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Mark Hughes


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I genuinely thought the club had learnt from the last two seasons and would have been decisive at the very start of this window so we can hit the ground running. There is something fundamentally wrong at this club and its been very evident since koeman left. I think we may struggle again next year.

 

Yep

 

This is just bloody ridiculous. It can’t take that long to sort out a contract... What on Earth goes on at this club that’s always so bloody difficult ....

I’m afraid the buck stops at the top with Kruger not Less Reed !!! (Spelling mistake meant!)

The top man’s BS is now becoming very tiresome indeed. He is so slow off the mark - ponderous, a man of little action and a mountain of BS....

Getting things done ‘Quickly’ he doesn’t know the meaning of the word....

Things go on around him which he is often just oblivious to and he doesn’t react to.... All the time! He just seems always to let things slide and we are all left wondering what the hell is going on and guess what, mostly it’s nothing....!

I am really not sure we can contually blame LR, the decisions are made at the top and increasingly they are laboured and indecisive. Increasingly it seems we are held back by the man who insists on calling us a small club, it’s time he moved over, his skill level at heading up a football club is a light year away from Cortese...

 

Yep

 

We have become specialists at making a meal out of things and dropping the ball completely. It didnt take this long to sort out Sparky's temporary contract.

 

We really need a change of faces in the boardroom. The current rabble have become too comfortable and complacent.

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Slightly different circumstances.

 

We were on an upward trend (momentum curve) then. Currently we are on a heavy decline trend that needs urgent attention and TLC

We we're on a decline until the last few games of the season. The corner has been turned. We will start the season surprisingly well.

 

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Potter to Swansea

Pellegrini to WHam

Emery to Arse

Rowett to Stoke

 

Saints ? Still f**king about despite the only candidate actually already being at the club..... :facepalm:

 

The fact that Hughes is the only one already in situ could be a reason why it's not being rushed through. The others may be acting quicker because they need to (to avoid losing out to other clubs for example). Saints and Hughes may have a "gentleman's agreement" that he'll stay ergo there's no mad rush to lock in the deal.

 

Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows...?

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The fact that Hughes is the only one already in situ could be a reason why it's not being rushed through. The others may be acting quicker because they need to (to avoid losing out to other clubs for example). Saints and Hughes may have a "gentleman's agreement" that he'll stay ergo there's no mad rush to lock in the deal.

 

nail On head mate

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The fact that Hughes is the only one already in situ could be a reason why it's not being rushed through. The others may be acting quicker because they need to (to avoid losing out to other clubs for example). Saints and Hughes may have a "gentleman's agreement" that he'll stay ergo there's no mad rush to lock in the deal.

 

Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows...?

 

You do know that the shares in Pampers have just crashed due to the bed wetting you've just stopped don't you?

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What's the evidence for this yes man stuff? Adkins, Poch, Koeman all had different styles, signed different sorts of players. Puel liked a different system, signed his players. Pellegrino his way, **** as it was, then given funds to sign his striker in january. Then Hughes comes in, different tactics again, different selections.

 

So what the fck is this yes man role?

 

Reed picked Puel and Pellegrino. Then he stuck by Pellegrino and almost relegated us. There's enough genuine stuff to beat the guy with without making up crap like this.

 

Hughes apparently wants to be part of a transfer committee, ie be able to influence transfers rather than get what he's given. Sure, past managers appear to have signed 1 or 2 of their players but until Carrillo came in, Pellegrino got was he was given. Hughes is an old school manager, not a coach. Proper managers want to run (or at least influence) the football side of the club, not just take training and pick the team like a coach does. We've had coaches. I'll bet you that Hughes wants a role bigger than his predecessor, and bigger than the club initially wanted him to have. That for me is likely to be the hold up.

 

The lawyers involved will be a factor as the clubs people will prepare a draft contract with the terms they propose, Hughes people will want something different, that's the nature of these things. The issue here is whether the detail of the terms are acceptable to both sides - the fact that it ain't buttoned up suggests that the 2 sides are apart. I repeat my earlier point that I am comfortable that it's taking time as it suggests to me (I could be well off beam) that Hughes is holding out to agree terms to give him a wider role than just a coach, but they longer it goes on I'm more concerned that there are issues that can't be resolved.

 

My prediction/hope is that he'll sign, be announced as manager not 1st team coach, and that we'll see and hear less from Reed.

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The hysterical fan clamour for new player signings will begin the moment Hughes is announced.

 

Which is probably why they are delaying it.

This, probably.

 

I'm not expecting much business anyway. MH will get far more out of our current players than we saw last season.

 

Maybe Promes, if that's half done, plus a striker if we can offload one, same for CB. If Bertrand goes think we'll run with McQueen and Targett. Replacement for Cedric if he goes.

 

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This, probably.

 

I'm not expecting much business anyway. MH will get far more out of our current players than we saw last season.

 

Maybe Promes, if that's half done, plus a striker if we can offload one, same for CB. If Bertrand goes think we'll run with McQueen and Targett. Replacement for Cedric if he goes.

 

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Two replacements for Cédric please. As Pied is almost certainly departing.
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The hysterical fan clamour for new player signings will begin the moment Hughes is announced.

 

Rightly so, imo. Defence needs a major overhall, and any summer losses up-front needed to be replaced.

 

Which is probably why they are delaying it.

 

Sadly, I sense an element of truth here.

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This, probably.

 

I'm not expecting much business anyway. MH will get far more out of our current players than we saw last season.

 

Maybe Promes, if that's half done, plus a striker if we can offload one, same for CB. If Bertrand goes think we'll run with McQueen and Targett. Replacement for Cedric if he goes.

 

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I do hope you are completely wrong about the players needed.

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Why shouldn't a manager be involved in transfers? If left to Reed alone we'll be doomed as there's too much 'sell-on (probably to Liverpool) potential', and not enough 'building a team'. Hence the bunch of individuals we ended up with and which nearly sent us down.

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I genuinely thought the club had learnt from the last two seasons and would have been decisive at the very start of this window so we can hit the ground running. There is something fundamentally wrong at this club and its been very evident since koeman left. I think we may struggle again next year.

 

You will remember the last four transfer windows right?

 

Im sure we do "track targets for months" but we then wait until the last possible moment to act because we think we're awful clever, leaving us no contingency plans and in the case of Jan 2018, Summer 2017 and Jan 2017 a failure to sign the players we have been supposedly tracking for months.

 

Oh, and we've dithered about with managers for the last two summers as well, tracking pointless targets for weeks and that falling through then recruiting duds.

 

Four utter car crashes of transfer windows over 2 seasons and two utter car crashes of managerial appointments over two summers.

 

And now we can't seem to conclude a deal on a manager who basically is already our manager.

 

The club is a fu cking clown car.

 

Yeah, I got faith.

 

You both seem to be under the impression that some of our problems from the last 2 years have come from appointing the manager too late. I can't say I've felt any sense of 'if only we'd appointed MoPe earlier' during last season. Perhaps if we'd started badly like Palace I'd agree but we were worse when MoPe left than when he started.

 

Likewise Puel, the 0-1 defeat at home to Stoke was hardly an improvedment on the 1-1 opening day draw with Watford.

 

The last 2 January transfer windows I'll agree were an absolute clusterf**k.

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Potter to Swansea

Pellegrini to WHam

Emery to Arse

Rowett to Stoke

 

Saints ? Still f**king about despite the only candidate actually already being at the club..... :facepalm:

 

I agree with you.

 

Rowett was done bloody quickly given he was only managing a play off team last week with aspirations towards the Prem.

 

Same with **** Emery who came completely out of left field, and just been appointed very quickly. The Gooners I work with never knew he was even on the radar - The inside news from their club was Arteta all the way.

 

Pellegrini seemed to take only a few days too to get appointed.

 

I have no idea why the hold up with Sparky is, given as you say he has already been at the club for a while, he is clearly rated by the players and most supporters want him in too.

 

What is it with Krueger and Reed that make them fanny about so much? This is not just with Sparky, but they have plenty of previous where they dither and delay and before you know it, the chance is gone. Take for example the Fonte situation where in the end we had to rely on the free agent market to cover a gaping hole in our defence, the Koeman situation, the sacking and replacement of Puel, the much delayed sacking of Pelligrino and this is among many others.

 

If I had confidence in our board I would not sound off and would patiently wait knowing it would all be sorted.

But with this lot of daydreamers who appear to have all the drive of a Trabant, I fear we will end up running to catch up again.

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The fact that Hughes is the only one already in situ could be a reason why it's not being rushed through. The others may be acting quicker because they need to (to avoid losing out to other clubs for example). Saints and Hughes may have a "gentleman's agreement" that he'll stay ergo there's no mad rush to lock in the deal.

 

Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows...?

 

Of course there's a need to get Hughes's contract sorted as swiftly as possible. The better footballers are likely to be bought and sold by the clubs that act swiftly.

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may have missed it, but can we have a sweepstake on the annual summer "taking too long to sign anyone / meltdown" thread...feels a tad early yet, but i can see the clamour is already starting, albeit this time with the manager

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I agree with you.

 

 

I have no idea why the hold up with Sparky is, given as you say he has already been at the club for a while, he is clearly rated by the players and most supporters want him in too.

 

What is it with Krueger and Reed that make them fanny about so much? This is not just with Sparky, but they have plenty of previous where they dither and delay and before you know it, the chance is gone. Take for example the Fonte situation where in the end we had to rely on the free agent market to cover a gaping hole in our defence, the Koeman situation, the sacking and replacement of Puel, the much delayed sacking of Pelligrino and this is among many others.

 

If I had confidence in our board I would not sound off and would patiently wait knowing it would all be sorted.

But with this lot of daydreamers who appear to have all the drive of a Trabant, I fear we will end up running to catch up again.

 

 

Perhaps Les and Ralph are not the main problem, perhaps it's that Chinese owner who is dithering about? Perhaps he doesn't want/is able to

spend money on Saints as he wants any spare to use to expand his Chinese football business?

 

At the end of the day us nobody customers ( mushrooms? ) of a small club are not important enough to be told until the owner can be bothered.

 

.

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I'd be happy with that. Think throwing money at endless signings is ridiculous and doesn't even work. Fans demand it then write players off within an hour and demand even more. Two record signing strikers in successive January windows and everyone wants more strikers, as if we'll be able to go and get a 25 goal forward.

 

We need to get back to top half and make this season gone a blip. That's step one. Ideally it'd be a 50+ point good top half season rather than scraping it with 42 points or something but let's see. Fact is, top half isn't some great chasm of quality away, it's just good management. Promes and a CB and I think we'd get there, even if we sold Bertrand.

 

We need to realise that several players are not up to it. We need to ship out several players such as Long and sadly Davis. My idea of ambition is to finish in the last Europa League position like Burnley. We should be better than them?

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You both seem to be under the impression that some of our problems from the last 2 years have come from appointing the manager too late. I can't say I've felt any sense of 'if only we'd appointed MoPe earlier' during last season. Perhaps if we'd started badly like Palace I'd agree but we were worse when MoPe left than when he started.

 

Likewise Puel, the 0-1 defeat at home to Stoke was hardly an improvedment on the 1-1 opening day draw with Watford.

 

The last 2 January transfer windows I'll agree were an absolute clusterf**k.

No I think many of our problems have stemmed from being indecisive and slow to sort out some of our obvious issues.
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No I think many of our problems have stemmed from being indecisive and slow to sort out some of our obvious issues.
We didn't get a pelle replacement, we didn't get a fonte replacement, we didn't sort the vvd situation, the failure to sort any players of quality in January was an absolute clusterf*ck, we should have sacked pellegrino months before we finally did.

 

Those are just a few examples. I want some decisiveness and an idea of some sort of plan and drive. We definitely had that under Cortese and now who knows?

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Yes, Hughes was sacked by Stoke at the beginning of January with them in the relegation zone. As I said, no one knows whether or not Stoke would have been relegated had they not sacked him. What is know, however, is that the previous 3 seasons he led to finish 9th in the table.

 

You state that it is your belief that Saints have, and have had, a better squad than Stoke. Therefore one could could easily come to the conclusion that he COULD get that better squad to a higher finishing position. Just 2 places higher would almost certainly European football. Yet you feel that in appointing Hughes the board would be giving up any ambition to get Saints back into Europe, and that they are only aiming to finish 10th. How can this be? Why couldn't he finish higher than he has done for 3 of the past 4 seasons given a better squad?

 

Now, maybe he will and maybe he won't but the logical conclusion is that given a better workforce a manager should attain better results - no matter what the business. No? Or are you saying that if we swap squads - entirely - with Manchester City that Pep will get this Southampton squad to finish as champions, whilst Saints would be in relegation scrap fielding the likes of Aguero, Silva, Jesus, Sterling, Otamendi, Walker, et al? Of the course the squad (work force) makes a difference.

 

You say that appointing Hughes would show a lack of ambition, yet cannot offer any serious possible alternative. Jokanovic may well get Fulham promoted on Saturday. Why would he want to leave then then? Why would Fulham even allow us to talk to him? Then again, maybe Fulham will lose to Villa. Would that make Bruce the better manager? Should we try to get him? Is he so different from Hughes managerially?

 

Yes, Saints only won twice under Hughes since he took over. A Saints team that many on here thought would not get another single victory the way they were playing. Yet that 2 could easily have been 3; was it Sparky's fault that Bertrand didn't hit row Z with time up at Everton? Given a little bit of luck (of which we had very little in the season just gone) it could have been 4 or 5 wins. But, yes, it was only 2. How bad is he huh?

 

I remember a year ago you bleating on about how Saints didn't score in any of their last 5 home matches of the season. I am sure that it was Puel's fault that in those 5 matches players missed 2 penalties.

 

I am not (and I haven't seen anyone else say so) saying that Hughes is the ONLY option to take us forward. There are many managers who COULD take us forward. There are also many more who do far, far, worse than Sparky would - in my honest opinion. Who is to say that the board wouldn't appoint another Pellegrino? That, I believe, is far more likely than us Stealing Emery from under Arsenal's noses; or luring any of the world's top managers here. What I have seen is a Saints team start to play with desire and belief under Hughes. I have heard some of those players say how enjoyable it is to work under him. Those things give me the confidence that he could well be the right fit. I would certainly rather we signed him than took a throw of the dice over someone less experienced. Or maybe you want us to go for Moyes? Or Big Sam?

 

Oh, and I also remember many people saying (this time last year) anyone other than Puel. How did that work out?

 

My dear Minsk, I think you have missed my point. I am not saying we shouldn't employ Hughes, I am saying that we should employ the person who is deemed best for the job by the Board given that they keep tabs on all potential new managers (apparently). If that is Mark Hughes, sobeit.

 

You are right in saying that Hughes might have kept Stoke up if he had stayed. The same argument means that Pellegrino might have kept us up too if he had stayed. As you say, we will never know. What we do know is that the Stoke Board didn't think that Hughes would keep them up so sacked him just as our Board finally lost faith with Pellegrino and sacked him too. In hindsight the Stoke Board are saying they should have sacked Hughes earlier and our Chairman has hinted that Pellegrino could well have been sacked earlier too. Its hard to disagree.

 

Yes it is entirely possible that Hughes could get us into Europe, but if you look at his record in recent years would you say you would put your mortgage on it? Of course the squad makes a difference, but as we have seen so many times, managers dont always get the best out of good squads. Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal all being examples of squads in recent years who have not performed up to the expected standard.

 

As for offering up a better alternative, it is not my job to put forward names for the Board to consider is it? They tell us that they are constantly monitoring managers and players so you would imagine that, at all times, they have a "hitlist." The Times recently intimated that David Wagner was of interest and maybe he was the name that Les Reed through into the mix (if he actually did) who knows? The point is that when you recruit you should always give yourself options, not just give the job to someone because they have stepped in and helped out for a few games. As someone else said, no one is saying there aren't better managers than Hughes out there who might be interested in coming here. If that is the case, why not al least talk to them?

 

No it wasnt Sparky's fault that players missed chances. Just as it wasnt Puel's fault or Pellegrino's fault either! Apparently we came quite high in chances made last season and low in chances taken. A few more chances taken and who knows, Pellegrino might still be here!

 

You cant possibly remember me "bleating" about not scoring in the last few games the season before last because I dont "bleat" about things like that. For the record, rightly or wrongly, I would have given Puel another season, or at least up to New Year 2018, to see if he could make a difference.

 

You say we could end up appointing another Pellegrino. We could also end up appointing another Pochettino or Koeman.

 

Not sure why you think I would want Moyes or Fat Sam when I am hardly breaking open the champers at the prospect of Mark Hughes taking over for three years. Perhaps I am doing Hughes a disservice, but he does seem to have become a part of the Premiership managerial merry go round as Moyes and Fat Sam are.

 

You say you have heard that some players saying how enjoyable it is playing under Hughes. Every time a new manager comes in one or two players always same the same thing in the first few weeks. Yes, I seem to remember it happened under Puel and Pellegrino too! Hughes was a top class, very experienced player. He is also a very experienced manager who actually hasn't achieved that much in terms of success as a manager. Perhaps he will do so with us? I do hope so.

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Strachan's record with Coventry was sh*te before joining us.

 

Sometimes managers and teams simply click. Hughes managed the nigh-on impossible in keeping us up. Have some of you forgotten how truly sh*te and disinterested our players were against Newcastle and WHam ?

 

Yes it was and he turned out to be a good manager for us. Just as McMenemy was a Saints legend and it all went tits up for him at Sunderland. There are no guarantees in football and I am sure we recruited Puel and Pellegrino thinking we had found good fits. Everton would have thought the same when they recruited Koeman. Manchester United when they recruited Moyes. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and we can speculate all we want about Hughes but we wont know what he will do for us until next season. Whatever that is, we all want more than just staying up dont we? As for Hughes doing the nigh on impossible. No it wasnt. It was possible, especially given the worse form of Stoke and Swansea and that WBA were pretty much gone. I agree that sometimes managers and teams just click, but I wouldnt say that the results showed a massive upturn. He came in and did what he needed to do. Perhaps he can take things further, but I wouldn't say it was a marriage made in heaven just yet.

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You both seem to be under the impression that some of our problems from the last 2 years have come from appointing the manager too late. I can't say I've felt any sense of 'if only we'd appointed MoPe earlier' during last season. Perhaps if we'd started badly like Palace I'd agree but we were worse when MoPe left than when he started.

 

Likewise Puel, the 0-1 defeat at home to Stoke was hardly an improvedment on the 1-1 opening day draw with Watford.

 

The last 2 January transfer windows I'll agree were an absolute clusterf**k.

 

Your impression is incorrect.

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No I think many of our problems have stemmed from being indecisive and slow to sort out some of our obvious issues.

 

Mid-season I'd agree with you and we certainly made last season far harder than we needed to by p*ssing away all our winnable home games under MoPe.

 

Right now we've got 3 months and an entire World Cup until our next game. If we appoint someone this afternoon, so what. Half the squad are in national team training camps, the other half are on yachts in the Indian Ocean.

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Mid-season I'd agree with you and we certainly made last season far harder than we needed to by p*ssing away all our winnable home games under MoPe.

 

Right now we've got 3 months and an entire World Cup until our next game. If we appoint someone this afternoon, so what. Half the squad are in national team training camps, the other half are on yachts in the Indian Ocean.

 

Other clubs are buying and selling players - I don't see the logic in being managerless. Plus there is always the chance Hughes gets a better offer elsewhere and we are back to the start of a search for someone else.

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Wasn't it intimated in that Solent interview that Hughes wasn't happy with how the club was run behind the scenes? That being the case then there may well be a bit of a power struggle going on behind the scenes with Reed (my guess only) trying to keep hold or claw back power.

 

I do agree that the manager shouldn't be the only person choosing players and a director of football approach is probably best for the club, but that person has to work well with the manager on an equal footing and not try and undermine him by pushing his views as gospel and overriding the manager at every opportunity, acting as if he's some sort of guru, whilst the manager is his underling. Whether Reed is capable of this who knows, but if he isn't it's time to get rid.

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Other clubs are buying and selling players - I don't see the logic in being managerless. Plus there is always the chance Hughes gets a better offer elsewhere and we are back to the start of a search for someone else.
One premier league club has bought one player since the end of the season.
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When do the players report back for pre-season? 4 June?

 

If so then that would be my date (or maybe a couple of days before...) for confirming the appointment of Hughes. I'm not sure how much having the manager in place will affect transfers being done this early, but certainly every day on the training ground counts, so doesn't make sense to delay it any further if Hughes is the best candidate.

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Other clubs are buying and selling players

 

Such as?

 

Brighton - Leon Balogun

 

And that is about it so far!

I don't see the logic in being managerless.

 

If they are in discussions with Hughes things can still be sorted out at the same time behind the scenes regarding players.

 

Plus there is always the chance Hughes gets a better offer elsewhere and we are back to the start of a search for someone else.

 

By clubs such as...?

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Such as?

 

Brighton - Leon Balogun

 

And that is about it so far!

 

If they are in discussions with Hughes things can still be sorted out at the same time behind the scenes regarding players.

 

 

 

By clubs such as...?

 

Leicester bought the RB Ricardo Pereira.

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