, even with the players they have bought,” said Ferguson, who was no doubt asked for his opinion. “I can't look at them as our main competitors. Liverpool and Chelsea are our main competitors.”
Try quibbling with that. Even if City are on course for longer term success, it simply will not happen this season. There will inevitably be a bedding-in period for all these new players, who are joining a club that is hardly riding the crest of a wave having finished a meager 9th last season. They might start firing on all cylinders after a few months, but by then it will be too late to challenge for the title.
If Hughes construes “it won’t be easy for them to win anything” as mind games, then it’s not long before he’ll be roaming the streets shouting at trees.
Benitez made comments implying that Gareth Barry’s move to City was motivated by money. This may or may not be true but, although Benitez has a track record of spouting nonsense, it certainly has the whiff of the Lucas Neills about it.
When asked to comment on City, though, he said merely, “I think every club now is trying to improve and Manchester City is one of them. I would like to be there at the top of the table and be contending but I cannot say too much on the other teams.” Wow. What a zinger.
Arsene Wenger? He has had to sell £44m-worth of not-exactly-top-drawer talent to City…and his side will still finish higher in the league. The departures of Adebayor and Toure will not have too many Arsenal fans crying into their airline-sponsored apparel.
Martin O’Neill was accused by Hughes as perpetrating mind games with his assertion that City would win the league, but the Aston Villa manager can hardly be accused of not having played at “a certain level”, having won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest.
As for Moyes, who has had to put up with a succession of pathetic bids for one of his star performers in Joleon Lescott? He had this to say…
"It is about showing respect - and we are not being shown that. I'm sure if I was Mark Hughes, with all the money he has, I would try to buy the best players, but we'd try to go about it in a different fashion.
"I would think I would go about my business in the way I have always done. I've always tried to contact the managers and show respect to them in terms of transfers and no matter how much money I might have to spend I would always want to keep that up.
"It goes back to the managers having a drink together after the game, to the fact managers will still phone each other up when they are looking for a player. That is part of the way it should be done."
Mind games? Sounds pretty direct to me. Lescott is a key player in a defensive line-up which has been of paramount importance to Everton’s recent, relative success and, as he is one of the best in the country in two different positions, he would be very, very expensive to replace. Factor in Everton’s ‘cash-strapped’ status, City’s notorious wealth, the player’s importance to his club and current market rates, and bids of £15m and £19m start to look rather paltry.
Everton are in a strong position, given that this season leads up to a World Cup. They can tell Lescott that he’s not going anywhere and that, if he wishes to sulk and rot in the reserves over it, then he can kiss goodbye to his place in the England squad. You can stick another few million on the price tag for that fact alone.
That Hughes has had the empirical belligerence about him to not even speak to Moyes personally about the matter is shocking to say the least. Some aspects of decorum may fly out of the window when you’re suddenly landed with unlimited funds at your disposal, but to flagrantly disregard this fundamental decency is abhorrent to say the least.
It is the kind of faceless headhunting which is fast-tracking the game towards an apocalyptic future where two or three clubs, having morphed into giant conglomerates of cyborgs and uncaringly-integrated human matter, slug it out over increasingly-bare landscapes for the fruits of the swathes of small clubs scurrying around in their overwhelming shadows. Erm…I was going somewhere with this…
Ah, yes. To City fans, I repeat: I am not denigrating your club, which has a fine tradition, deep roots and a tremendously loyal fanbase. But don’t get caught in the trap of blithely supporting the actions of your wretched manager who, with any luck, will be out of a job within months, lying dazed and confused in football’s wilderness while absolutely everyone else has a jolly good laugh at his expense.
You deserve better than him. I guess. And you’d swap him for Mourinho in a heartbeat, wouldn’t you? Thought so.
Does Mark Hughes lack respect for other managers? | Sport.co.uk
Mark Hughes was a fine player, wasn’t he? Maybe not by the end of his career, when Southampton, Everton and Blackburn used to prop him up in the middle of the pitch like Harry Enfield’s Mr Dead in order to elbow opponents and win free kicks. But, for Manchester United and, to a lesser extent, Chelsea…yeah, what a player. Some cracking volleys, as I recall.
And didn’t he do well as manager of Wales? And subsequently at Blackburn? His initial, sole tactic of sending Aaron Mokoena out to crock the other side’s most effective player – like Mr Burns releasing the hounds – may have palled at first, but over time he guided Rovers to the upper reaches of the Premiership on a budget that consisted more or less of pocket lint and Werther’s Originals.
What a shame, then, that he’s become such an odious cretin since taking the reigns at Manchester City. Now, before the more humourless sections of the Eastlands faithful start steaming out of their ears: this is not an(other) attack on your club. Just on your highly objectionable manager, whom you could only see fit to defend at the moment out of myopic tribalism and nothing else. Even if you cannot admit or even see that.
It’s as if the more he comes to resemble Father Ted, the more repugnant, utterly graceless and downright brass-necked he becomes. This is also a shame, because Father Ted was a great show. As opposed to the holy show that ‘Sparky’ is making of himself with comments such as the following:
"I have never had to court publicity myself because I played for top clubs. I was reticent to say too much at all when I was playing. The truth is I never had to, because my performances generated headlines anyway. I was good at what I did and that was enough.
"That has been my way for 45 years so I don't think I will suddenly become one for mind games. But other managers feel that their profile has been raised and they have to do that. Maybe it is because they have not played at a certain level.
"I'm aware managers are saying things about us at the moment but I see that as trying to ease pressure on themselves - that is predictable."
Yes, ‘Sparky’, you were a good player. But what the airborne fudge does that have to do with all of this? It’s just outright boasting, and entirely misplaced at that.
Granted, being a football player and being a football manager fall within the same stratosphere. But the fact Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez and David Moyes – all managers that never played at “a certain level” – have proved themselves to be your superiors in your current field serves only to further fuel the oft-proven mantra of Great Players Don’t Make Great Managers.
In essence, then, Hughes’ comments could be compared to an inferior milkman telling other milkmen to pipe down because he used to be jolly good postman back in the day, don’t you know. His comments are bewildering. Can you imagine a humble, god-fearing man such as Moyes thinking, “At last! My name shall spread far and wide, and I shall feast on the blood of my rivals for life eternal! Mwahahaha!”
And why on earth would Ferguson, Wenger and Benitez feel the need to court even more attention than they’ve already received for their genuine managerial achievements? Let’s examine some of the heinous broadsides they’ve been firing in Hughes’ direction…
“It won't be easy for them to win anything, even with the players they have bought,” said Ferguson, who was no doubt asked for his opinion. “I can't look at them as our main competitors. Liverpool and Chelsea are our main competitors.”
Try quibbling with that. Even if City are on course for longer term success, it simply will not happen this season. There will inevitably be a bedding-in period for all these new players, who are joining a club that is hardly riding the crest of a wave having finished a meager 9th last season. They might start firing on all cylinders after a few months, but by then it will be too late to challenge for the title.
If Hughes construes “it won’t be easy for them to win anything” as mind games, then it’s not long before he’ll be roaming the streets shouting at trees.
Benitez made comments implying that Gareth Barry’s move to City was motivated by money. This may or may not be true but, although Benitez has a track record of spouting nonsense, it certainly has the whiff of the Lucas Neills about it.
When asked to comment on City, though, he said merely, “I think every club now is trying to improve and Manchester City is one of them. I would like to be there at the top of the table and be contending but I cannot say too much on the other teams.” Wow. What a zinger.
Arsene Wenger? He has had to sell £44m-worth of not-exactly-top-drawer talent to City…and his side will still finish higher in the league. The departures of Adebayor and Toure will not have too many Arsenal fans crying into their airline-sponsored apparel.
Martin O’Neill was accused by Hughes as perpetrating mind games with his assertion that City would win the league, but the Aston Villa manager can hardly be accused of not having played at “a certain level”, having won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest.
As for Moyes, who has had to put up with a succession of pathetic bids for one of his star performers in Joleon Lescott? He had this to say…
"It is about showing respect - and we are not being shown that. I'm sure if I was Mark Hughes, with all the money he has, I would try to buy the best players, but we'd try to go about it in a different fashion.
"I would think I would go about my business in the way I have always done. I've always tried to contact the managers and show respect to them in terms of transfers and no matter how much money I might have to spend I would always want to keep that up.
"It goes back to the managers having a drink together after the game, to the fact managers will still phone each other up when they are looking for a player. That is part of the way it should be done."
Mind games? Sounds pretty direct to me. Lescott is a key player in a defensive line-up which has been of paramount importance to Everton’s recent, relative success and, as he is one of the best in the country in two different positions, he would be very, very expensive to replace. Factor in Everton’s ‘cash-strapped’ status, City’s notorious wealth, the player’s importance to his club and current market rates, and bids of £15m and £19m start to look rather paltry.
Everton are in a strong position, given that this season leads up to a World Cup. They can tell Lescott that he’s not going anywhere and that, if he wishes to sulk and rot in the reserves over it, then he can kiss goodbye to his place in the England squad. You can stick another few million on the price tag for that fact alone.
That Hughes has had the empirical belligerence about him to not even speak to Moyes personally about the matter is shocking to say the least. Some aspects of decorum may fly out of the window when you’re suddenly landed with unlimited funds at your disposal, but to flagrantly disregard this fundamental decency is abhorrent to say the least.
It is the kind of faceless headhunting which is fast-tracking the game towards an apocalyptic future where two or three clubs, having morphed into giant conglomerates of cyborgs and uncaringly-integrated human matter, slug it out over increasingly-bare landscapes for the fruits of the swathes of small clubs scurrying around in their overwhelming shadows. Erm…I was going somewhere with this…
Ah, yes. To City fans, I repeat: I am not denigrating your club, which has a fine tradition, deep roots and a tremendously loyal fanbase. But don’t get caught in the trap of blithely supporting the actions of your wretched manager who, with any luck, will be out of a job within months, lying dazed and confused in football’s wilderness while absolutely everyone else has a jolly good laugh at his expense.
You deserve better than him. I guess. And you’d swap him for Mourinho in a heartbeat, wouldn’t you? Thought so.
