Whilst the Premier League gives up faith on the current crop of multi-million pound stars that are unable to find the back of the net, tie up a midfield that boasts international wingers and ball-hungry strikers or manage a team suitably financed by a Malaysian air tycoon: the fans are understandably double-checking their screens amidst a quiet warbling of Rocky Horror’s lyrics, “Let’s do the Time Warp Again.”
At the end of the 2010/11 campaign, football fans across England were understandably right to expect they had seen the last of opposition players flying high up into the air after a Paul Scholes “tackle” and no longer have to be subjected to Mark Hughes bemoaning a lack of ambition wherever he goes, despite spending £17.5m on players like Roque Santa Cruz. The thought of Thierry Henry returning to the Premier League wasn’t even in Richard Dunne’s wildest dreams.
So, when Sir Alex Ferguson managed to finally convince his most favourite ginger to come out of retirement 6 months after he had announced it was the “right time for me to stop playing,” hung-over football fans waking up late Sunday morning to watch Manchester United win 3-2, but walk away like the defeated team, were understandably confused when they saw Paul Scholes named on the bench.
Despite the fact that Fergie didn’t want Scholes to retire in the first place and had always offered him the chance to re-join the playing squad, amateur psychologist Nicky Butt informed the world that bringing him back, “was a smart move by the manager,” considering the timing because, “It took all the attention off [City’s] home record and the bookmakers’ odds and switched all the attention to Paul Scholes and Manchester United.”
Ignoring the fact that not everything Sir Alex Ferguson does is some kind of mental game of labyrinth, Butt concluded that, “It was a great little bit of psychology.”
If heart palpitations hadn’t been induced by the last-minute surprise return of Paul Scholes, no way eluded to in the English media as early as November, or the clever link-up play he performed with James Milner, then Tuesday night’s love in with Thierry Henry featuring players of lesser ability, probably evoked at least the smallest of emotionally nostalgic twinges of the heart.
Having told fans, modestly, that he wasn’t “coming here to be a hero,” instead sympathetically “coming [back] to help,” Henry came off of where he intended to sit for 6 weeks, “ I’m going to be a bench player,” and scored the winning goal, playing up to the magic of the F.A Cup.
Having done so, Thierry Henry reacted in a way only previously expected of Paulo Di Canio this season: he rose his arms above his head, showered himself in ecstasy and felt the stupor us mere mortals can only ever dream of experiencing, “Now I know how people feel when they score for the club they support.”
If the strong stench of nostalgia hadn’t quite engulfed your immediate vicinity, then Sunday is a footballing treat: Mark Hughes returns to football management half a season after explaining that he had left Craven Cottage because, he is, “a young, ambitious manager,” who wishes to, “move on to further [his] experiences.”
The manager, no stranger to splashing the cash, has shown his ambition already, by supposedly listing Didier Drogba, Darren Bent, Wayne Bridge and Alex among his transfer targets; whether QPR quite possess the same ambition to appeal to such players remains to be seen.
Since leaving Blackburn Rovers for Manchester City, where he signed Wayne Bridge – a player he had spent time with during his playing days at Southampton F.C – as well as Shaun Wright-Phillips, Mark Hughes has lived off of expensive foreigners, so should find himself at home QPR.
Although a clash of egos may now ensue at QPR, what with Mark Hughes, Joey Barton and Adel Taarabt now all likely to be on and around the pitch – I can’t see Hughes playing Derry and Mackie over Adel Taarabt and Shaun Wright-Phillips – what he can bring to Rangers is astute signings and mid-table security; albeit among the odd woeful purchase.
With the ex-Wales manager, for every Jo he buys, he also brings in a Christopher Samba, a Nigel De Jong and a Vincent Kompany. Among the high-profile names on Mark Hughes’ media-constructed transfer list, is in fact Christopher Samba, the man he bought at Blackburn Rovers for £500k.