[Archived] Nicko's Thread Part 3

[robborover]

Atleast Reid wont be playing RB no more

I think that was a plan to give him match fitness and sharpness without having to drop Vogel. I get your point though

[Manchester Blue]

I think like a few people have said if he'd gone to Chelsea i'd have accepted that and wished him well. To go to a club like that I just really hope the circus is in full swing with all trashcan's cronies bringing over tonnes of numpties that have to play and it's the worst move he's ever made.

[dellinsert]

Now comes the exciting part...

And I for one am looking forward to the little snippets of information Nicko will hopefully impart on us as the process goes on.

[Spansterkid]

Hughes is an intelligent man, no doubt he's aware that he's being paid with money that (allegedly) should belong to the Thai people, and by a man who (allegedly) organised the desecration of a religious shrine. I'm sure he's aware of all the other allegations of corruption and worse as well.

However, I'm sure he'll sleep well tonight being that little bit richer.

[leftfooter]

Hear Hear!

Life goes on so lets be thankful we're in pretty good shape, and lets put some faith in JW etc so get us the right man for the job!

No one's disputing Hughes left us in good shape.

The fact is, under Souness we were automatically promoted and won major trophy.

History tells it's own tale.

As for Souness inheriting a good squad; we were in the Championship when he came in he gradually transformed the team.

[Ricky]

Disappointed. I'll just leave it as that as I think it sums up the whole situation.

[savage8]

Gutted, much more than I was when Souness left as by the end of that I very much disliked him, Saunders etc.

However Rovers fared over the last few seasons, I was always reassured to know Hughes was backed by quality men such as Bowen, Eddy and Hitchcock who seemed to love the club and its relative success and turnaround in fortunes (memories of mad celebrations after Samba's winner at Spurs).

I loved having an articulate, well spoken and intelligent manager who always conducted himself (previous to the last week's events) in the most professional manner and to lose him and his team is gut wrenching, I just cannot at this moment in time fathom a set up that will be so professional in its nature following the next appointment. I hope i'm mistaken.

Big Sam and his earpieces sat in the top tear of the JWS?

Bilic and a bunch of unknowns? (i'd still be more than happy to give him a shot)

Coppell? (lovely guy) but....

Any other mentions will depress me too much.

A very sad day.

[robborover]

I don't think anyone has posted this....

Setanta Sports say we got £4 million for Hughes

[martmitch]

"There is no better opportunity in world football" - I think he had this written ready as his acceptance speech for the Chelski job

[USABlue]

This is not the end of the world, just the start of a new one.

Thanks for that nicko, it helps.

[vintageadidas]

“Mark has already identified some of the players and backroom staff that he wants to see here at City, and we will begin the process of recruiting them immediately.”

Very interesting. Is he after players we were after when he was manager and is now going to steal them from under our noses? Or is he coming back for the likes of Bentley, Warnock, Roque Sanat Cruz............cost him all his budget for then three......ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!

[ultrablue]

I'm looking forward to maybe getting a manager who i enjoy listening to-

Was it just me who found Hughes' interviews incredibly dull!?

I got a little sick of hearing about "not starting with the right intensity", "getting the ball into areas we know we can make and impact" and other catchphrases he trawled out in front of the cameras every time.

BTW yes i am a bit bitter right now.

[gumboots]

Thanks for that nicko, it helps.

Of course it's not the end of the world. We're fortunate in a way that it's happened now in that most of our memories of Hughes can be good and we don't have that awful falling out of love with the manager that you get when results start to drop during the season and you keep trying to get behind the team but find it very difficult because they are just dreadful. It's not clean but it's been relatively quick and not all change is bad. Is Hughes taking the doctor and physio with him or are they staying as they did not come with him?

[RibbleValleyRover]

“Mark has already identified some of the players and backroom staff that he wants to see here at City, and we will begin the process of recruiting them immediately.”

Very interesting. Is he after players we were after when he was manager and is now going to steal them from under our noses? Or is he coming back for the likes of Bentley, Warnock, Roque Sanat Cruz............cost him all his budget for then three......ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!

I CANNOT see Williams allowing any players to leave this club until a new manager is in place. If the new manager comes in and says he doesn't want the players then they are more likely to go.

I can see plenty of clubs making enquires about it players, but it would be madness to sell any players until a new manager comes in and has a say.

[Grabbi Graeme]

Possible that John Williams has had a clause put in the deal that prevents Hughes coming back for any players.

[dellinsert]

Am I the only one who couldn't really care less that he's gone?

As I've posted before, I feel that we'd gone as far as we could together and I feel we'll come out of this much stronger than he will. Let's re-assess this time next year....

[robborover]

On the plus side, Hughes didn't spend in January, so the next manager should have some money to spend!

[gumboots]

“Mark has already identified some of the players and backroom staff that he wants to see here at City, and we will begin the process of recruiting them immediately.”

Very interesting. Is he after players we were after when he was manager and is now going to steal them from under our noses? Or is he coming back for the likes of Bentley, Warnock, Roque Sanat Cruz............cost him all his budget for then three......ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!

since they reckoned he'd been promised 30 million to spend it would cost him the best part of that for one or two of them let alone the 3rd. There's no way any of our players are going to City on the cheap. We might have had to allow them our manager but we don't have to roll over and gift them our players.

[mode_m]

I am more afraid of losing pedersen, roque santa cruise, and bentley. On the city website Hughes had apparently already named names of players he wants so I can only hope Rovers doesn't have a firesale.

[mac]

Am I the only one who couldn't really care less that he's gone?

Nope ! onward and upward

[BlueMonday]

There'll be fight on to keep some of our asset players. We should fight tooth and nail to keep them, but what ever happens,

NO WAY SHOULD ANY OF THEM BE ALLOWED TO GO MAN CITY !!

[DudeAbides]

Am I the only one who couldn't really care less that he's gone?

As I've posted before, I feel that we'd gone as far as we could together and I feel we'll come out of this much stronger than he will. Let's re-assess this time next year....

Well said,

i feel pretty much the same,

it wasnt always free flowing under Hughes ...

We move on.....

[SuperStella]

I’d have Shearer and a manager with pedigree alongside him to teach him the ropes

The return of our greatest ever player would have the town buzzing again and the players on cloud 9 – we’d soon forget about Hughes.

As far as I’m concerned it’s over now, he’s gone. So like any other premiership manager I hope he does nothing. No room for sentiment in this day and age.

[vintageadidas]

Surely Hughes can sign anyone he wants.........i just hope it does not know of a dirt cheap release clause in any of our top players contracts........especially RSC.

[Eddie]

Rubbish, so let's get it out of bed again.

Souness was fortunate to win the league cup with a talented squad that he was lucky enough to inherit and then dismantled before jumping ship with the club heading rapidly for relegation. The club was alot weaker when he left than when he arrived.

Hughes inherited a poor squad full of dispirited players that he slowly transformed into a talented team that has finished in the top 10 for the past 3 seasons. Hughes leaves the club in a much stronger position that he found it.

End of story.

Funny that, because Hughes' greatest achievement (finishing 6th) relied heavily on a bunch of Souness signings (Friedel, Emerton, Tugay, Neill, Reid, MGP and I may even be forgetting one or two). Hughes took over an ok squad he vastly improved it. Souness took over when we were struggling to even stay in division 1 and took us to 6th in the premiership and won a cup. I'm sorry, but now that the Hughes era is over and we can no longer look at "future promise" then Souness has to be the winner. He was lucky in the sense that Dunn and Duff came through when they did, but he found a way to make the most of their talents for that couple of seasons. He also made some excellent signins (all of the players already mentioned, plus Cole at the right time, Stead at the right time, Thompson had he not had so many injuries and so on).

Hughes did a good job, Souness did a good job, but what are Hughes has put no silverware in the cabinet at Ewood Park or had to get us promoted.