[Archived] Mark Hughes to Stoke City

[Guest Norbert]

Jelavic for £20m?? Where the hell has that figure come from?

Is that what Everton asked, or Hughes is willing to pay (allegedly)?

[roverandout]

kompany was already world class at Anderlecht, was playing for Belgium when he was 17, Europe's top clubs were after him when he signed for hamburg

as for santa cruz joining city for 17.5 million, it was actually hughes who bought him for that when he was at city so that sale doesn't count as one of hughes' master strokes, apart from that hughes was a damn good manager, wish we had him back

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Is that what Everton asked, or Hughes is willing to pay (allegedly)?

It's what Liverpool would pay.

[Guest Norbert]

That would be madness. He was brilliant for a while, but spent the latter half of the season on the bench, second to Anichebe for goodness sake. Whilst I'd love to see Suarez carted off because he's a tosser, Jelavic is nowhere near a replacement.

[Andy]

He's been playing CB most of his career, nothing to do with citys managers.

Correct.

Kompany was a top, top CB when City bought him.

As for Hughes, although I'm a huge fan of what he did here, how can he possibly take any credit for the profit margins we made on players?

His scouting team will have identified the players, Hughes would have said 'yes' or 'no' to them and then the financials would have been sorted out by the likes of John Williams.

Hughes will have had zero input into the fact that we paid less than a million for Bentley, or that we somehow recouped over £2m for Kuqi!

[thenodrog]

As for Hughes, although I'm a huge fan of what he did here, how can he possibly take any credit for the profit margins we made on players?

His scouting team will have identified the players, Hughes would have said 'yes' or 'no' to them and then the financials would have been sorted out by the likes of John Williams.

Hughes will have had zero input into the fact that we paid less than a million for Bentley, or that we somehow recouped over £2m for Kuqi!

Really Andy? Well ignoring the fact that Williams chose a complete numpty to replace Hughes how come he (John Williams) only managed to turn massive profits on players signed during the Hughes years?

[Andy]

The signings were obviously fantastic and all had good resale value, but I don't think Hughes is the guy to get the praise for them.

If anyone, it should be his scouting network, who made him aware of the players.

I think, and I may be wrong, that it was a different scouting setup to what Souey or Big Sam had.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

None of us know the ins-and-outs of who picks players at ours or any other club. It's just complete unfounded speculation.

His scouts could have gave him a list, he watched them all then made up his mind.

For the sake of argument with Hughes, and Wenger at Arsenal etc, the manager usually gets the credit.

[Stuart]

The signings were obviously fantastic and all had good resale value, but I don't think Hughes is the guy to get the praise for them.

If anyone, it should be his scouting network, who made him aware of the players.

I think, and I may be wrong, that it was a different scouting setup to what Souey or Big Sam had.

And who is responsible for the scouting network?

[arbitro]

And who is responsible for the scouting network?

Like a lot of managers outside the top he will have been sent hundreds of DVD' s of players from their agents. Arguably two of his best signings (Samba and Nelsen) came on trial and I'm pretty sure their respective agents sent DVD' s prior to this.

There will be a scoutfest at the upcoming U21 Euros when lots of clubs will be seeking bargains. Was it Hughes who signed Richters after his performances at one of these tournaments?

[Stuart]

Like a lot of managers outside the top he will have been sent hundreds of DVD' s of players from their agents. Arguably two of his best signings (Samba and Nelsen) came on trial and I'm pretty sure their respective agents sent DVD' s prior to this.

There will be a scoutfest at the upcoming U21 Euros when lots of clubs will be seeking bargains. Was it Hughes who signed Richters after his performances at one of these tournaments?

I think it was. Damn that overhead kick!

[davulsukur]

I remember walking past a bar on holiday and seeing the breaking news on sky sports that we had signed Rigters. I was actually well happy. A mate of mine told me that he reckoned we had got the better deal buying Rigters as opposed to Ryan Babel who went to Liverpool for £12million or so.

[LeChuck]

A mate of mine told me that he reckoned we had got the better deal buying Rigters as opposed to Ryan Babel who went to Liverpool for £12million or so.

Well he was probably right on that one.

[davulsukur]

Ha, yer maybe. They were both garbage, at least Babel contributed something for Liverpool.

[thenodrog]

None of us know the ins-and-outs of who picks players at ours or any other club. It's just complete unfounded speculation.

His scouts could have gave him a list, he watched them all then made up his mind.

For the sake of argument with Hughes, and Wenger at Arsenal etc, the manager usually gets the credit.

Quite right cos they have to carry the can when they get it wrong.