Mark Hughes confirmed as new Fulham manager

Daemos

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/8866133.stm

Mark Hughes has been confirmed as Fulham's new manager, signing a two-year deal with the west London club.
Hughes, 46, had been out of work since being sacked by Manchester City in December 2009 and replaces Roy Hodgson.

"I am joining on the back of two of the most successful seasons in the club's history," he told the Fulham website.

"I am confident that with some additions to the squad, hard work and commitment, we can move this club forward in the right direction."

Good choice IMO, he should never have been outed from Man City so it's good to see him back in the saddle

eagle eye

Massive for Fulham, cue Craig Bellamy joins Fulham rumours to run amock. Its likely to happen too.

flahavaj

A good move for both club and manager.

Cypher_sounds

Glad to see Sparky back managing a good side, after his bad treatment at City

KittyeeTrix

Delighted for mark Hughes:D

Mr. Guappa

Good appointment for Fulham, but Hughes has big shoes to fill there. He will struggle to replicate the success of the last two seasons, 9th is realistically the best finish they can hope for, will that be viewed as a success by the fans?

mink_man

I'm not sure for fulham...

They've been a top club the last few seasons finishing high enough and I just don't think mark hughes is the man to sustain it.

I think hughes is a good manager, but I think when he was at blackburn was the perfect type of club, just keeping them mid table, keeping the fans happy.

Not sure if fulham fans would be toooo happy if they finished 12th or 13th.

jonnyfingers

eagle eye wrote: »

Massive for Fulham, cue Craig Bellamy joins Fulham rumours to run amock. Its likely to happen too.

Santa Cruz too!:D

That_Guy

Delighted for Hughes. I think he can do wonders at Fulham.

mink_man

jonnyfingers wrote: »

Santa Cruz too!:D

and onuha (spelling?)

eagle eye

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

Good appointment for Fulham, but Hughes has big shoes to fill there. He will struggle to replicate the success of the last two seasons, 9th is realistically the best finish they can hope for, will that be viewed as a success by the fans?

What?

6th, 10th, 7th in his three full seasons at Blackburn is hardly mid-table. Hodgson manged 15th, 7th and 12th in his three seasons at Fulham. Fulham and Blackburn are very similar sized clubs too.

You just have to look at player performances to see that Mark Hughes is a very special manager. Bellamy had his best ever season when he played for Blackburn for Hughes, he had possibly his second best season at City and it was Hughes that brought him there. Roque Santa Cruz has done nothing since Mark Hughes left Blackburn, it would have been interesting to see if he would have done anything after Chritmas last season had Hughes been still there. David Bentley has done nothing since he left Blackburn either. Benni McCarthy has been hopeless since Hughes left and how we got money for him last January I'll never know.

robbeardsley

Tbf you can't use all that as proof he's a "special" manager. Bentley's downfall was his own. Seems to me he hasn't learned to adapt to improving defenders. Never kicked on at tottenham and I think cuz he was too arrogant to toil. While Bellamy and Santa Cruz just played well at Blackburn seeing as they had teams built around them and played every possible minute. Whereas now Bellamy gets stuck on the wing and RSC is clearly not favoured by Mancini. New bosses aren't always accepting of previous managers purchases. And Benni hit his peak for two years and has returned to his Porto levels since he left Blackburn

ctrl-alt-delete

robbeardsley wrote: »

Tbf you can't use all that as proof he's a "special" manager. Bentley's downfall was his own. Seems to me he hasn't learned to adapt to improving defenders. Never kicked on at tottenham and I think cuz he was too arrogant to toil. While Bellamy and Santa Cruz just played well at Blackburn seeing as they had teams built around them and played every possible minute. Whereas now Bellamy gets stuck on the wing and RSC is clearly not favoured by Mancini. New bosses aren't always accepting of previous managers purchases. And Benni hit his peak for two years and has returned to his Porto levels since he left Blackburn

How was Bentley's downfall his own? Hughes took Bentley from a similar position to the one he is in now, and Bentley played the best football he has ever played at Blackburn.

Bellamy played well at Blackburn because he is a great player, not really much to do with the team being built around him. He has shown this by shining in a Man City team - even though he is stuck on the wing as you say.

McCarthy has returned to his Porto levels since leaving Blackburn? He scored goals at Porto, and he was fit at Porto. West Ham would love him to be at Porto levels. The guy let himself go, gave up on training and he has not been fit the past 2 seasons. As eagle eye said - Blackburn must be still laughing at West Ham paying money for the guy.

Hughes is a great appointment for Fulham. I think he will do a good job, but he does need a bit of money given to him to put a bit of his own style into the team.

Mr. Guappa

eagle eye wrote: »

What?

6th, 10th, 7th in his three full seasons at Blackburn is hardly mid-table. Hodgson manged 15th, 7th and 12th in his three seasons at Fulham. Fulham and Blackburn are very similar sized clubs too.

You just have to look at player performances to see that Mark Hughes is a very special manager. Bellamy had his best ever season when he played for Blackburn for Hughes, he had possibly his second best season at City and it was Hughes that brought him there. Roque Santa Cruz has done nothing since Mark Hughes left Blackburn, it would have been interesting to see if he would have done anything after Chritmas last season had Hughes been still there. David Bentley has done nothing since he left Blackburn either. Benni McCarthy has been hopeless since Hughes left and how we got money for him last January I'll never know.

I'm not arguing over the skills of Hughes as a manager, I agree that he is a very good manager. My point is how does he take the club forward? Hodgson got the best out of a decent bunch of players (Zamora, Paintsil, Baird, Hughes, Davies) and followed a 7th place finish with an historic run to the Europa League final. How does Hughes top this? Will a solid 9th place finish be viewed as enough?

Chardee MacDennis

eagle eye wrote: »

Massive for Fulham, cue Craig Bellamy joins Fulham rumours to run amock. Its likely to happen too.

lol

bbc transfer gossip wrote:

New Fulham manager Mark Hughes could return to former club Manchester City to buy Stephen Ireland, Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz.

Third_Echelon

I liked Hughes when he was Blackburn manager, but during his time at City he turned into an arrogant sod when he had a bit of money behind him... Hopefully he can return to his old self as I like Fulham as a club...

Neil3030

Third_Echelon wrote: »

I liked Hughes when he was Blackburn manager, but during his time at City he turned into an arrogant sod when he had a bit of money behind him... Hopefully he can return to his old self as I like Fulham as a club...

Bit harsh, surely?

JPA

Neil3030 wrote: »

Bit harsh, surely?

Nah.

mike65

Smart move for Hughes as there will be little real pressure on him. Fulham fans will be dining out on the last couple of seasons for a while, so they will not be unduly dissapointed if thier immediate future is lurking about mid-table and a few short cup runs.

eagle eye

mike65 wrote: »

Smart move for Hughes as there will be little real pressure on him. Fulham fans will be dining out on the last couple of seasons for a while, so they will not be unduly dissapointed if thier immediate future is lurking about mid-table and a few short cup runs.

Hughes though has a very good record in the domestic cups. He hasn't won any but he got to 2 FA Cup semi-finals with Blackburn, and he got to a League Cup semi also and it was big four teams that ended our runs all those times.