New Manager is Mark Hughes

[USABlue]

Slightly uneasy that its the FAW that are holding a press conference, and not Rovers. Granted its probably because Rovers have gone through the correct channels, but part of me cant help thinking this is going to be a denial?

Fingers crossed across the pond. I hope the Welsh FA tell us to get stuffed.

[SouthAussieRover]

Slightly uneasy that its the FAW that are holding a press conference, and not Rovers. Granted its probably because Rovers have gone through the correct channels, but part of me cant help thinking this is going to be a denial?

Fingers crossed across the pond. I hope the Welsh FA tell us to get stuffed.

Dream on.

It'll be along the lines of we reluctantly announce...

As for the tranny comment have a lovely version of Jack and Jill but I wont post it

[Ossydave]

I think the reason Wales are holding a press conference and not Blackburn is because it is a national manager.

If Sven was set to leave for a club, im sure you would see England holding the press conference 1st.

I knew you'd say something sensible one day

Besides, the scenery is so nice in Wales that its inhabitants don't want to go on holiday in other countries, I suspect that's something to do with it. Oh and theres a small boy that runs up mountains there if you forget your change, allegedly.

[1864roverite]

if it was a denial I am pretty sure they would come straight out with it.

I am sure that the conference will state that Hughes has been allowed to speak to Blackburn and that from immediate effect he has relinqueshed his role as Welsh first team boss !

I heard it from the back of a shhep wagon as I drove up the motorway an hour ago and was stuck intraffic, the sheep bleated out the real facts to a curious few football fans knowing that if he didnt pass the news on quickly he would take it to his destiny !

Lamb chops at sainsbury's

[Mbm]

Go on Sir Bobby!!!!

click

[T4E]

OK, so an FAW official is speculating in public about the next Wales manager. Would be a bit strange to do so if this Press Conference was going to be a denial.

Edited September 15, 2004 by Tugay4England

[Dan Furness]

either way hes a first class pr!ck

I don't think he prances round the Golden Cross with a Strongbow beanie hat on though on a Friday night

hey that weren't me?!

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

The Daily Mail are reporting that Hughes will be our new manager after Strachan turned the job down.

I would have preferred Strachan to Hughes, but I'll accept Sparky as manager - which seems likely now.

Hopefully his lack of Premiership management experience won't prove to be damaging.

The thing that worries me most about Hughes is that some Wales fans are saying he's tactically naive and has had one alright campaign that most have over-celebrated - they didn't even qualify.

This might be a slightly harsh assessment, but it's possible to suggest that when Wales had their best chance of qualifying for a major tournament in years - in the play-off against Russia for Euro 2004 - they ultimately failed.

In the first-leg, they achieved a respectable 0-0 draw away in Russia.

But for the home-leg, with Wales needing to beat the Russians in order to go to Portugal, Hughes played a very cautious 4-5-1 formation, with Robert Earnshaw left on the bench.

The tactics from Sparky were criticised by Welsh fans for being overly conservative, and Russia ended up winning the match 1-0. As we saw in Portugal this summer, the Russians are a fairly mediocre ordinary side.

Leslie Mark Hughes, (understandably he changed his Christian name) was appointed Welsh manager in 1999, initially on a part-time basis.

Wales had a poor 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign. They finished 5th out of 6th in their qualifying group, and their dreadful 0-0 draw at home to Armenia, meant that the Welsh had gone on a run of 11 games without a win.

Wales got off to a flier in their Euro 2004 qualifying group, but then stumbled, losing 1-0 to Serbia & Montenegro and then 4-0 to Italy.

Even after having been thrashed by the Italians, Wales could still have won the group, but rather than capitalising on Italy's 1-1 draw with Serbia, Hughes' side failed to beat Finland at home.

In their current qualifying campaign so far, Wales have had two poor results, drawing with Azerbaijan and Northern Ireland.

So it's fair to say that Welsh results under Hughes have been something of a mixed bag. There have been some excellent performances, like a 2-1 win at home to Italy, alongside other games where Wales have failed to do themselves justice.

Below is Hughes' actual playing record:

Man United 1980-86 League Appearances 89, Goals 37. (Joined United as a 17 year old. It took him a few seasons to get into the first team.)

Barcelona 1986-88 League Appearances 28, Goals 4.

Bayern Munich (On Loan) 1987-88 League Appearances 18, Goals 6.

Man United 1988-95 League Appearances 256, Goals 82.

Chelsea 1995-98 League Appearances 95, Goals 25.

Southampton 1998-2000 League Appearances 52, Goals 2. (A very poor goal-scoring record with the Saints, although to be fair, he did play some games in midfield for them.)

Everton 2000 League Appearances 18, Goals 1.

Blackburn 2000-2002 League Appearances 50 (25 as substitute), Goals 6.

Hughes probably kept Ferguson in a job when he scored twice for United against Palace in the 1990 FA Cup Final.

As well as RFW, he's played under a string of famous managers, like Ron Atkinson, Venables, Vialli, Gullit, and Graeme Souness - so you would hope that he's learnt a fair bit along the way from those various managers.

Edited September 15, 2004 by Anti Euro Smiths Fan

[MCMC1875]

Dunno about anyone else, but the clock seems to be ticking very slowly this afternoon.......

[SAS]

Oh well not long to go now, the wait is nearly over.

Although i do hope the press conference isnt to confirm that wales wont let him leave

[MCMC1875]

Oh well not long to go now, the wait is nearly over.

Although i do hope the press conference isnt to confirm that wales wont let him leave

If I understand correctly, they can't stop him.

[Flopsy]

[Blackburn 2000-2002 League Appearances 50 (25 as substitute), Goals 6.

You missed "Kicked Daren Anderton really hard in the Worthington Cup final and then laughed as the spurs midfield went and hid behind Glenda"

[MarkBRFC]

Dunno about anyone else, but the clock seems to be ticking very slowly this afternoon.......

Not really,

Its ticking at the same speed as it does every other afternoon.

[SAS]

Oh well not long to go now, the wait is nearly over.

Although i do hope the press conference isnt to confirm that wales wont let him leave

If I understand correctly, they can't stop him.

Oh well, whys that?

[MCMC1875]

Oh well not long to go now, the wait is nearly over.

Although i do hope the press conference isnt to confirm that wales wont let him leave

If I understand correctly, they can't stop him.

Oh well, whys that?

Contract has release clause if a prem club comes calling.

[northernrover]

Who cares about spread betting???

Get on with the conference

[krislu]

Its 3:30, oh come on!

[SAS]

Dont care about arsenal put bloody press conference on

[AlanK]

live cricket now

[key76]

bloody cricket now

[bob fleming]

Who's winning?

[krislu]

bowling, cricket, bangladesh...very interesting all this

BOWLING INJURIES, for Gods sake get the conference on!!

[Nuclearsox]

Wales might be in a different time zone. Does anyone know where it is?

[mrsjansen]

They said it was at 3.30. Is it Wales having the press conference. If so. why not Rovers. They won't do it live coz we r not any of the big clubs. Ill be surprised if we get the headlines.

[Ste B]

Who's winning?

Fred Trueman slipping on crap apparently.