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Post by RF10 on Dec 11, 2020 22:17:00 GMT
He made us play some of the best football I witnessed a Stoke team playing. With a bit more consistency we would have been in Europe through league position. It was a pity he lost the plot and went against his own ideas which were working so well.
He bought the flair in Bojan,Shaqiri and Arnie then followed it up with the likes of Sadio, Jese and Imbula. If the latter 3 were all his decisions I wish someone would have stepped in and stopped him making the horrendous mistakes.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 11, 2020 22:19:12 GMT
We were actually among the lowest wage bills in his first couple of seasons. Not sure it’s fair to use the Leicester miracle as a stick to beat Hughes with. They did brilliantly but it was a one-off. He lost the plot but that doesn’t mean the good times weren’t good. He should’ve been removed at the end of his penultimate season, the same way Pulis was moved on when the time was right. The owners are culpable there. It seems that Arnie was absolutely right when he said he wanted to leave Stoke because of a lack of ambition (even though he was nothing more than a mercenary) if fans are content with looking back at three ninth places as though we had reached our ceiling god help us, even Burnley obtained a higher finish ! We all look back at games and results with a sense of disbelief that a Stoke side could actually play and entertain to such high standards, but those games were one offs, they weren’t consecutive wins in one season, they were spread over two and a bit seasons. I am more excited about what could be happening now, a side containing homegrown players, Young raw talent coming to the club because of ambition and not the money and a manager who is galvanising the club, team and supporters. It’s realism. And it’s churlish to single that out for criticism when it’s our best league finish for 40 years. If that’s not worth enjoying or feeling good about it looking back on fondly, then the bottom half finishes that preceded them aren’t either. Of course they didn’t happen consistently, if they did we’d have been in the Champions League. That almost never happens to clubs our size.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 11, 2020 22:20:01 GMT
Hughes did OK and signed some class players until the latter stages when he signed some tripe. His tenacity in signing Berahino accentuated it and it all started to unravel compounded by the appointments of Rowett (arguably didnt have long enough) and Jones who made it worse of course. We are still suffering from this period of acquisition and do we really know what influence Cartwright had? Rowett had plenty of time. The majority of signings were manager driven and/or manager approved.
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Post by lordb on Dec 11, 2020 22:50:47 GMT
Hughes did OK and signed some class players until the latter stages when he signed some tripe. His tenacity in signing Berahino accentuated it and it all started to unravel compounded by the appointments of Rowett (arguably didnt have long enough) and Jones who made it worse of course. We are still suffering from this period of acquisition and do we really know what influence Cartwright had? Rowett had plenty of time. The majority of signings were manager driven and/or manager approved. I think all the signings under Rowett were driven by him and Phillips with the possible exception of the Ash Williams loan Clucas and MacLean have come off but still over priced Ince,Afobe and Woods how much? He's a good manager as shown at Birmingham, Derby and now Millwall just don't let him near a cheque book.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 11, 2020 22:53:04 GMT
Rowett had plenty of time. The majority of signings were manager driven and/or manager approved. I think all the signings under Rowett were driven by him and Phillips with the possible exception of the Ash Williams loan Clucas and MacLean have come off but still over priced Ince,Afobe and Woods how much? He's a good manager as shown at Birmingham, Derby and now Millwall just don't let him near a cheque book. He’s a solid if incredibly tedious manager of underdogs yeah. Absolutely not what we needed.
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Post by benjaminbiscuit on Dec 11, 2020 23:18:12 GMT
Hughes was the third best manager we’ve had this century. From a league pairing view I think he’s second in 100 years
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Post by RedandWhite90 on Dec 12, 2020 0:20:33 GMT
That’s just pure speculation. Fans were baying for his removal and, after the Coventry debacle, Coates had really no choice as our form was diabolical and relegation stared us in the face. IMO Hughes had lost interest and it showed. Fans thought we had several manager options lined up but Flores and Rowett who both used our interest in them to better their own contracts and Martin O’Neil just didn’t fancy the job and who can blame him with the shithousery players we had. Yep there would've been mass riots if they hadn't sacked him. Rewriting of history I think. Coventry was toxic.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2020 0:40:52 GMT
Hughes was a good manager who lost his touch.
Amazing in the transfer market. To think that a club like ours could get the players we did without his influence is frankly wrong. He’s a big name in the football world and it was him that got players like Bojan / Arni / Shaq / Afellay / etc - he had a great career and was the reason he got these players.
It was amazing. Watching us dismantle Liverpool, MUFC, MCFC, Arsenal etc - and that wasn’t done by a shit manager. Hughes is right up there with the most capable managers of the era.
But he lost his touch and the recruitment (which isn’t ALL down to him) was awful. Simply awful. And he has that against his name now.
But it was a hell of a ride and he was awesome. To see our lads play like they did, even for a short while, was the time of our lives.
Thanks Sparky. It was magic. I’ll never forget it.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Dec 12, 2020 0:49:53 GMT
I think he would have got the points to just about save us. Coates pulled the trigger at totally the wrong time as it was criminal not having a decent manager lined up to replace him. That’s just pure speculation. Fans were baying for his removal and, after the Coventry debacle, Coates had really no choice as our form was diabolical and relegation stared us in the face. IMO Hughes had lost interest and it showed. Fans thought we had several manager options lined up but Flores and Rowett who both used our interest in them to better their own contracts and Martin O’Neil just didn’t fancy the job and who can blame him with the shithousery players we had. To not have a manager lined up was a joke. To go so low as getting Lambert was unimaginable. What an awful manager. The absolute pits until mad Nath.
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Post by behindthemanager on Dec 12, 2020 3:04:02 GMT
makes me laugh how many defend hughes. he was after the utd job didnt care bout us. the man and coates family took us down. should of hired european manager instead. Nonsense. Are you saying all the other managers we’ve had are here because they really love us and wouldn’t take a bigger job if it was offered? no but you talk about hughes like he was god. he couldnt play defence spent to much and took us down. did a crap job at southhampton too
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Post by zerps on Dec 12, 2020 5:55:34 GMT
This guy created an account specifically to attack hughes and jones
In the words of that bint from frozen, let it go..
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Post by lawrieleslie on Dec 12, 2020 7:23:53 GMT
That’s just pure speculation. Fans were baying for his removal and, after the Coventry debacle, Coates had really no choice as our form was diabolical and relegation stared us in the face. IMO Hughes had lost interest and it showed. Fans thought we had several manager options lined up but Flores and Rowett who both used our interest in them to better their own contracts and Martin O’Neil just didn’t fancy the job and who can blame him with the shithousery players we had. To not have a manager lined up was a joke. To go so low as getting Lambert was unimaginable. What an awful manager. The absolute pits until mad Nath. How do you know that Flores or Rowett had not agreed to come and then changed their minds after their contracts were improved at Espanyol and Derby? After those 2 turned us down it became an act of desperation. I don’t agree with your assessment of Lambert....when he arrived the damage was already done and I doubt very much that any new manager would have saved us from relegation tbh because we had such shithousery players that were, imo, disrupting the whole club. I believe Lambert would have done a better job than Rowett and certainly Mad Nathan after relegation.
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Post by walrus on Dec 12, 2020 8:16:55 GMT
Hughes was the third best manager we’ve had this century. From a league pairing view I think he’s second in 100 years We shouldn’t judge managers just on their league placements though. To my mind they should be judged on a combination of: 1) How far they progressed or regressed the club. For example Pulis would score highly here, Jones lowly. 2) Palpable achievements EG promotions, cup runs etc. 3) Enjoyment factor. Primarily based on how entertaining the football was but also considering things like team spirit and identity.
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Post by Billy the kid on Dec 12, 2020 9:05:39 GMT
That’s just pure speculation. Fans were baying for his removal and, after the Coventry debacle, Coates had really no choice as our form was diabolical and relegation stared us in the face. IMO Hughes had lost interest and it showed. Fans thought we had several manager options lined up but Flores and Rowett who both used our interest in them to better their own contracts and Martin O’Neil just didn’t fancy the job and who can blame him with the shithousery players we had. Yep there would've been mass riots if they hadn't sacked him. Rewriting of history I think. Absolutely agree with this the mood was toxic to say the least. However with hindsight I am sure he would have been able to do a better job than Lambert.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 12, 2020 9:33:39 GMT
Nonsense. Are you saying all the other managers we’ve had are here because they really love us and wouldn’t take a bigger job if it was offered? no but you talk about hughes like he was god. he couldnt play defence spent to much and took us down. did a crap job at southhampton too And did a good job at Blackburn and Fulham. I don’t talk about him like he was god, just objectively. He was really good for a while, then lost the plot. He should’ve been sacked sooner. Doesn’t make the stuff that came before it bad or mean it wasn’t down to him.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 12, 2020 9:35:04 GMT
To not have a manager lined up was a joke. To go so low as getting Lambert was unimaginable. What an awful manager. The absolute pits until mad Nath. How do you know that Flores or Rowett had not agreed to come and then changed their minds after their contracts were improved at Espanyol and Derby? After those 2 turned us down it became an act of desperation. I don’t agree with your assessment of Lambert....when he arrived the damage was already done and I doubt very much that any new manager would have saved us from relegation tbh because we had such shithousery players that were, imo, disrupting the whole club. I believe Lambert would have done a better job than Rowett and certainly Mad Nathan after relegation. Really? How are Ipswich getting on? Nice bloke Lambert but poor manager, that spell at Norwich aside.
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Post by potterburt on Dec 12, 2020 10:09:38 GMT
For me Hughes brought the demise of our Prem tenure.
He brought us exciting football because he obviously has personal and professional relationships with football agents. It was those few players that came into a solid squad with a grunty defensive spine that gave us an exciting looking outfit.
He had a very solid foundation to build onto. After a couple of years and because that spine was dismantled and chipped away at, we fell.
He spent ludicrous amounts on players and whacked everyone on giant wages.
Hughes did similar at qpr, they went down and were crippled by bad attitude players that had stellar contracts that couldn’t be arsed.
He came in to Southampton and saved them for relegation, he was sacked before he could get hold of the transfer kitty.
Hughes is possibly at times a good wheeler dealer salesman, which as a manager in the modern game is a very handy thing to be.
Is he a good manager though? No.
For 3 9th place finishes we’ve spent ridiculous amounts without any return and are still paying the price financially today. And the length of time the Prem hangover has lasted has surpassed those 9th place and could go on for a number of years still.
If you yearn for stokalona and only want shiny, glossy continental football - then maybe you should go watch the real thing like Barcelona, PSG, Man City etc
For me I’d prefer a financially stable, successful club that humbly represents and gives back for the fans and the community in which it represents.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 12, 2020 11:05:19 GMT
For me Hughes brought the demise of our Prem tenure. He brought us exciting football because he obviously has personal and professional relationships with football agents. It was those few players that came into a solid squad with a grunty defensive spine that gave us an exciting looking outfit. He had a very solid foundation to build onto. After a couple of years and because that spine was dismantled and chipped away at, we fell. He spent ludicrous amounts on players and whacked everyone on giant wages. Hughes did similar at qpr, they went down and were crippled by bad attitude players that had stellar contracts that couldn’t be arsed. He came in to Southampton and saved them for relegation, he was sacked before he could get hold of the transfer kitty. Hughes is possibly at times a good wheeler dealer salesman, which as a manager in the modern game is a very handy thing to be. Is he a good manager though? No. For 3 9th place finishes we’ve spent ridiculous amounts without any return and are still paying the price financially today. And the length of time the Prem hangover has lasted has surpassed those 9th place and could go on for a number of years still. If you yearn for stokalona and only want shiny, glossy continental football - then maybe you should go watch the real thing like Barcelona, PSG, Man City etc For me I’d prefer a financially stable, successful club that humbly represents and gives back for the fans and the community in which it represents. Are you saying we shouldn’t have enjoyed the Stokealona stuff when it was at its best? That that somehow is a betrayal of what we’re about? To achieve the 9th placed finishes we didn’t actually spend much, that came after when things started going downhill. That ‘solid spine’ had been woefully underperforming for a decent period of time and Hughes revitalised it. A number of those players played the best football of their Stoke careers over the next couple of seasons.
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Post by potterburt on Dec 12, 2020 11:25:05 GMT
For me Hughes brought the demise of our Prem tenure. He brought us exciting football because he obviously has personal and professional relationships with football agents. It was those few players that came into a solid squad with a grunty defensive spine that gave us an exciting looking outfit. He had a very solid foundation to build onto. After a couple of years and because that spine was dismantled and chipped away at, we fell. He spent ludicrous amounts on players and whacked everyone on giant wages. Hughes did similar at qpr, they went down and were crippled by bad attitude players that had stellar contracts that couldn’t be arsed. He came in to Southampton and saved them for relegation, he was sacked before he could get hold of the transfer kitty. Hughes is possibly at times a good wheeler dealer salesman, which as a manager in the modern game is a very handy thing to be. Is he a good manager though? No. For 3 9th place finishes we’ve spent ridiculous amounts without any return and are still paying the price financially today. And the length of time the Prem hangover has lasted has surpassed those 9th place and could go on for a number of years still. If you yearn for stokalona and only want shiny, glossy continental football - then maybe you should go watch the real thing like Barcelona, PSG, Man City etc For me I’d prefer a financially stable, successful club that humbly represents and gives back for the fans and the community in which it represents. Are you saying we shouldn’t have enjoyed the Stokealona stuff when it was at its best? That that somehow is a betrayal of what we’re about? To achieve the 9th placed finishes we didn’t actually spend much, that came after when things started going downhill. That ‘solid spine’ had been woefully underperforming for a decent period of time and Hughes revitalised it. A number of those players played the best football of their Stoke careers over the next couple of seasons. No I’m not suggesting that at all. I don’t have the details of exact figures and dates but based on your pint would you not agree that it’s rather a poor reflection on a manager if they throw ludicrous money into terrible deals for players that don’t care about stoke and are general wanted away with from their current club all because things are going down hill? And surely a testament that perhaps Hughes has more about him in terms of influence of boards, selling ideas and doing deals than he does in the actual management? Your point on the spine - perhaps the reason in your eyes those players of the spine played better could be because they had more outlets, possibilities, pressure taken off, additional skills around them? Don’t dissagree with you that before Hughes the team were struggling and a bit stale. Don’t think that means that Hughes was the answer and I do believe he has put our team in a worse position with a long lasting and detrimental effect.
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Post by silsdenstokie on Dec 12, 2020 11:25:21 GMT
The first 2 and a half years of his tenure were some of the best times I've had as a Stoke fan....fantastic football and a joy to watch. I still look back on the 6-1 Liverpool win with a little smile.....it won't happen again anytime soon
And all this shit about him wanting the Utd job. I'm fairly sure Lou (our best manger since Waddo IMO) would have jumped at the Utd job had it been offered too him. Wouldn't have thought any less of him
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Post by bgreen13 on Dec 12, 2020 11:30:12 GMT
Yep there would've been mass riots if they hadn't sacked him. Rewriting of history I think. Absolutely agree with this the mood was toxic to say the least. However with hindsight I am sure he would have been able to do a better job than Lambert. Yeah it wasn't the fact they let him go, it was the fact they didn't replace him well.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 12, 2020 11:32:19 GMT
Are you saying we shouldn’t have enjoyed the Stokealona stuff when it was at its best? That that somehow is a betrayal of what we’re about? To achieve the 9th placed finishes we didn’t actually spend much, that came after when things started going downhill. That ‘solid spine’ had been woefully underperforming for a decent period of time and Hughes revitalised it. A number of those players played the best football of their Stoke careers over the next couple of seasons. No I’m not suggesting that at all. I don’t have the details of exact figures and dates but based on your pint would you not agree that it’s rather a poor reflection on a manager if they throw ludicrous money into terrible deals for players that don’t care about stoke and are general wanted away with from their current club all because things are going down hill? And surely a testament that perhaps Hughes has more about him in terms of influence of boards, selling ideas and doing deals than he does in the actual management? Your point on the spine - perhaps the reason in your eyes those players of the spine played better could be because they had more outlets, possibilities, pressure taken off, additional skills around them? Don’t dissagree with you that before Hughes the team were struggling and a bit stale. Don’t think that means that Hughes was the answer and I do believe he has put our team in a worse position with a long lasting and detrimental effect. The board should have got rid of Hughes a good 6-12 months before they did. They are culpable as well as Hughes for letting that slide happen. I don’t think a poor manager achieves what we did in those first two seasons. It wasn’t just the players it was how he used them, how we set up, how he organised the transition from the old way. Of course he completely lost sight of that, halfway through his third season. It happens and that’s on him. The latter part of his tenure was ruinous. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve credit for the good stuff that came before it.
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Post by onefatcopper on Dec 12, 2020 12:37:00 GMT
no but you talk about hughes like he was god. he couldnt play defence spent to much and took us down. did a crap job at southhampton too And did a good job at Blackburn and Fulham. I don’t talk about him like he was god, just objectively. He was really good for a while, then lost the plot. He should’ve been sacked sooner. Doesn’t make the stuff that came before it bad or mean it wasn’t down to him. And let’s not forget his time at QPR, after all this is where he must have had his inspiration for the job at Stoke when we beckoned him from the soccer wilderness. After initial success he squandered cash on foreign players at sky high prices and on long term contracts and with little resale value, sounds familiar doesn’t it ? And where are QPR now, they are still trying to regain their place in the premier league and are even now trying to recover from the disastrous era of Hughes.
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Post by potterburt on Dec 12, 2020 12:47:27 GMT
No I’m not suggesting that at all. I don’t have the details of exact figures and dates but based on your pint would you not agree that it’s rather a poor reflection on a manager if they throw ludicrous money into terrible deals for players that don’t care about stoke and are general wanted away with from their current club all because things are going down hill? And surely a testament that perhaps Hughes has more about him in terms of influence of boards, selling ideas and doing deals than he does in the actual management? Your point on the spine - perhaps the reason in your eyes those players of the spine played better could be because they had more outlets, possibilities, pressure taken off, additional skills around them? Don’t dissagree with you that before Hughes the team were struggling and a bit stale. Don’t think that means that Hughes was the answer and I do believe he has put our team in a worse position with a long lasting and detrimental effect. The board should have got rid of Hughes a good 6-12 months before they did. They are culpable as well as Hughes for letting that slide happen. I don’t think a poor manager achieves what we did in those first two seasons. It wasn’t just the players it was how he used them, how we set up, how he organised the transition from the old way. Of course he completely lost sight of that, halfway through his third season. It happens and that’s on him. The latter part of his tenure was ruinous. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve credit for the good stuff that came before it. Ok fair enough, you enjoyed those 2 seasons - so did I, it was great to see! but also.... I don’t believe on balance that the 3 (possibly more years of) astronomical financial deficit and waste, utter player disbelief, divisions within a squad, bad player attitudes, begging Turkish teams to take a player away from us on loan, low fan morale and lack of enthusiasm, a bubble of negativity, near relegation to L1 and possibly not returning to the prem for another few seasons... ... I don’t believe that is what anyone connected and interested in stoke wants. Yes it’s hindsight, yes Hughes wasn’t responsible for all of the above but he did start a snowball of player culture, mentality, performance and lack of care for our club from his signings. Which has taken many managers, visions and plans, many more attempts of spending shed loads. Yeah he decorated our house nice and pretty, we got noticed more by the posh neighbours but at the same time he took out the foundations while taking out multiple extortionately bad loans against the property to do the decorating. Credit for those 2 years and credit where it’s due but that also has to apply the other way for failings and personally for me - they much out way the credit.
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Post by zerps on Dec 12, 2020 12:52:00 GMT
no but you talk about hughes like he was god. he couldnt play defence spent to much and took us down. did a crap job at southhampton too And did a good job at Blackburn and Fulham. I don’t talk about him like he was god, just objectively. He was really good for a while, then lost the plot. He should’ve been sacked sooner. Doesn’t make the stuff that came before it bad or mean it wasn’t down to him. He could attract players from Barca ffs 😂 We ended up with a load of aged past it players which continued even when we signed Vokes, so it’d be interesting to hear Hughes’ take on who was signing these players.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 12, 2020 12:52:30 GMT
And did a good job at Blackburn and Fulham. I don’t talk about him like he was god, just objectively. He was really good for a while, then lost the plot. He should’ve been sacked sooner. Doesn’t make the stuff that came before it bad or mean it wasn’t down to him. And let’s not forget his time at QPR, after all this is where he must have had his inspiration for the job at Stoke when we beckoned him from the soccer wilderness. After initial success he squandered cash on foreign players at sky high prices and on long term contracts and with little resale value, sounds familiar doesn’t it ? And where are QPR now, they are still trying to regain their place in the premier league and are even now trying to recover from the disastrous era of Hughes. He was a disaster at QPR, not sure he can be blamed entirely for their current predicament mind given Redknapp actually got them back up again and also spent a fair wedge. Teflon though, is H.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 12, 2020 12:53:29 GMT
And did a good job at Blackburn and Fulham. I don’t talk about him like he was god, just objectively. He was really good for a while, then lost the plot. He should’ve been sacked sooner. Doesn’t make the stuff that came before it bad or mean it wasn’t down to him. He could attract players from Barca ffs 😂 We ended up with a load of aged past it players which continued even when we signed Vokes, so it’d be interesting to hear Hughes’ take on who was signing these players. Hughes himself has said that he was. When he went to Southampton he actually implied he'd been left to shoulder too much of the transfer burden himself here.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 12, 2020 12:57:27 GMT
The board should have got rid of Hughes a good 6-12 months before they did. They are culpable as well as Hughes for letting that slide happen. I don’t think a poor manager achieves what we did in those first two seasons. It wasn’t just the players it was how he used them, how we set up, how he organised the transition from the old way. Of course he completely lost sight of that, halfway through his third season. It happens and that’s on him. The latter part of his tenure was ruinous. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve credit for the good stuff that came before it. Ok fair enough, you enjoyed those 2 seasons - so did I, it was great to see! but also.... I don’t believe on balance that the 3 (possibly more years of) astronomical financial deficit and waste, utter player disbelief, divisions within a squad, bad player attitudes, begging Turkish teams to take a player away from us on loan, low fan morale and lack of enthusiasm, a bubble of negativity, near relegation to L1 and possibly not returning to the prem for another few seasons... ... I don’t believe that is what anyone connected and interested in stoke wants. Yes it’s hindsight, yes Hughes wasn’t responsible for all of the above but he did start a snowball of player culture, mentality, performance and lack of care for our club from his signings. Which has taken many managers, visions and plans, many more attempts of spending shed loads. Yeah he decorated our house nice and pretty, we got noticed more by the posh neighbours but at the same time he took out the foundations while taking out multiple extortionately bad loans against the property to do the decorating. Credit for those 2 years and credit where it’s due but that also has to apply the other way for failings and personally for me - they much out way the credit. I think that's fair up to a point, though again the owners are culpable in part for not removing him sooner. He completely lost his way and made some appalling, unfathomable decisions up there with the very worst stuff we've seen from a Stoke manager in his latter couple of seasons. It's absolutely true that he failed to replace a lot of the key components once they were no longer fit for purpose or moved on. I don't think Hughes can be blamed for many of the failings since relegation - others at the club have to take the fall for those. I think belittling those early Hughes season as 'pretty decoration' and no more when they're the best league finishes the club has managed since the 70s is sad and unfair.
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Post by onefatcopper on Dec 12, 2020 13:39:57 GMT
Ok fair enough, you enjoyed those 2 seasons - so did I, it was great to see! but also.... I don’t believe on balance that the 3 (possibly more years of) astronomical financial deficit and waste, utter player disbelief, divisions within a squad, bad player attitudes, begging Turkish teams to take a player away from us on loan, low fan morale and lack of enthusiasm, a bubble of negativity, near relegation to L1 and possibly not returning to the prem for another few seasons... ... I don’t believe that is what anyone connected and interested in stoke wants. Yes it’s hindsight, yes Hughes wasn’t responsible for all of the above but he did start a snowball of player culture, mentality, performance and lack of care for our club from his signings. Which has taken many managers, visions and plans, many more attempts of spending shed loads. Yeah he decorated our house nice and pretty, we got noticed more by the posh neighbours but at the same time he took out the foundations while taking out multiple extortionately bad loans against the property to do the decorating. Credit for those 2 years and credit where it’s due but that also has to apply the other way for failings and personally for me - they much out way the credit. I think that's fair up to a point, though again the owners are culpable in part for not removing him sooner. He completely lost his way and made some appalling, unfathomable decisions up there with the very worst stuff we've seen from a Stoke manager in his latter couple of seasons. It's absolutely true that he failed to replace a lot of the key components once they were no longer fit for purpose or moved on. I don't think Hughes can be blamed for many of the failings since relegation - others at the club have to take the fall for those. I think belittling those early Hughes season as 'pretty decoration' and no more when they're the best league finishes the club has managed since the 70s is sad and unfair. But this is why your argument doesn’t hold water, why would the owners dismiss a manager who had reached the unparalleled success of three ninth places ? They backed the manager in the transfer market to levels we had never witnessed and don’t forget these were the same owners who bankrolled the Stokealona era. The owners do have their faults and the main one being a naive loyalty, but remember that they are fans just like ourselves and they are certainly not in this for the money. Hughes was the reason for our relegation even though he was bleating that he could have saved us. He had lost the dressing room, lost the fans (remember the Stoke station incident for example) and eventually the board, apart from the cost of relegation he left us with his players who were/are on exorbitant salaries over long term contracts with no resale value that we have literally given them away ! Hughes main crime is that he destroyed the spirit not only within the team but within the fans, it’s not until now that you can feel that the spirit is returning, this is due to a manager appointed by the owners and a bunch of youngsters from the academy that has been staunchly backed by the owners.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Dec 12, 2020 13:51:38 GMT
I think that's fair up to a point, though again the owners are culpable in part for not removing him sooner. He completely lost his way and made some appalling, unfathomable decisions up there with the very worst stuff we've seen from a Stoke manager in his latter couple of seasons. It's absolutely true that he failed to replace a lot of the key components once they were no longer fit for purpose or moved on. I don't think Hughes can be blamed for many of the failings since relegation - others at the club have to take the fall for those. I think belittling those early Hughes season as 'pretty decoration' and no more when they're the best league finishes the club has managed since the 70s is sad and unfair. But this is why your argument doesn’t hold water, why would the owners dismiss a manager who had reached the unparalleled success of three ninth places ? They backed the manager in the transfer market to levels we had never witnessed and don’t forget these were the same owners who bankrolled the Stokealona era. The owners do have their faults and the main one being a naive loyalty, but remember that they are fans just like ourselves and they are certainly not in this for the money. Hughes was the reason for our relegation even though he was bleating that he could have saved us. He had lost the dressing room, lost the fans (remember the Stoke station incident for example) and eventually the board, apart from the cost of relegation he left us with his players who were/are on exorbitant salaries over long term contracts with no resale value that we have literally given them away ! Hughes main crime is that he destroyed the spirit not only within the team but within the fans, it’s not until now that you can feel that the spirit is returning, this is due to a manager appointed by the owners and a bunch of youngsters from the academy that has been staunchly backed by the owners. You seem to basically agree with my argument which apparently 'doesn't hold water'. Make your mind up. Why would they sack him? The same reason they sacked a manager who took the club from the bottom half of the Championship into Europe - he'd lost the plot and results were drying up. I can see why they persisted with him after the third season despite a rotten second half of it. But he should have gone at the end of the season after that at the latest. It was clear by that point that he was getting it badly wrong. He definitely helped destroy the spirit. The same one that he'd renewed and revitalised. He deserves the credit for one and censure for the other.
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