QPR, at best, represents a sideways move for Hughes from his last job at Fulham. The reasons behind his departure from Craven Cottage were supposedly down to a lack of funds promised by Mohammed Al-Fayed. As a result, Hughes is developing a reputation for being a nomadic manager.
Which is what makes the fact that he’s been given a two and a half-year deal by QPR seem all the more baffling. There are currently just seven managers operating in the top flight that have managed for two and a half years or more – Ferguson, Wenger, Pulis, McCarthy, Lambert, Martinez and Redknapp – at their respective clubs. Indeed, there are only 22 managers in the entire Football League that have stayed at their clubs for the same amount of time.
Does anyone genuinely believe that Hughes will be at the club in two and a half years’ time? Also, while we’re on the subject, why do Chairman still persist in going for such long contracts when manager’s rarely ever see them through?
Part of the reason is to protect their own investment; should Hughes do a runner and take a bigger job, a prospect which in my eyes is an absolute certainty, they will at least have the small crumb of comfort that they’ll get due compensation, but beyond that, it smacks of short-termism.
Don’t get me wrong, Hughes is a fine manager, and his appointment is certainly a trade up in terms of ability and stature on the seemingly hard-done by Warnock, but will he be there in a year’s time to see through any project he proposes to build? I wouldn’t rush to the bookies anytime soon to bet that he would be if I were you.
All you are left with, should Hughes depart before seeing out his deal, is a squad moulded half in Warnock’s image and half in Hughes’s – a smorgasbord of styles and philosophies. In short, a recipe for a disaster, and an expensive disaster at that.
I championed Andre Villas-Boas’s appointment in the summer for Chelsea over Guus Hiddink’s, the some-time favourite for the post, simply because Chelsea were a club in the midst of an identity crisis and appointing a manager of Hiddink’s ilk and age would have been nothing more than a stop-gap solution and a delaying of the inevitable. The equivalent to putting a plaster on a broken leg – the Hughes appointment is very similar in that regard.
The one word that you’ll constantly hear out of Hughes’s mouth is ‘ambition’. Of course, ambition is not a bad thing in itself; if used right, ambition can be a positive thing; it’s good to strive for excellence. However, when allied to a sense of injustice and a strong and to an extent unfounded belief in your own abilities that Hughes certainly has; a manager with ideas way above his station – all you get is a marriage destined for divorce.
The thinking behind the appointment is clear – Hughes’s profile will help attract a better calibre of player in the January transfer window with the significant funds Fernandes has to offer, and they will be significant, otherwise Hughes would never have signed on. But, and this is a big but, you have to question the wisdom of such a short-term project. Fernandes looks to be fairly genuine in his aspirations for the club, and the idea of bringing in a manager of Hughes’s stature is certainly a sound one, but whether Hughes is the right man for the job long-term, is in some doubt.
Warnock may not have been the long-term future of the club either, but he certainly could have sufficed until the end of the season. Hughes is a good manager, I fancy him to consolidate QPR around mid-table this season with ease, but that isn’t the problem, it’s what comes after he does a reasonable job that worries me and should worry QPR fans.
You can follow me on Twitter @James McManus1
Written by James McManus for FootballFanCast.com
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