Post Appointment
THE OBSERVER/DANIEL TAYLOR
Mark Hughes is back on track after big-desk hubris at Craven Cottage
The former Fulham manager adjusts his ambitions as he takes charge of Premier League strugglers Queens Park Rangers
The first thing Mark Hughes did when he became manager of Fulham was to ask for a bigger desk. Hughes wasn't happy with his new surroundings. The office, he said, was too small. A new computer was ordered and a big leather chair. Then builders were brought in to knock down the adjoining wall and extend an office that had done just fine for Roy Hodgson, Lawrie Sanchez, Chris Coleman and everyone before.
This is what can happen when a man spends time among the conifers and greenery of Manchester City's training ground then downgrades to a club where the paint might be peeling in a few corners and they drink their tea from a flask rather than fine china. Hughes never really felt Fulham were distinguished enough for him and it always seemed a temporary measure given that he has an adviser, Kia Joorabchian, with an A to Z of chief executives on speed-dial.
Except they stopped returning his calls. Joorabchian said his client wanted to manage a club more in keeping with his playing career at Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Chelsea. "He really wants to be right up there, competing for titles and the Champions League positions." Instead, Hughes has spent six months out of the game before rolling up at Queens Park Rangers, third from bottom of the Premier League, with a stadium that holds fewer than Notts County's, Port Vale's or Bradford City's.
QPR matter these days. This is an ambitious time at Loftus Road and they deserve better than to be patronised, but there are still 49 larger club grounds in England and, however much it is dressed up, it is going to be difficult to see Hughes on the touchline for his first match and not believe this is a man whose ambitions have been undermined by his own mistakes. Hughes was talked about as a credible successor to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United at one stage, but his name has been rubbed off the betting-shop chalkboards now, probably for good.
This is not to denigrate a man who took Fulham to eighth place in the Premier League, brought calm and pride where there is now fear and loathing at Blackburn Rovers and was doing a steady job at Manchester City before his very public sacking. Garry Cook, the former Nike man and now deposed City chief executive, had described Hughes as football's equivalent of Michael Jordan, but had been making clandestine approaches to other managers for six months. So Hughes is probably entitled to his grievance. Yet what has happened since then would make it difficult for anybody to argue the decision-makers in Abu Dhabi got it wrong, even if there were better ways of going about it.
At Fulham, Hughes was so obsessed with presentation and order that the kit men had to line up the ice buckets with perfect symmetry and make sure all of the drinks bottles had their labels showing at the correct angle. At City, he made the security guy take down the Ricky Hatton posters in his cabin because he thought it gave the wrong impression.
Yet this level of detail has not always been so apparent. Hughes turned a blind eye when Robinho turned up for trips abroad in jeans and trainers when he should have been wearing a club suit. Not the most important thing, perhaps, but sometimes it is the little details that demonstrate the differences between a manager who is good, and sometimes very good, but still a notch or two below what is needed for the highest level. Over lunch a few weeks back, Roberto Mancini, Hughes's replacement, smiled knowingly as he recalled the day he brought on Robinho as a substitute, then substituted him. The Italian never indulged Robinho in the way Hughes did, and was better for it.
The alliance with Joorabchian is another puzzling factor given that you would not automatically put the two men together. Hughes clearly believes the good outweighs the bad, but, put bluntly, Aston Villa did not want to do business with them when everyone assumed that was the next logical move last summer – and, in terms of perception and image, Joorabchian has become so synonymous with Carlos Tevez and controversy it does affect the Hughes brand.
Joorabchian is clearly a man with connections, but Tevez is now into his third month of striking at City, where they make no secret of the fact they think the player's adviser is partly to blame. Mancini's opinion of the Tevez-Joorabchian double act is not so much low as subterranean and recalls that episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm when Richard, stricken in hospital, discovers Larry and Jeff have been flipping a coin and playing eenie-meenie-miney-mo to try to get out of being his kidney donor.
The difference, of course, is that Larry admitted it was wrong. Tevez has never said sorry for anything and, so far, the only person in football who has been willing to defend him is the man, funnily enough, who shares Joorabchian as their go-to guy. Which is a shame because, when you get past all the fluff and politics, Hughes has earned the right to another go. The Observer
MIRROR/Gerry Cox - Hughes eyes neighbours Chelsea ahead of Rangers revolution
QPR believe Mark Hughes is the key to taking on their ‘noisy neighbours’ Chelsea and even overtaking Roman Abramovich’s side as the kings of west London.
Hughes takes his new side to Newcastle today for his first game since taking over from Neil Warnock last week.
And the Welshman can see similarities with the state Chelsea were in when he joined them as a striker from Manchester United in 1995.
Back then, before Abramovich arrived, the Blues were a mid-table side using the same ramshackle Imperial College training ground near Heathrow that Rangers use now.
They had not won a trophy for almost 25 years, had dipped in and out of the old second division and were in dire need of investment both on and off the pitch.
By the time Hughes left, Chelsea were on their way to an era of huge success, and, once Abramovich arrived three years later, the Blues went on to become one of the world’s wealthiest clubs.
Hughes said: “Yes, I can see the parallels. I wouldn’t say we’re trying to emulate that, but you must have ambition.”
But even Abramovich’s riches cannot match those of Lakshmi Mittal, Britain’s wealthiest man, and co-owner of QPR with Malaysian tycoon Tony Fernandes.
Hughes added: “If we do well and keep building steadily, I think there is a real opportunity here – and expectations are high.” Mirror
TELEGRAPH/Duncan White - Mark Hughes will need to make in immediate impac to keep QPR in the top flight
It is hardly the easiest venue for a comeback. Mark Hughes returns to football this afternoon with Queens Park Rangers facing the in-form Newcastle at the Sports Direct Arena.
Hughes will know a lot more about the scale of the job ahead of him by the time the game is over. There is going to be some hard work at Rangers’ Harlington training ground between now and the end of the season if they are to avoid slipping back into the Championship. Hughes is confident he is the man to help them avoid relegation.
“The way I like things done, the way my team’s play has helped me have an impact in the past,” Hughes said. “You have to be organised and consistent in your message and your discipline.
"It’s about creating an environment for a team to prosper. I think players want structure to understand what we are doing is geared towards winning.
“My values and standards are quite high. I find that when I have gone into places in the past people have need to raise their game somewhat. Maybe that’s the case here. The benefit of that is that you can make an immediate impact.”
How will he make that impact? Here we break down the areas in which Hughes will be seeking to make an impression at Loftus Road.
You do not just appoint Hughes as manager, you appoint his team, too. Mark Bowen is his closest confidant, a friend he has known since they were 13, and now his assistant.
Together they will plot a strategy for getting QPR up the table. In his approach to coaching, Hughes has obviously drawn a lot from Sir Alex Ferguson.
He takes the role of a supervisor, allowing his trusted coach, Eddie Niedzwiecki, to take most of the sessions. The whole management team meets every morning and plot what they need to do that day.
“To put it simply, Eddie is the best I have seen at taking a training session,” said Bowen. “Both Mark and I are Pro licensed coaches but Eddie is the one who implements our ideas.” Kevin Hitchcock looks after the goalkeepers.
The priority for Hughes at Rangers will be to get the players up to his standards in terms of fitness.
“At Blackburn we set ourselves the challenge of becoming the fittest team in the country and I think we achieved that,” Bowen said. Jason Roberts, who played for Hughes at Blackburn, thinks the QPR players will be feeling the benefit of that as they go into the run-in.
“Some of them might have never trained at such a high intensity,” said Roberts. “They make big demands of you. The good news is that within three or four weeks they will have never felt as fit.”
Tactics
In terms of formation, Hughes is relatively conservative. He tends to favour a 4-4-2, played with high intensity and pressing. Setting up this way can sometimes make it difficult to accommodate players who like to operate between the traditional lines – Adel Taraabt is the obvious example at QPR – but then for Hughes the emphasis is always on the team.
“So much of the tactics comes from Mark drawing on his well of experience and using his instincts,” Bowen said. “He then marries that with all the data we have assembled and prepares the players.”
This will be another challenge for Hughes at Harlington. At Fulham, City and Blackburn, he would use video footage put together with his data analysis department to show weaknesses in the opposition or areas that his own team could improve. In this he was very rigorous and impressed players with his command of the detail.
At QPR he needs to appoint an opposition scout and get the structure in place to do this.
A goal difference of minus 16 tells you that he has problems to resolve at both ends of the pitch.
Tightening the defence will be the first challenge but this is also a side scoring less than a goal a game — he will need to get the team playing with width as he did at Blackburn and Fulham to help generate chances.
Recruitment
This will be one of the most challenging areas for Hughes. There is effectively no scouting network at QPR and the squad is hugely bloated.
Until he gets scouts in he will have to rely on his own contacts and the help of his well-connected adviser Kia Joorabchian. While Tony Fernandes, the owner, has guaranteed there will be money available, what Hughes does in January will only be a short-term measure.
He wants to improve the defence and is looking to sign defenders Alex and Nedum Onuoha. In the summer, though, there will be as much emphasis on selling as buying: they have 36 players in the first team squad with a further four out on loan.
At Blackburn, Hughes established a reputation for refreshing the careers of players who had fallen into a trough, players like Benni McCarthy and Roque Santa Cruz, and also for finding bargains like Ryan Nelsen (free) and Chris Samba (£400,000).
At Manchester City he was given massive financial backing and while some of his signings worked out very well (Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong, Vincent Kompany) there were some that clearly did not meet expectations (Jo, Santa Cruz, Wayne Bridge).
What recurs at every club he has managed is that players who buy into Hughes’s methods become loyal to him and want to work with him again. It would not be a surprise to see Hughes sign players who are familiar with his methods.
Man management
With Wales Hughes faced the challenge of changing from team-mate to manager but even in those formative years, John Hartson recalls him handling it calmly.
“He went from the back seat of the coach with myself, Chris Coleman, Gary Speed and Ryan Giggs, to the seat behind the driver,” Hartson said.
“You hardly noticed. He did it in his own inimitable way, without any real fuss. Still, you knew he was the boss. He had been a ferocious player, a man who would kick his granny to win a tackle.
"As a manager, he was every bit as determined, although quietly spoken, very thorough and quite calm much of the time. But if it needed saying, he would say it.”
Hughes has been criticised, even by himself, for his communication skills but these have improved as he has taken different jobs.
Roberts said that at Blackburn “dialogue with a player isn’t one of his main lookouts,” but with the more gregarious Bowen liaising between him and the players, Hughes can use the distance to his advantage.
At QPR, a club hardly short on egos, he will face specific challenges. He has an outspoken captain in Joey Barton, an erratic talent in Adel Taraabt and other recent signings whose salaries are wildly divergent from some of those who got the club promoted last season. He will need them all to pull in the same direction.
Innovation
It is in his curiosity about the cutting edge in coaching, management and sports science that Hughes is highly impressive.
“He mirrors Sir Alex in that respect,” said Bowen. “He is always open to new opinions, fresh ideas. He will read papers on the latest ideas and then source the best information on it.”
One example is how he introduced Morten Gamst Pedersen to neuro-linguistic programming to help him with his set-pieces.
NLP is apparently used by Jonny Wilkinson (in his kicking) and Tiger Woods and is a technique of repeated visualisation. Pedersen saw massive improvement in his accuracy because of it.
A new training ground will provide the facilities Hughes, needs but in the mean time QPR’s players can expect increased use of ProZone data, to have their training tracked by GPS devices (sewn into vests they wear under their shirts) and to be subject to diet and dehydration tests borrowed from Bayern Munich.
“You are getting feedback on your performance every day,” Roberts said.
Hughes must have been doing something right because United poached his leading sports scientist and ProZone analyst off him when he was in charge at Blackburn.
“It’s all about looking for that tiny edge over your opponent,” Bowen said. “Trying to improve a player by that one per cent.”
Telegraph
MIRROR
Joey Barton is set to be one of the first casualties in Mark Hughes’ QPR revolution.
Bad boy Joey, 29, is suspended and will miss today’s trip to Newcastle.
But highly placed Rangers sources believe Barton is unlikely to figure in Hughes’ long-term plans.
Hughes took over last week, following the sacking of Neil Warnock, and vowed to grab the chance to build a club of substance.
Warnock was the boss who recruited controversial Barton on a free transfer last August and made him Rangers’ captain.
Another high-profile star at risk is Shaun Wright-Phillips, who has failed to make any real impact since a summer move from Manchester City. Hughes accepts that he has a major rebuilding job at the club and is looking to off-load a number of players.
But, with only two weeks of the transfer window remaining, the time may not be right for sweeping changes at the club.
Hughes is targeting at least six new signings.
Rangers agreed a fee yesterday to sign centre-back Alex from Chelsea.
The Loftus Road hierarchy will now have to agree personal terms with the Brazilian defender.
Hughes is also hoping to recruit rising young Brazil star Henrique – work permit permitting – on an 18-month loan deal from Sao Paulo with an option to buy him for around £5million. Mirror
www.qprreport.blogspot.com/2012/01/qpr-report-sunday-qpr-ceo-philip-beard.html
)