CB Fry

Interesting piece by Oliver Kay in the Times this morning talking about Hughes ability to build a team over the long term, contrasting that with scant evidence that he can make an instant impact. Saying he's not a "new manager bounce" kind of manager. He then lists his "starts" at clubs and claims he never gets more than a point a game at the start. Although reading it again now I write this I see he's decided to define his "start" as the first 8 games for Blackburn, the first 11 games at Fulham, the first 18 games for City, back to the first 8 for QPR, and then how about we say, well, the first 11 games again for Stoke. Just fudging the number of games so he can get to a point a game or less so he can make his point. A classic move known around these parts as the Heisingberg manoeuvre. Well I am glad I read it again to relay it on here because clearly it's a load of old sh it. Journalists, eh? Accept his premise that he is better over the long term, and I still think Hughes won't have much to actually do to improve us.

Why? Hughes winning every game or losing every game makes no difference to the fact that Pellegrino was a terrible manager for us.

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My barber really doesn't like him. Thinks he's far too negative/over cautious, especially early this season. True story. I'm getting my haircut next week so I'll get further updates then.

Hughes has only ever managed in the Prem but would be a decent appointment to get us back up. Rowett has done well but Jesus he is just Mark Hughes but younger. Pretty functional football. I know a couple of Derby fans who are completely not convinced by him. Total bog standard English manager who in five years time will be sneered at as a "same old name" boring manager who has never done anything etc etc etc. Just a Paul Jewell who hasn't had a failure yet. Jokanovic, we'll see. He might get promoted anyway and if he doesn't I can't see him coming to us as he probably would be a decent shout for a Prem club.

Flavour of the month innit.

Do you think we should have stuck with the worst manager we have ever had then, just because David Moyes hasn't taken West Ham into European contention?

Have been referencing this for the whole time he's been linked with us. Just a few people on here obsessing about his time at QPR and ignoring everything else he has ever done. His biggest mistake was staying at Stoke too long - if he's have quit after three years his reputation would be preserved. A manager with a nice sexy foreign name with a record identical to this in, say, Spain and the same people would be in rapture.

Sensible appointment. Let's hope he can do the business. Go on my son.

Confirmed by Blackmore

I'm hearing it is going to be announced shortly.

Imbecile.

Your typical supercilious, pompous nonsense. Get over yourself.

He turned Wales from genuinely nothing under Bobby Gould into potential qualifiers including defeat of Italy. The performance of the two managers either side of him show how well he did. And your "okay" at Blackburn included finishing 6th, 10th, 7th. When he finished sixth he achieved exactly the same points total as Koeman did when he finished sixth. Did Koeman only do "okay" for us? City he took to previously unknown heights in the Prem era but in a time of complete revolution at the club. He took Fulham to eighth in his one season, so what's your point there?

He also finished top ten with Blackburn and Fulham and Man City. I think apart from his last full season at Stoke, he's finished top ten in every single full season he's ever managed in the Premier League.

It's only experts on Swedish football who have a deep and thorough understanding of the Swedish football scene and have evaluated and contextualised his performance against his peer group of Swedish football managers over the last decade. Definitely not just people who have read an article in a weekend paper and vaguely remember he played for us a couple of times. Definitely not that.

Silva wouldn't come here now, ditto Bosz, absolute pie in the sky. Sanches Flores in employment and turned down Stoke, not coming. Wilder also in a job and zero experience in the Prem, and he's not going to walk out on SUFC right now. And Potter is the worst example of hipster flavour of the month I think I have ever seen, fuc king ludicrous. Why don't you recommend Rikard Norling or Magnus Pehrsson or Özcan Melkemichel instead, they all did better than Potter in the Swedish league.

In other news, lovely result for Hull City tonight who are pulling away from trouble. Pleasing.

Quite right. Some absolute garbage written on here on Hughes who has an enviable record in this division. Anything like the impact he had at Fulham or Blackburn or Stoke or Wales and we're laughing.

We've done well if we only sign Hughes for the rest of the season.

Was a dreadful signing for us, so he'll be better off not mentioning it in his website unveiling interview.

It's been an entire day. Mark Hughes (or whoever) and their agent are allowed to negotiate, they're allowed to make us squirm a bit. We're also allowed to interview more than candidate. We'll have someone in before the weekend no bother - we won't go on national TV with Jaidi and Kelv leading them out.

We'll have to give him at least a year and a half contract, probably two and a half. If I was Mark Hughes that's what I would ask for. No one is going to take an eight game deal.

We're still taking our medicine for completely fu cking up the season. In a way we don't deserve an exciting appointment - we've left it too late and we're reaping what we've sown.

Hughes feels like the inevitable appointment. Personally feel he is perfectly capable of keeping us up. Not exciting but competent. Needs a strong start. I don't think we'd have got Silva anyway, he's going to hang on for something better. And Bilic would have been okay short term, but genuinely prefer Hughes to him.