Looking Back at the Hughes Era with the Citizens

Mark Hughes had the Blackburn Rovers on the edge of European qualification when he left them after the 2007-08 season.

Almost immediately you heard pundits speculate as to whether he was the right man to match the ambitions of Manchester City, though the skeptics were drowned out by those who felt Hughes the emerging manager in the English game. It was on the back of that reputation that he moved to Manchester on June 4, 2008, hoping to do more to fulfill then-owner Thaksin Shinawatra’s ambition than Sven-Göran Eriksson had.

Of course, Eriksson had City in Europe (via fair play) and had brought in a number of valuable contributors: Elano, Verdan Corluka, and Martin Petrov. He had also spent on players who had disappointed: Rolando Biachi and Javier Garrido. While City would have a blistering start to the 2007-08 season that would have them (temporarily) atop the table, the Citizens would finish ninth, with Eriksson being informed of his dismissal before he’d managed his final match. Eriksson took a team who had finished the preceding season in 14th – setting a recorded for fewest home goals scored – to mid-table and Europe, taking six points from Manchester United in the process.

Those were the expectations into which Hughes stepped. Mid-table was unacceptable, in the new era of Manchester City football. You would need to make use of your transfer funds, because whether the players you chose panned-out or not, you would be held accountable for their performance. Whether this standard – a standard demanding an unfairly meteoric rise into championship contention – was fair is relevant to philosophers. In the work around the City of Manchester Stadium, Mark Hughes knew into what he was stepping.

Though the September 2008 sale of the Citizens from Shinawatra to the Abu Dhabi United Group would hint at increased pressures, the sale bought Hughes a year. In 2008-09, his slow start (that had his team with only 18 points through 18 matches) led to a tenth place finish and no European spot. City had actually done worse than Hughes’s 2007-08 Blackburn squad (7th). Hughes, like Eriksson, had great singings: Shay Given, Nigel de Jong, Craig Bellmany and the return of Shawn Wright-Phillips. Like Eriksson, there were also signings with mixed results: Wayne Bridge, Pablo Zabaleta, Tel Ben-Haim, and Robinho (given the price). Hughes got no points from Manchester United.

If Shinawatra were still the owner in May 2009, Hughes would not have had a second season, if he were judged by the standards used to dismiss Eriksson. Manchester City had actually finished one place worse under Hughes. That the Abu Dhabi group proved more judicious in their judgment was to Hughes’ benefit.

The 2009 transfer window was another active one for Hughes. Now at the helm of the richest club in the world, there was no player who was beyond a “to City” rumor. As then-Milan star Kaka had been linked with City in January, Chelsea defender John Terry engaged in a summer-long dalliance with the Citizens. Both served to show the limits of money in trying to lure the game’s biggest names, but that did not mean the next-level of players could not be enticed.

The summer of 2009 started with the acquisition of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa. Soon, Carlos Tevez was dramatically lured from Manchester United, with billboards across Manchester welcoming the Argentine striker from the outskirts of Old Trafford to the city-proper. Emmanuel Adebayor was brought in from Arsenal, as was Kolo Touré. Joleon Lescott engaged in a protracted, though eventually successful, move from Everton.

With the exception of Chelsea and Liverpool, Hughes had taken talent from each of the teams against whom he expected to compete at the table’s top, a fact that had the British media slack-jawed in admiration of his approach. For good measure, Hughes would bring in Roque Santa Cruz from his old Ewood Park stomping grounds. As with the rest of his summer 2009 acquisitions (with the possible exception of Barry), he overpaid to do so.

Perfect through the club’s first four 2009-10 league matches, Hughes looked ready to meet expectations, which had many pundits focusing on City to break the Big Four cartel atop the league. Though City would lose their fifth league match at Old Trafford, the controversial way in which they did so announced their presence as a contender.

In the wake of that result, City would accumulate 17 points in 12 matches thanks to a league record seven consecutive draws from October 6 to December 12, when they beat first-place Chelsea. By that time, City executives were already looking for a new coach, and after the Citizen’s 3-0 mid-week loss to Tottenham at White Hart Lane, Hughes’s fate seemed sealed.

From the City of Manchester Stadium on Saturday, there was the feeling of a last hurrah, and even though City would blow two leads to Sunderland before winning 4-3, Hughes seemed to be undertaking his final Manchester City task.

Immediately after the match, City announced his termination. Hughes would be replaced by former Internazionale coach Roberto Mancini.

By the standards established around City during the last three years, Hughes’s dismissal was standard operating procedure. It may have even been overdue. Whether that procedure is fair – that’s the question.

Mark Hughes knew what he was getting into when he left Ewood Park, and the ownership transfer of September 2008 may have given him a huge reprieve. But the standards never changed. If anything, after a summer of incredible purchasing, the bar was raised. Moving from 10th to sixth – where City was at the time of his termination – was not enough, particularly after getting only 12 points in the ten matches before the Sunderland result.

It may not be fair to terminate a manager that sits sixth in the table, but we did not talk fairness when Luiz Felipe Scolari was dismissed, when Chelsea previous parted ways with José Mourinho, or when we talk about the potential dismissal of Rafa Benitez at Anfield. Perhaps these moves are (or would be) unjust when comparing these managers with the vast swath of managerial performance, but when Mourinho replaced Ranieri, he knew the job description, just as Scolari did when he stepped into Mourinho’s wake. Benitez has previously risen to the expectations (if not exceeded them), and Hughes was well-aware of the standards.

In accepting the job, you accept the circumstances of it. Hughes did not deliver.

Hughes is a very good coach. He proved it with Wales. He proved it with Blackburn. The faithful around Ewood Park would welcome him back, as would the Welsh.

Hughes is unlikely to go in either of those directions. Even moving to another club the level of a Blackburn seems unlikely, given how much star-gazing Hughes has done toward Old Trafford in the last two years. Never before did you publicly hear Hughes’s obsession with Ferguson and United, but that obsession may have created comparisons his club was unable to render favorable. Never getting a chance at the League Cup semifinal against his old team, Hughes leaves Manchester City with three losses in three matches guiding City against Alex Ferguson.

Hughes has reason to think his Manchester City reign a success by objective standards, even if he clearly did not meet the lofty expectations of his former club. He may want to wait for “the right fit” before returning to managing, which he is sure to do. The big clubs in England rarely have openings, which makes a move to the Big Four or Aston Villa unlikely. Tottenham, perhaps more so (given Harry Redknapp’s troubles and history), but it is still unlikely. If that job did open up, there would be a lot of competition.

Hughes played in Germany and Spain. Would he move there? In leagues where coaching changes seem more frequent, he might get his chance, if he’s willing. He would likely be working with a technical director, which is probably a good thing. The man is a good coach. His transfer record with a big budget is more debatable.

A coach of Hughes’ style, though, would be a tough fit overseas. He is, after all, very British in approach.

Perhaps he replaces Walter Smith at Rangers. Maybe he takes the reigns at a club like Newcastle. Or maybe a club like Fulham can get him, amidst the constant talk that Hodgson may move back into international coaching.

It’s all speculation, though Hughes eventually resurfacing in English football seems a given. Perhaps a team like Bolton is willing to hand over the reigns completely with the idea of becoming Blackburn circa June 2008. It would be a step forward for the Wanderers.

And that’s why, even if he has to temper his expectations, you will see Hughes back in the game. Soon.