Posts Tagged ‘Mark Hughes’

A Rivalry Suddenly Finds Itself With Common Ground

Posted: December 13, 2012 by Kyle Bonn in Player/Manager
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This pained look on the face of Mark Hughes became a staple at Loftus Road until recently.

Fulham are set to face winless Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road on Saturday. These two teams don’t like each other. These two fan bases don’t like each other. However, this Saturday, these two clubs and supporter groups will go into the matchup this weekend with something they’ve never experienced before.

Thanks to recent developments this season, it’s hard to determine which fanbase likes Mark Hughes less. Now unemployed, the “Ambitious One” has managed to alienate both clubs, one by choice and the other by a failure to produce results.

Intentional or not, Mark Hughes is a London outcast.

During his time at Fulham, he gave the club a boost it had been looking for for a few years. His sights set on the top 10, he took the foundation Roy Hodgson built and crafted the house in which to live in consistently. He was a well-liked, albeit hotheaded, figure who seemed to be on his way to bigger and better things in a few years once he had firmly planted Fulham in the Top 7 conversation, which many fans believed they were headed.

That all came crashing down when he announced his resignation from the position, and in the process describing to Fulham fans how his ego was far too big for the dressing rooms of Craven Cottage (which, to be fair, are quite small), and that his ambition too big to fit in Mohammed Al Fayed’s wallet.

Alienation 1 complete, Hughes moved on to phase two, at newly-promoted Queens Park Rangers, where Tony Fernandes provided the cash to satisfy Hughes’ desires. Fulham’s Anakin Skywalker, now fully transformed to the Darth Vader of the Premier League, began his wage bill conquests. He sent Real Madrid £9 million and Esteban Granero pocketed €2.5 per year. He sent Manchester United £2.5 million and sent £65,000 per week the way of Ji-Sung Park. He shipped £4 million off to Nancy in exchange for Samba Diakite. And that’s just the beginning.

Anytime you sign an older veteran from a major club, it’s going to be expensive on the wages. So in addition to Granero from Real and Park from United (who fit that bill perfectly), consider the following: Jose Boswinga from Chelsea. Julio Cesar from Inter. Add on £70,000 a week for Bobby Zamora, £50,000 per week for benchwarmer Robert Green, and over £40,000 for oft-injured Andy Johnson, and the wages start to bulge.

The club came out of the gates in August immediately at rock bottom, and this hilarious article aside, stayed there until after 14 winless weeks into the 2012-2013 season, Hughes was no longer employed in West London.

The situation these two clubs now find themselves in this Saturday is suddenly an intriguing one. The main storylines read as follows: QPR will be looking for their first win of the season, and Fulham will be set to build on Monday’s long-awaited 3 points to regain their early-season Top 10 form.

But in the back of everyone’s minds, both home and away supporters, will be the mutual feeling of betrayal planted by a former Manchester United striker destined for managerial greatness……or so he thought. The poison may have been applied differently, but its effects were felt the same on both ends; a nauseating feeling of confusion, frustration, and disdain for a fiery but egotistical man.

The two sides can, for at least a moment, relate.

Mark Hughes Sacked: A Breath of Fresh Air for the Premier League

Posted: November 23, 2012 by Kyle Bonn in Player/Manager, Uncategorized
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“RUBBISH!” Mark Hughes has been sacked by QPR.

The biggest source of ambition in football has been cruelly sucked out of the Premier League in one swipe of Tony Fernandes’ axe.

While Martin Jol is leading a steady ship at Fulham, across London Mark Hughes had also captained a steady vessel……steady losing. Without a single win this season, QPR has rid themselves of the moneyhungry Hughes.

Not just the sacking, but the fact that QPR are bottom of the table, is a glimmer of hope for a League that is centered around one thing: £. Or €. Or $. However you write it, it’s the same thing. Money money money runs the league.

But not today. Money loses today.

The spending QPR did this past window was no secret.  They threw money at anyone and everyone, not just in transfer fees but more significantly in wage bills, grabbing anyone and everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) they thought had a chance at helping the team succeed this year, bloating a wage bill many thing will cause serious problems down the road.  Spending in the area of £21 million in fees alone, they bought players such as Esteban Granero, Jose Boswinga, Ji-Sung Park, Andy Johnson, and Fabio, making them akin to a retirement home, but putting up the ££ number fans were calling for.

Well, now we can see, it’s not all about the ££.  Do you really need to spend to succeed? Arsenal has proven you don’t, provided you have a top-class youth development program to go along with it.  However, for those clubs that don’t have such a luxury, it is often seen that the more financial resources, the more success.  Well, we’ve seen this year, culminating in today’s events a rectangle is a square but a square is not a rectangle.  Sure, success often goes hand-in-hand with financial flexibility, but that doesn’t mean money provides a guarantee for success.

It’s unfortunate the Premier League (for now) is rid of Mr. Ambition, because we can’t make jokes about him anymore.  However, it’s nice to see him go, in the sense that a manager taking a job clearly for its access big financial resources has failed, and along with it, the notion that money is the key to Premier League glory.

For the time being, clubs such as Fulham can take solace in the fact that it’s entirely possible to balance a checkbook and finish in the top half all at the same time.  But it takes a special kind of manager to do such a thing.

Cheers to you, David Moyes. Cheers to you, Roy Hodgson. And most importantly…

Cheers to you, Martin Jol.

#FulhamRetirementHome: Andy Johnson Joins Bobby Zamora at QPR

Posted: June 18, 2012 by Kyle Bonn in Player/Manager, Transfer
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That was quick: AJ’s already taken to promoting his move across London

As many of us have predicted over the course of the last few months, the first move Martin Jol has made this offseason has been to not make a move, thus allowing Andy Johnson to sign with QPR on a free transfer thanks to the expiration of his contract.  The club has confirmed his departure, making it official, and thus he will join up with Bobby Zamora, his former Cottage strike partner, once again.  It’s a move that makes me think about a few things a bit, but also a move that’s not in the least bit surprising.

We knew he was leaving.  He’s 31, and just flat out doesn’t fit Martin Jol’s vision for the club.  That, and the fact that he was hurt for not just much of last season, but much of his entire Fulham career, and that kind of liability just isn’t worth it for a team that is looking for higher things.  So it was smart for Jol to let him walk.

Here’s the interesting part of it that really makes me think: for all the grief we give Mark Hughes (rightly so) for basically giving our club the middle finger, the players seemed to like him when he was in SW6 and obviously still have a liking for him now.  Bobby Zamora certainly did, as he made it clear he wanted to join Hughes at QPR, and now Andy Johnson has said the same thing.

“I have worked closely with Mark Hughes before and there are also players here that I have played with previously, including Bobby Zamora and Shaun Derry. Those were factors in me joining, but this is a big, big club. I have spoken to the chairman and Mark, who both have great ambition for QPR, and it is something that I wanted to be a part of. Mark told me about the plans for a new training ground and how the club wants to go forward. That really excited me.”

It’s clear Mark Hughes, as a manager, is a likeable guy. That doesn’t mean I hate him less for giving us the bird, but it’s something to keep in mind.  Whatever he did at Fulham was obviously well-liked.  I know that before he went all Benedict Arnold on the Cottage, I was a fan of his as well.

AJ enjoyed a good career with Fulham, and I’m glad he was here.  Overall, he scored 13 goals in 86 total appearances.  He just didn’t really excel the way people had hoped when he moved to Craven Cottage for £10.5 million, mainly due to a struggle to keep his body healthy on a regular basis.  Also, I would probably say that, given his scoring record, Fulham overpaid for him a bit at the time as well.  It would have been nice to have sold him in January, but it’s not the fault of the Fulham brass, as Johnson rejected a deal to send him to West Ham.  Fulham also offered him a one-year deal this season, most likely to sign him then deal him, but he wanted 2 years, and Martin Jol very smartly refused to give that to him.  QPR did though, and they get what they need: their short-term stopgap, as well as insurance to Zamora, to help them avoid relegation for another year.

The mission now for Jol is to replace Johnson and, if necessary, the Pog and Dempsey as well.  We’ll see how things sort themselves out, but those contracts expire at the end of June, so things are going to have to happen sooner rather than later.  It helps that Pogrebnyak is back from the Euros now with Russia’s embarrassing collapse, and Danny Murphy is back from his holiday as well.  So we may see some movement in the next week or two.  I sure hope so.

QPR Preview: Mark Hughes Just Doesn’t Get It, Does He?

Posted: February 25, 2012 by Kyle Bonn in Previews
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Mark Hughes still doesn't get why Fulham fans dislike him

With Fulham heading to their cross-town rivals today, there’s a tension in the air you could cut with a knife.  At the forefront of that tension is QPR manager Mark Hughes (that still sounds weird to type, but at the same time somewhat fitting).  Hughes, who very publicly quit Fulham for not being ambitious enough, was left jobless for a while before settling back in London at Queens Park Rangers.  Now, after everyone’s had time to think, he still says he doesn’t understand why Fulham fans feel any kind of ill feelings towards him.

“I’d back my record at Fulham against anyone else’s,” he said. “eighth in the Premier league was an outstanding job. That’s not a lack of success. It seems to be quite difficult to leave Fulham and stay on good terms. That’s a shame because I enjoyed my time there, it’s a great club. I will shake hands with Al Fayed if he is there. Fulham have done a great job in the Premier league for 11 years, QPR have had only eight months. We have to get up to speed very quickly. The importance of staying up cannot be underestimated. But if you look at what Fulham have done, we need to emulate that and, with a fair wind, hopefully surpass it.”

I’ve come to the conclusion that some people just have an inability to see things from other people’s perspectives.  It’s not your record that we were upset with Mark.  In fact, I think a lot of Fulham fans had really taken a liking to you simply because you HAD such a good record at Fulham.  I even wrote a post a while back saying how I thought you were the right man for the job.  No Mark, it’s not your record we had an issue with.  You say it’s not easy to leave Fulham on good terms.  Let me say fix your sentence for you: “It seems to be quite difficult to leave Fulham without notice, say you’re better than the club and insult the club’s future intentions, and sign with their bitter rivals a few months later and stay on good terms.” Had you said that, we’d all be in agreement.  Fair?

/rant.  Now let’s get into the little thing that’s happening called a match.

State of Fulham:

Fulham come into this match on the heels of a much-needed and strong showing against Stoke, winning 2-1.  That win could be even more important when you look at their next 3 matches against QPR, vs Wolves, and at Villa, all 3 of which will be tough but certainly winnable.  These next 3 matches, plus the Stoke one, present the opportunity for Fulham to cement their rise up the table to the top 10.  In fact, if you take out the Manchester City match, Fulham’s Premier League form has been very good of late.  Wins against Newcastle and Arsenal show this team has the ability to win at any time, they just need to take care of the winnable matches like these, which have sometimes given them issues.  If they play their cards right, Fulham shouldn’t be in 12th for much longer.

State of QPR:

Not so good. After starting the season strong, they’ve fallen of late.  However, they certainly have a bone to pick with Fulham.  Not only is Mark Hughes their manager, but Bobby Zamora is now on the enemy’s side as well.  Fulham and QPR fans alike certainly also remember the last time these two faced off, a 6-0 drubbing by Fulham at Craven Cottage (although Hughes wasn’t manager yet and Zamora was on our side).  So it’s a grudge match for the ages.  QPR are in 16th place and in a freefall Mark Hughes is hoping to avoid.  If I’m a betting man, I don’t see a reason why this side should get relegated, but wouldn’t be surprised to see them finish where they are now.  The 4 sides below them (Blackburn, Wolves, Wigan, and Bolton) are all pretty bad and are the ones who should be going down (except Bolton who I expect to climb out), but QPR will have their hands full fending them off if they keep playing like they have.

Prediction:

I’m keeping this prediction short, as I’m currently vacationing in Bali in a beautiful hotel room.  I’m expecting a draw, simply because of the style Martin Jol has Fulham playing of late with Andy Johnson injured and a shortage of strikers brought on by that injury plus a lack of activity in the transfer window.  I’m surprised with Marcello Trotta playing so well they sent him out on loan instead of kept him, since it’s the ideal time for him to get first-team action, but I’m not in charge.  Andy Johnson will be back for this match, and I say he and Pogrebnyak both play, but Jol’s style is defend and counter at the moment, and I think that nets these clubs a 1-1 draw, especially with it being on the road.

MAF FTW: Defends the Club, Tells Mark Hughes to Shove It

Posted: October 24, 2011 by Kyle Bonn in Club
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Check out this cracker of a letter.  +1 respect for the man upstairs.  Defending his club and his fans? Check.

Fulham chairman Al Fayed has launched a scathing attack on Hughes today in an open letter.

”What a strange man Mark Hughes is. Sacked by Manchester City, he was becoming a forgotten man when I rescued him to become manager of Fulham Football Club. Even when results were bad, I did not put pressure on him. I gave him every support – financial, moral and personal. He received everything he asked for and more. He fully negotiated a two-year extension to his contract. On the day he was due to sign, he walked out without the courtesy of a proper explanation for such capricious and potentially damaging conduct. And now he insults the club that saved his career, claiming it lacks ambition and he insults the players as too old, even though they delivered an eighth position finish last season and a place in the Europa League. He is not just disrespectful but entirely wrong. Fulham has just announced plans for a splendid new riverside stand that will substantially increase the capacity of Craven Cottage. The playing squad has been strengthened with many fine young players and Fulham is progressing in every way, with an outstanding manager in Martin Jol, the man we really wanted when Hughes was appointed. Fulham will endeavour to prosper without him simply because, when the challenge came, Mark Hughes lacked the courage and commitment to take on the task of leadership. If people are looking for a flop, they only have to no further than the man who has lost his spark. If ever there was a man’s lost his spark, I fear it is Mark. I would feel sorry for him had he not acted so dishonourably.”

After the Everton match, this makes me feel a tad better. Not a lot, but a bit. Still love you Fulham.

Chelsea: The Only Logical Option For Hughes

Posted: June 3, 2011 by Kyle Bonn in Opinion
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Mark Hughes has put himself in an odd limbo situation, quitting Craven Cottage before securing another job.

I can’t get my head around this situation. Never before in my life have I seen a sports player or coach straight up quit one job before having another one lined up unless said player or coach was retiring. But it happened yesterday to Fulham, and to me there is only one logical option.

Mark Hughes has to be going to Chelsea. Either that, or he’s going to be unemployed. According to The Sun, Mark Hughes not only pissed off Fulham brass by turning his back 24 hours after reportedly agreeing to a verbal agreement, but he also turned off management at Villa Park by leaving Fulham in the manner he did.

Let’s go through his remaining options.

Option 1: Mark Hughes goes to Chelsea:

Why it makes sense: He’s already in London and doesn’t have to uproot his front office or his family. They aren’t scrambling to sign someone very soon like Aston Villa is, so they can wait out his contract and speak to him after his contract expires. It’s not a lateral move, so it would make more sense that he left Fulham for a bigtime job.

Option 2: Mark Hughes goes to Aston Villa:

Why it makes sense: Someone at Villa could have blatantly lied to the media and they were in talks with Sparky after all. Not likely, but possible.

Option 3: Mark Hughes is unemployed:

Why it makes sense: Because no other options make sense. This would mean he clearly misjudged Randy Lerner and Aston Villa, and got the shaft from them. He probably wouldn’t stay unemployed for long, but would probably end up managing a very lower tier club. All Fulham fans would laugh in his face and he would deserve it.

To me, the Chelsea scenario makes the most sense, but I feel like it would have come out at this point. Plus, I don’t see how it makes a lot of sense from the club’s standpoint. There are plenty of better options (like, say, Carlo Anc…oh wait).

Where do you predict Mark Hughes ending up? Does he know something we don’t and is sitting back on his laurels waiting for his contract run out? Or is he panicing right now after hearing Villa’s not interested? Only time will tell that one, but either way he’s totally burned bridges at Fulham.

Later I will be posting a summary of all the possible job candidates that have come up, but I’d like to wait a bit on that and see if any significant leads arise.

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