Poll: Do You Want To Keep Hughton As Manager For 2010/2011?

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Definitely, there would be no viable reason for Ashley to replace Hughton over the summer and no manager in a position to adequately replace him.

Absolutely. He has done a great job thus far and deserves to have the opportunity of managing us in the premiership.



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Give him a shot.


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i'm happy for him to start the season, but i think its just a little over the top to suggest he is the ideal candidate, and that there is no-one anywhere at all who could give us a better chance for the short/medium term future under ashley. there may not be many names to offer as a replacememt, but we all know a few, surely?
as i said above though, i'm happy as things stand for hughton to carry on, i just cant work out if that means i WANT to keep hughton, as the poll question has been phrased

Cant beleive this is even a topic or poll, ridiculous

you might think that makes your feelings towards hughton clear, mighty, but i cant tell anything from it

is it ridiculous to keep him, or is it ridiculous to even think of a change of manager?

How can you change a manager that got you promoted, it will be stupid and to be honest I am sick of this constant specualtion from the media that he may get changed. He has done a great job and only time will tell if he is the right guy, but lets get behind him and give a shot.

Lets say we get rid of him, who do we go for a name that is known, O'Leary. Or do we go for the names that we have had before Souness and Gullit

No massive name will come like the Special One, so why not try to get a manager that will stick with us long term and try to build a team and rebuild the club. For me Hughton is the guy

Quote:

TOONTILLIDIE
How can you change a manager that got you promoted, it will be stupid and to be honest I am sick of this constant specualtion from the media that he may get changed. He has done a great job and only time will tell if he is the right guy, but lets get behind him and give a shot.

I agree 100% I placed the poll on here because I have seen people calling for him to go, I disagree but that doesn't mean the topic of conversation isn't there.

It might be a stupid poll, but at the end of the day - "fans" have been calling for hughton to be replaced because he is cut out for the premier league - how can they possibly know?

Quote:

Carys

Quote:

TOONTILLIDIE
How can you change a manager that got you promoted, it will be stupid and to be honest I am sick of this constant specualtion from the media that he may get changed. He has done a great job and only time will tell if he is the right guy, but lets get behind him and give a shot.

I agree 100% I placed the poll on here because I have seen people calling for him to go, I disagree but that doesn't mean the topic of conversation isn't there.

It might be a stupid poll, but at the end of the day - "fans" have been calling for hughton to be replaced because he is cut out for the premier league - how can they possibly know?

I understand why you have put it on here, and it is great to have conversion about it, but I am sick that the media is calling for him to go or that he should be replaced for a experienced manager. We have had them and have mostly failed except Sir Bobby.

Agreed. I personally don't think there is a decent alternative at present and I dont think we need one.

However I really hope Hughton proves his critics wrong for a second season. I think the realisic prospect for next season is a steady solid performance week in and week out. Taking the points where it matters and reaching a decent place in the table.

We arent going to perform miracles but I don't see why Hughton shouldnt be entrusted with the job of trying.

The name Mark Hughes comes to mind. He did a great job at Blackburn and did not do too badly at City either. I just think that you should not change that which is not broken. Hughton deserves a fair crack at it and we can reassess depending on results ofcourse at a later stage.



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Quote:

lostmekeys
is it ridiculous to keep him, or is it ridiculous to even think of a change of manager?

Obviously you knew what I was thinking! we cant continue the manager merrygoround,

delusional times have surely passed even for the biggest dreamers,

Hughton & il take 17th now!

nah, mighty, i couldnt tell what you meant. i happen to think the case for change would be a strong one if hughes, as mentioned above, could be tempted. an experienced manager taking (and by extension, being offered to begin with) the job at newcastle would be a clear sign that A )we were planning more than one transfer window ahead at last,and B ) significant funds were going to be made available. i say this because an experienced manager of that calibre would not come otherwise.
before anyone shoots this down, read my earlier posts in the thread, i have no problem at all with hughton staying, i am just pointing out here that whether he stays or is pushed, the action/inaction of the club making that decision could hold a pointer as to the intentions of the current owner. if its hughton, it MAY mean short term planning and cheap solutions to playing staff problems. if its hughes(or similar) it would certainly suggest strongly a new,longer term strategy, based around greater speculation in the playing squad.
just a thought.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:04:18:01:23:33 by lostmekeys.

He more than deserves his crack at it. I have my doubts but apart from Hughes who else is out there. I dont want the toon to become the laughing stock again. That we call for a bigger manager because we think we are too big for our boots. I know most dont think like that but you know how the media will twist things.

All I know is that the team going up has a lot less 'star' names in it than the team that went down but a hell of a lot more fight, spirit and solidarity. This will determine how well we do next season and hughton is the catalyst for our team spirit.

The fans just need to be patient and not start moaning and booing if things are not going as well as expected. Its going to be a long hard season but if we survive then job done.

@ LMK
Understand some of what yopur saying, your trying to read into things, What do you personally feel?

Does a manager who took a ton of stick begining of last season, Who then gets us promoted under more pressure than any manager before him, because it was totally expected of him, not deserve a chance to show his worth again?

(not to mention the possible undefeated home record)





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:04:18:16:54:05 by Mighty__Mag.

Keep Hughton.
He's done a terrific job and there is NO reason whatsoever for sacking him!

I am as pleased as the next NUFC fan that we have comfortably won promotion, and accordingly, I can’t dispute that Hughton has done a good job this season. However, I think that all managers must be judged in the context of the resources they have at their disposal. The Championship has never seen the kind of money that went into assembling and paying our squad of players, so we had a huge head start, even over the other “big” teams like WBA. The smaller Championship clubs simply had no chance whatsoever of competing with us. I think that once the summer transfer window closed and we still had Harper, Taylor, Coloccinni, Enrique, Jonas, Nolan, Smith, Barton, Carroll, Ameobi etc. in the squad, it was clear that automatic promotion would be a minimum requirement. With or without Hughton, we may have done just as well this season. Hughton has undeniably done well, but what does this prove about him as a manager? I think that pretty much any semi-competent manager would probably have got a team with our players and resources promoted.

At the moment, we can only speculate as to whether or not Hughton really is good enough for the PL. Last season’s statistics show that Joe Kinnear, who I think we will all agree is no Wenger / Mourinho / Ferguson etc., managed 23 points from 20 games (an average of 1.15 points per game). Shearer won 3 points from 8 games (0.375 ppg), and Hughton was by far the worst with only 1 point from 7 games (0.14 ppg). I’m certainly not saying that 7 games is a big enough sample to write Hughton off now, but it’s not a very promising indication! What I find more concerning is that, despite our success in the league this season, I really don’t think we’ve been playing all that well (a half a dozen or so games excepted). We still leak at least 3 or 4 good chances per game, which in the PL probably means 2 goals conceded. We seem to have prospered mainly due to either having better individual players (which won’t apply in the PL), or because we’ve been playing very poor teams (there aren’t any in the PL!). I don’t think I’ve seen any evidence that Hughton has the tactical knowledge to get us competing with clubs with squads that are as good / better than ours (especially away from home), which we will have to do if we are to survive next season. It’s a shame we didn’t have a decent cup run – a couple of fixtures against PL opposition might have given us a better indication of where we really are.

One other thing that puts me off Hughton is that I think that all managers should serve a proper apprenticeship in the lower leagues before getting a job like manager of NUFC. But if you are going to appoint a novice, at least make it someone with a brilliant playing pedigree who already commands respect throughout the game. This has to help with attracting players. For example, if I were a young, up-and-coming striker like Victor Moses (who we tried to sign in January but went to Wigan instead), I’d be tempted to choose NUFC under Alan Shearer more so than under Hughton.

There is absolutely no chance that Hughton is going to be replaced any time soon, but I wouldn’t object if a more proven manager was appointed now. I think that many of us fans have become rather carried away with our success this season. If we get off to bad start in August, or if the fixture list is cruel, come October / November we could find ourselves in a very difficult position. It might then dawn on us that, actually, Hughton isn’t up to it. If we are going to need to change our manager, much better we do it now and let the new guy have a long pre-season, spend the summer transfer budget on his own choice of players etc.

yes mighty, the undefeated home record. as soon as we lose that it'll be open season. i think keep hughton for sure, give him a shot. as biffin said, we'll look like a laughing stock for changing the manager again. unless....unless...there's gonna be major spending implemented, which i can't see happening under ashley.

Quote:

jamestoon
yes mighty, the undefeated home record. as soon as we lose that it'll be open season. i think keep hughton for sure, give him a shot. as biffin said, we'll look like a laughing stock for changing the manager again. unless....unless...there's gonna be major spending implemented, which i can't see happening under ashley.

Why are we going to lose our last home game then?

I dont get this post? i was the one saying keep him also, are you drunk? or does nobody read the full thread anymore.....

@ Niel2010

Contradictory post there!

You mention that one thing that puts you off Hughton is that all managers should serve a proper apprenticeship in the lower leagues first!

Is that not what Hughton has just done then?

And also mention we should not have a novice, but a manager with a brilliant playing pedigree?

Again Jose mourinho, springs to mind, Paisley, Wenger, Sven, Grant!

How about these with Brilliant pedigree "how you put it"

Paul Ince, John Barnes, Tony Adams, Gazza, Bryan Robson,

MM: I wouldn’t call one season in the CCC an apprenticeship. I was thinking more along the lines of a manager who has started at the bottom and proven himself over a period of several years, perhaps with a track record of exceeding expectations, perhaps at more than one club. This would be my first choice, and of course, I agree with you in that this absolutely does not exclude those who weren’t great players themselves such as Mourinho / Wenger etc. In fact, the best examples are probably those who weren’t fast-tracked into high-profile managerial jobs precisely because they weren’t superstars as players! A distant second choice for me would be a carefully selected (i.e. not Gazza etc!) unproven manager who was previously a top player, because such a person would at least be well-respected in the game. I’m not sure that Hughton satisfies either of these criteria i.e. with only 1 season as a manager he doesn’t have much of a managerial “pedigree”, nor was he a superstar as a player.

What do you reckon? A fair point? Or not?!

neil you would put in Shearer over Hughton? are you joking?

Niel2010

How long is enough for you then Niel?

The guys CV now has first year in managment winner of Coca Cola Championship on it,

What if we had done a Boro start of the season got rid of Hughton, like they did Southgate, who's to say we wouldn't have been in the same position there in now? Hoping for a playoff spot even if they get lucky....

Even if we finish 17th next season, thats worth the full 60 million touted, then this club can rebuild, it doesnt matter what faces Hughton can attract next season, he will be set a target to acheive, just like he was this season and that will be to avoid relegation from the premier league no matter where from 17th up! Im sure Ashley wont be expecting anything other than that, so why would we need a manager who can sweet talk players just cos he had a glittery career for that target?

We wont be buying Top class any way so theres no need for a big attraction? we'll be lucky to get a few free agents and a load of back up to avoid the drop!

Get real.....

In an ideal world every manager who is in charge of a top club, would have had an apprenticeship with a league 1 or 2 side, get them experience and then they know where the bargains are. But down to the money in the game, it will never be that way. Potentially there are some good managers down there and Clarky and Lambert come to mind, but that doesn't mean they will be a success if they get there. You have to take into a account how a top club works bar Man U and Arsenal, Wenger and Ferige have control of the signings, the other don't. Also take into account the big name players and ego's, if they are unhappy they come out say it, like Tevez has about the training at City, will a manager from the lower leagues be in charge of a top 6 side, probably not. But they could get the job of a struggling premiership side, but the pressure is on them, to get off to a great start if not then fans will call for thiers heads.

Does it mean that as you were a good footballer, then you will be a good manager, well we know the answer it doesn't. Look at Bryan Robson, Souness and Barnes, been at big clubs and had money to spend and did nothing. Maybe a big name will attract players to the club but we don't have the finance to bring them in, the players we will be after will come and it doesn't matter who is charge as the club will have the appeal alone, 50k plus every week.

This season he has done great and we were not guaranteed to come up, as plenty of big clubs have thought that and didn't come up first time of asking. Look at the pre season results plenty of people were predicting us to finish mid table if we got lucky, So Chris has done a great job

i do think some sentimentality is behind the reasoning of some on here. the fact that some didnt want hughton at the start of the season has nothing to do with his suitability now mightymag, and what some fans think he 'deserves' has very little bearing on this either.
i have no wish to belittle hughtons acheivements, but someone wins this league every year, and quite often goes on to suffer terribly in the premier league. i dont know any more than anyone else whether hughton will suffer, and obviously i hope not, but if it was asked whether i'd like to see a proven manager replace an unproven one, i would like to know who it was and what the transfer budget would be. i take it from some posts above that these things wouldnt interest some of you, and that you'd not want to even think about replacing hughton?
thats as daft as criticising him was last summer, in my opinion

Many people can go on about how our wage bill meant that anything but automatic promotion was unacceptable. That's a mentality I struggle to understand. Sure, our wage bill was the highest in the Championship by a significant margin, but apart from Steven Taylor and arguably Steven Harper, had anyone actually proven they were worthy of those exorbitant wages? Just because you a player earns 60k a week doesn't mean they are actually worth that. Harper, Taylor, Jonas, and possibly Barton were the only players who likely would have competed for a starting role at most Premier League clubs. We still had one of the thinnest squads in the league until the January transfer window, especially on the back line.

What Hughton has shown this year is massive improvement, the ability to scout, and an understated confidence that radiates to the squad. After the first 6 weeks, teams had figured us out, and we weren't scoring goals. Hughton toyed with the line-up, put some new players up front specifically moving Lovenkrands to striker and letting Harewood's form take control. In January, he spotted Williamson and Routledge (the latter with absolutely no hoopla what-so-ever which is impressive). Hall was a neat loan deal as well. Since bringing in Routledge and adapting the squad to let Guthrie play in center, we've scored 44 goals in 18 games (2.44 goals a game), compared to only 41 goals in the previous 25 games (1.64 goals a game). Our goal differential was +25 in the first 25 games, +27 in the last 18.

The most important thing Hughton does is deflect the press. He got some criticism for his not talking about the Carroll/Taylor situation, but that blew over so quickly hindsight shows he was probably right. The man seemingly only knows 20 words: "Tonight was a good fight." and "The next match is against a good squad, they are well organized and disciplined." His ability to speak at length and say absolutely nothing is Reagan-esque, and it's permeated the players as well. Nolan is the only one who speaks to the press these days, and even he just says, "We are only looking at next weeks match."

Quote:

waffles
The most important thing Hughton does is deflect the press. He got some criticism for his not talking about the Carroll/Taylor situation, but that blew over so quickly hindsight shows he was probably right. The man seemingly only knows 20 words: "Tonight was a good fight." and "The next match is against a good squad, they are well organized and disciplined." His ability to speak at length and say absolutely nothing is Reagan-esque, and it's permeated the players as well. Nolan is the only one who speaks to the press these days, and even he just says, "We are only looking at next weeks match."

That is a good point, so many times over the years we have been a joke, Chris hasn't said much and maybe as a fan it is frustrating but then we are not in the press for all the cr@p that they like to print so you don't mind.

Good to see you back on Neil even though Ive got a bit of eye strain, just joking pal.

I am a loyal person and a loyal fan. I would have chosen somebody other than hughton in the summer as i am sure everyone would have. But he stayed, and picked everyone up with a bit of dignity. I for one thought mid table or at best a shot of the play offs for us this season so to (hopefully) go up as champions is just immense. Call me daft but its like having one in the bag as nobody expected to go up, so even (god forbid) we went back down we would still be in a better position than when we went down last season.

Waffles is bang on, we were a club in crisis with many a fat rat jumping from the sinking ship. At the start of the season we had one experienced striker in Ameobi, one winger in Jonas, no right back and only two CB. We must have had one of the thinnest squads. Not to mention players who had looked very average/tired in the premier like Nolan, Smith, Barton even Colo and Jonas could be put into that bracket. So for you Neil to say that promotion was a minimum and any semi competent manager would have done the same is a real slap in the face for hughton. He managed to get some loan players in and got players, who could have easily just spat the dummy out and picked up their wages, playing with passion and fight.

A friend of mine made a canny point the other day. He said maybe it would take a lot of pressure off us if Ashley or whoever came out and totally backed Hughton. No matter what happens next season they wont panic and pull the trigger. That he will get the full season to have his shot. Look what happened when Derby went up a few years back. Davies took them up first time of asking even though he had set himself a three year plan. He spent nowt then after a few games they sacked him and put Paul Jewell in charge who did nothing but blame everybody else. Just a thought.

biff - i would not change if the only option was paul jewell.

i would be shot down in flames if i listed the managers i would change for, even though as a fan this would just be a theoretical exercise. everyone would either give me a reason why that manager wont be moving clubs this summer, a reason why they are out of our reach, or a reason why they dont want him regardless. the point would stand though, that whilst hughton has had an impressive debut season, it would not be wrong for the board to consider our options this summer.
remember, if we go down again we'll lose another bunch of players, and it'll be even harder to get back up. we have to get it right this season, so if an opportunity came up, it should be considered

Quote:

lostmekeys
remember, if we go down again we'll lose another bunch of players, and it'll be even harder to get back up. we have to get it right this season, so if an opportunity came up, it should be considered

That's probably the best argument I've seen for a change; however it is under the assumption that another manager is a better choice than Hughton. If we're talking about Mourinho or Fergie, obviously that's the case. Convincing me that Hughes is a better choice than Hughton is a bit more difficult. Don't get me wrong, Hughes did a phenomenal job at Blackburn, but I'm just not convinced he's the right man for the squad we have right now.

Now, if someone had thrown Fatih Terim's name out there, maybe I could be convinced. He's a manager who knows how to get a thin squad to fight (see Euro '08).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:04:19:14:30:50 by waffles.

yes 100% he deserves a shot after steadying the ship and turning thongs around. Another manager now would just cause turmoil that we dont need. The players all seem to be united and all pulling in the right direction so they obviously respect Mr Houghton. He always comes accross well in interviews showing respect for players, the club and the fans. Good luck Chris for next season sure there will be alot of southern media looking/waiting for him to fail so us geordies should all get behind him form the very start. United we stand, Uited we fell now it is time for us Unted to rise from the ashes.

I know I'm joining this late, so I just want to make a few points rather than interject into your various arguments.

-Don't really see a "proven" manager out there whom we can get. I'm not impressed with Hughes. I think he's tactically not much better than Hughton, and when given money and talent to work with, he couldn't handle it. He certainly didn't have an "apprenticeship" managing anywhere-directly from playing to managing a national team to the top flight.

-As long as Ashley is in charge, I'm not going to fantasize about things like being told what the transfer budget is. It's just not going to happen.

-Related, I don't want to go back to spending like we did before Ashley. And if we did, again, I wouldn't be completely confident with, say, Hughes choosing the targets.

-If bums like Iain Dowie and Brian Laws are worth a go in the PL, so is Hughton.

-I don't like this line of "with the squad we had, we were always going up regardless of who was in charge." That's the sort of unrealistic expectation we're often accused of having. It reminds of a line I heard a lot last season: there are too many teams with less talent than us, we won't go down. Guess what-we went down. Even if a squad has talent, someone to get them to use it properly is a must.

Hughton for me. You just don't fire a manager after he won the league for you. Bad karma and all...

Good post tunyc totally agree

Quote:

tunyc
I know I'm joining this late, so I just want to make a few points rather than interject into your various arguments.
-Don't really see a "proven" manager out there whom we can get. I'm not impressed with Hughes. I think he's tactically not much better than Hughton, and when given money and talent to work with, he couldn't handle it. He certainly didn't have an "apprenticeship" managing anywhere-directly from playing to managing a national team to the top flight.

-As long as Ashley is in charge, I'm not going to fantasize about things like being told what the transfer budget is. It's just not going to happen.

-Related, I don't want to go back to spending like we did before Ashley. And if we did, again, I wouldn't be completely confident with, say, Hughes choosing the targets.

-If bums like Iain Dowie and Brian Laws are worth a go in the PL, so is Hughton.

-I don't like this line of "with the squad we had, we were always going up regardless of who was in charge." That's the sort of unrealistic expectation we're often accused of having. It reminds of a line I heard a lot last season: there are too many teams with less talent than us, we won't go down. Guess what-we went down. Even if a squad has talent, someone to get them to use it properly is a must.

Hughton for me. You just don't fire a manager after he won the league for you. Bad karma and all...

i'm not having that either, and no-one came on here predicting the season would pan out like this, did they?
congratulations to chris and the squad, fantastic season.

MM: I have to disagree when you say “...it doesnt matter what faces Hughton can attract next season...” and “...why would we need a manager who can sweet talk players...”. I think that much depends on the quality of the players we sign, because putting better players on the field is generally how a club achieves progress. I agree with you, and with the general consensus, that we’re unlikely to be making any more “trophy” signings, and instead we’ll be trying to bring in up-and-coming young players who we hope will develop into the stars of the future. If such a player were to come available, they would probably have more than one club in for them, so I do think we need to be able to persuade players that NUFC is the best place for them.

Carys: Of course I wouldn’t replace Hughton with Shearer now – Shearer is more inexperienced and unproven as a manager than Hughton, so that would be the polar opposite of what I am arguing for! But if you’d asked me the same question last summer, then I’d have chosen Shearer, as I think would most of the other fans (not that public opinion is always correct of course).

Regarding what our predications for this season were, I’ll admit that I didn’t have a clue when we first went down because we didn’t know which players would leave, whether the club would be sold, or who the manager would be. Or to put it another way, I didn’t know whether or not the underachievement would continue / get worse. But at the same time, I thought that we really ought to be aiming for immediate promotion, given our squad and resources in comparison to the other CCC teams. By the time the transfer window closed and we knew for sure which players were staying, I thought we were far better equipped than any other team in the division, and therefore to not achieve promotion would have had to be considered as more underachievement. Can I ask, if you disagree with this rationale, which CCC teams do you think were better placed to win promotion?

Quote:

Neil2010
Can I ask, if you disagree with this rationale, which CCC teams do you think were better placed to win promotion?

Prior to the January transfer window, Boro had an arguably better squad than we did. One could argue for West Brom and Cardiff as well.

Based on the performances from 2008-2009, you cannot honestly look at the following line-up and say, "That squad has 11 players that would play first team football for almost any mid-table team in the PL"

GK: Harper, Krul
RB: Simpson, R. Taylor
CB: Colocinni, S. Taylor
LB: Enrique
RM: Geremi, Lua Lua
CM: Barton, Smith, Butt, Guthrie, Nolan, Vuckic
LM: Jonas, Lovenkrands
FW: Ameobi, Carroll, Ranger, Lovenkrands


Other than Keeper, on September 1, 2009 does that squad give you confidence? The top two scorers for Newcastle in that squad are Shola Ameobi (32 goals in 190 league appearances) and Steven Taylor (7 goals in 121 league appearances). Nolan, Colocinni, and Ryan Taylor looked absolutely atrocious the previous season. Jonas couldn't cross a street. Geremi's legs had gone years before. No one on that team could put a free kick over or around a one man wall the year prior (even our specialists: Taylor and Geremi). Barton and Smith had spent more time in the physio room than on the pitch. Ameobi was well known for picking up knocks the moment he got on a good spree.

No Cover for center back and only one of which was proven, no proven full back, no right winger worth anything, no one who could cross the ball, only one "proven" goalscorer (Shola "Barndoor" Ameobi), a center midfield that had more give-aways than any other midfield all of the previous season.


Again, just because you pay someone 80k a week doesn't mean they are actually worth it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010:04:21:19:08:59 by waffles.

neil, shall we ask you next may what you thought would happen when looking ahead to next season?
cheap shot, but the point is that optimism was in short supply last autumn, and if many people did set promotion as a fair target, its only right to add that the target was met and passed with lots of games still to play. what more could the team have done? we look like getting 100 points, 100 goals, and genuine, if tempered, optimism that we can make a fist of it next year.
did you doubt any of that during october(ish), when we had no colo, shola, taylor, or wins for four or five games? the back up players looked well short of the mark to begin with, but that patch was rode out, decent loans brought in, and players such as carroll stepped up (eventually) to give us a platform for the second half of the season

I definately think Hughton should be on the sidelines next season. He has done a remarkable job under constant pressure this season and also (almost) steering us to an unbeaten home record. One of our main problems last season was the lack of stability at the club, which is something we will have to make sure never happens again, and sacking a manager who has done as well as Chris has this season would be shooting us in the foot before the season has even began.

At the end of my last post I posed the question: “which CCC teams do you think were better placed to win promotion?” with only 1 taker. I therefore conclude that the answer is, there weren’t any. Waffles: you mention possibly Middlesbrough, West Brom and Cardiff. Of Middlesbrough’s squad, who would get into our starting 11? Maybe Wheater, Johnson (before he went to Man City) and O’Neil (before we signed Routledge). West Brom finished bottom of the PL and lost their manager, and again have only 3 or 4 players who might make our starting 11 (Dorrans and Bednar come to mind). Chopra, arguably Cardiff’s best player, was let go by NUFC because he wasn’t even as good as “Shola “Barndoor” Ameobi”, as you put it. NUFC on the other hand, even before the January transfer window, had Harper, Coloccini, Taylor, Enrique, Gutierrez, Nolan, Smith, Barton, Ameobi, Carroll and Lovenkrands, all of whom would be key players in every other CCC team. Even the players I haven’t yet mentioned such as Guthrie, Simpson, Butt, Ranger and Kadar would most likely have got a decent amount of first team football at many other CCC clubs. You ask how many of our September 09 squad would play first team football for mid-table PL teams – I think some, but not all, but in the context of the discussion regarding Hughton’s achievements this season, we’re talking about our squad as compared to other CCC teams so mid-table in the PL is the wrong basis for comparison. The bottom line is, every other manager in the CCC would have killed to have had a squad like ours at their disposal.

I say all of this because I would like to see a bit more balance when it comes to the debate about Hughton. Yes he has done a good job, but all this talk about him being a hero and the saviour of Newcastle United is just way over the top. There are many other reasons why we have prospered this season, for example:-
1. We had by far the best squad, and for the most part were playing vastly inferior teams;
2. Ashley kept his nose out of team affairs i.e. no constant changing of the manager, no Dennis Wise, no advocating the signing of players based on you-tube footage, no having to pander to South American agents in order to carry favour etc.;
3. The fans turned out in record numbers, getting behind the team and providing revenue for the club;
4. A fairly generous amount of money (at least by CCC standards) was made available for new players in January.

I reckon that if asked, Hughton himself would probably agree. So given how well equipped we were, isn’t it fair to say that a lot of managers would have got us promoted? Look at the good jobs done by Di Matteo at West Brom and Billy Davies at Notts Forest – not exactly big name managers, but they have achieved success this season with far more modest means.

I’m uncomfortable with the notion that we should keep Hughton on the basis that he “deserves a chance” to manage in the PL. NUFC’s only concern should be to do what’s best for NUFC, and we don’t owe any individual person anything at all. For me, we shouldn’t be looking just one season ahead with the mindset of “lets take a punt on Hughton because he deserves his chance, we’ll find out whether he can hold his own in the PL and hopefully we won’t be relegated again.” Maybe he’ll do fine, maybe he won’t. We don’t know, because no matter how well anyone thinks Hughton has done this season, he is unproven and inexperienced at PL level. What if he can’t hold his own? What if, come Christmas, we’re in the relegation zone? Do we change the manager mid-season? What if we are actually relegated again? Will the fans still be saying that it was right to give him a season in the PL because he deserved his chance? What will happen to the club then? Should we be taking this sort of gamble, just because it would seem harsh on him to show him the door after doing well this season?

We’re going back into the PL with something of a blank canvass. We have the makings of a decent team, but there is a long way to go yet. So for me, the question we should be asking is, is Chris Hughton the right person to manage NUFC in the longer term i.e. within the next 3 or 4 seasons can you see NUFC with Hughton in charge re-established as a top-half Europe-chasing PL team? Or, is there someone else who is more proven, more experienced, and more qualified to manage NUFC, and therefore more likely to achieve success. It is, at the very least, something that ought to be considered.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:04:27:23:50:10 by Neil2010.

I cant go through and answer all of your post Neil but the overall thing is 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing. I cant think of one person I know who expected us to go straight up even when the tranfer window shut. If you did then well done to you but there were so many unknowns when we came down, no experience at that level, thin squad with players jumping ship, no manager, which way Ashley would go, the disgrace that was the relegation season mainly due to the p.iss poor players.....

Its easy to say we should easily have went up but football is never that simple. Spurs should have knocked Pompey out of the cup but hey ho.

I dont think people are calling Hughton a hero as such and Ive never heard anybody calling him a saviour probably other than the press. I think its more of a mutual appreciation of how he has conducted himself and just got on with his job. No matter how you put it or what happens next season Hughton has done an amazing job and deserves all the praise given.

The thing you need to ask is who is out there. Hughes maybe but nothing is guaranteed. Its a risk either way but keeping Hughton is the right thing to do. Can you name a few managers that you could seriously see coming to us.

Who the f00k knows whats going to happen next year. Yes we might be bottom at xmas and Hughton might get released but at least he will have given it a good crack. What if we brought in a higher profile manager that the players f00k.ing hate. Out goes all the team spirit that we will rely on.

Just enjoy the moment and stop writing so much about it.

@ Niel2010 I would have expected Middlesbrough to be there!

Obviously sacking southgate was stupidity looking back?

Its always gonna be the three that go down are favorites to go back up!

(But with the turmoil surrounding us early in the season some were saying we would do a Leeds and drop another division)

in fact there fans came on here end of last season taunting us, if you had have been around then with your confidence we would bounce back at the first attempt you could have jumped down their throats with one of your super long posts!

But i can hold my hands up and say I would not have expected Forest, Blackpool, or Leicester to be there....

Anyhow I would like to drop it now, as I made my point I think Hughton has an objective to stay in the division if he does that then he has reached his second goal in his managerial career, like I said il take 17th now!





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:04:28:23:46:41 by Mighty__Mag.

You guys are still on about this? Sheeesh!