Mark Hughes - NEW POLL

I think the club is actually being run in a much better way, especially the commercial side. Talk of record turnover this year.
Yes they do not get everything correct, but do well on most things, hence the high rating in the fans engagement survey, recently published.

 

Football is a game of opinion and this is one of the reasons we all love it so. Anybody who thinks Mark Hughes should be sacked however, is completely and utterly wrong in that opinion. Not only are they exposing a fundamental ignorance in their footballing knowledge, I fancy also that their sanity should possibly be questioned on the back of such frivolous nonsense. That is of course, assuming that it is their opinion, and not just the simple knee-jerk reaction of a discontented football supporter happy to spout the prevailing norms in a game (and world) going ever more bat-shit crazy by the week.
Sadly, unlike a number of fellow posters on here, I doubt that we are dealing with a wind up, and I fear that we are far from talking about the odd lone voice in the wilderness, either.

Despairingly, these attitudes are the symptoms of a wider social issue I am afraid. The consumer-orientated culture of today is so hopelessly enslaved to the dopamine rushes of instant gratification that by and large, people seem to be forgetting the virtues of patience and willpower - and as a result foregoing the time-honored benefits that the ability to successfully implement this kind of disciplined impulse-control brings with it.
Undeniably, it is a natural human urge to want things now, yet it's widely accepted that you will often receive more benefit if you wait. And I'm not talking about a superior pint of Guiness either. The most successful British manager of all time, Sparky's old boss Fergie, being the most obvious case in point.
Football is a cut-throat business to be in, the role of manager universally understood to be a poisoned chalice; the 'impossible job'. When bosses with the reputation that Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel have can hardly survive a year in the hot-seat, then it really makes you consider whether even the role itself has much of a future. Indeed, when clubs the size of Manchester United end up plumping for long term 'interim' managers like Ralf Rangnick for fear of the inevitable lack of immediate success, then combined with the increasing occurrence of the 'director of football' and consultancy roles, one must really begin to wonder.
There was a time that I assumed all blame for the ills of our game rested squarely at the foot of Len Shackleton's 'average director' - the bloated money-man intent upon pumping obscene amounts of money into soccer on the hunt for personal glory and instant success, attempting to mirror a once healthy competitive field into the arena of morally-bankrupt elitism that they themselves do economic battle upon.
To point the finger at trigger-happy boardrooms fails to paint the complete picture however, as even teams who've experienced relative success these days still get certain supporters continually criticising, harassing and trying to bring down the manager. It would appear that the trademark patience of your average long-suffering footy supporter has gone the same way as his/her other traditional ideals, that of loyalty and a sense of perspective, and I find it draining.
Apparently now, over 40 per cent of managers in the football league only get 25 games, which is simply ridiculous.

As supporters here we've been through hell and back since rahic the bastard came and ripped a stake through our club's heart and I for one welcome with gratitude the work Sparky has done over the last 14 month period in first and foremost simply arresting the slide toward oblivion that we seemed to be destined for. We've lost 2 games all calendar year. Despite tendencies to frustrate earlier in the season, I think I can see Hughes' tactical vision of playing the right way beginning to yield shoots of fruition. We're 5th in the league for God's sake! For the first time in years we have a spine of players (Lewis, Platt, Walker, Cook) that many supporters will see as being imperative that we retain. Since taking over, Hughes has been backed handsomely in the market so to even consider the axe at this stage would be tantamount to suicide. The player's he's brought in over January have made a definite improvement to the playing squad.

Other than turning the pitch-side lucozade into wine, I fail to see what more Hughes could have done in the (insert traditional football supporters sense of perspective here) time he's had with the shambles he inherited.

 

Blimey have you been up all night writing that!

 

After a boring frustrating run of draws we are clinging on to 7th place, few shoots of fruition from where I'm sat ....

 

We are 7th, my mistake... And yeh, I can't deny the football has been a challenge to watch. But we're certainly looking hard to beat right now which is a vital aspect to building any successful side. We're playing in a league of limited quality and expectations must be measured against that. Nonetheless, we are in a far better position as a club on the whole than we were before Mark Hughes took over and even the biggest Hughes-baiter must acknowledge that.
Room for improvement? Definitely. But lets see how the rest of the season pans out shall we? I reckon that had it not been for injuries to key players this season we would quite possibly be 6-12 points better off.
I was impressed by the sides intent against one of the better sides we'lI play this year, in Carlisle and i have great faith in Hughes's ability to squeeze more out of the team in between now and May 8th. Personally, I can see the veteran lad Derbyshire playing a key role should we achieve anything this season.
CTID!!!!

 

100 % agree with this. Great post.

 

Sack him

 

You really do make a prat of yourself with your kneejerks.
Keep it up, I suppose we've ruined your weekend.

 

Sack Rcbantam from the forum

 

I say KEEP Rcbantam- good entertainment.

 

I say ignore RC Bantam

 

I wonder what the RC stands for?

 

Ridiculous......make your own second word up.

 

Comedian?

 

Probably too many letters....

 

Coconut?

 

Ditto....

 

Does it rhyme with who’s in front ?

 

Punt?

 

can’t think of anything that rhymes with orient