Image via WikipediaHow many of you knew about the Leslie bit by the way.
Well it appears that it was between Sven Goran Eriksson and Sparky Hughes for the Fulham job, apparently after Martin Jol turned the job down in favour of staying at Ajax. Whatever made Mohamed Al Fayed decide to go for Hughes I don’t know, but I’d be interested to hear what Fulham fans think about the decision, personally I think he’s a good choice for the London club, the fans must have been anxious about who their new manager would be, not to mention the player’s, the start of the season being only 2 weeks away.
Obviously there are some big decisions for Hughes to make as regard players, outgoing and incoming, before the season gets underway, with it being suggested Craig Bellamy will be his first target, if he can convince him to move to Fulham rather than Tottenham Hotspurs, a task which might prove difficult.
The characteristics that made Hughes such a wonderful player, i.e skill, determination, guts, passion, and the sheer desire to win, are all things that will have stood him in good stead throughout his managerial career so far, especially under some of the turbulent times he had at Manchester City.
His Managerial career so far is as follows:
Wales (1999-2004)
Blackburn Rovers (2004-2008)
Manchester City (2008-2009)
Fulham (2010- Who Knows
For those of you who like your stats, here are Sparkys as a Manager:
GAMES - WON - DRAWN - LOST - WIN PER CENT
307 130 78 99 42.35
The question is, after the fantastic job Roy Hodgson did at Fulham, can Hughes consolidate their position, and take them onto even greater things, or have the South London club been over performing for the last two years, and raised the expectations of the fans to unrealistic levels. I feel Its’ a difficult situation for the Welshman, and he may need all the attributes mentioned earlier in the post, to make a success of his new appointment.
My opinion of his time at Manchester City, was that he was badly treated at the end, and had they stuck with him till the end of the season, would certainly have matched if not improved on Mancini’s finishing position in the Premiership. I’m sure there are City fans who agree and disagree with me, but hey that’s football.
Hopefully Mark Hughes will find his time at Fulham a rewarding one, and that Mohamed Al Fayed and the fans will not be expecting miracles of a team who in all honesty, probably reached their peak with last seasons magnificent performance in Europe.
