Why Stoke manager Mark Hughes continues to fly under the radar
Friday 25 November 2016 11:22, UK
Does Mark Hughes deserve more credit? Patrick Davison sits down with the Stoke manager to get his thoughts and discuss his ambitions...
At the start of this week, I called Stoke's press officer to see if Mark Hughes would speak to us. The next day he rang back with what seemed like a resounding yes.
"The manager's up for it," he said. Not the customary, "Ok, he'll do it", this appeared much more promising.
"Sounds like he's quite enthusiastic about it Fraser," I replied. Then, from one of the league's more straight-talking press officers, came the truth: "Not really. I told him we've had a request for a contractual interview and he puffed out his cheeks and said, 'Alright then'."
Of course, I don't think any manager jumps for joy when they get asked to do an interview, and even after such an upbeat start to my conversation with his press officer, I wasn't surprised that he didn't especially want to do it. But it is a snippet from a conversation that tells us a little bit about why Hughes himself believes he's not held in higher regard as a manager.
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Despite almost 400 largely successful games as a Premier League manager, and a playing career that took him to Bayern Munich and Barcelona, as well as Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton, his name is rarely more than whispered when a 'top job' comes available.
Before the interview began, I told him about my conversation with his press officer. It's amazing how much he feels his reluctance to be in the limelight has held him back
"Maybe it is because I don't particularly enjoy doing this sort of thing (interviews) and I'm not very good at it," Hughes says smiling and sounding philosophical rather than bitter.
"My natural personality is towards introversion, everybody is built in a different way and that's how I am. I don't think it makes me any less of a manager."
The other problem Hughes thinks is that, in a playing career littered with trophies, big clubs and player of the year awards, he never had to learn to sell himself.
"Because I was doing well in my career and playing for top clubs, I never had to try and manufacture interviews or raise my profile, it was never part of my development as a player," he says.
"It's probably to my detriment because as managers, it's a big part of what we do now."
Then, of course, there's the competition. It's hard to get ahead of the likes of Pep Guardiola, Antionio Conte and Jurgen Klopp - especially when you're a reluctant interviewee.
Hughes, though, feels he's as up to speed as any of the Premier League's new arrivals.
"No one is reinventing the wheel, there's not too many secrets. Most of us have got our finger on the pulse," he says.
"We (Hughes and his backroom staff) don't do now what we did when we first came together, we've not stood still. It's just a case of wading through the new ideas and seeing what we can embrace."
His CV as a manager may not be as glamorous as some of his rivals, but it certainly bears scrutiny. He signed his first full-time contract as a manager 17 years ago this week. That contract, as Wales manager, saw him transform his country's fortunes.
He then had Blackburn battling for Europe in his first Premier League job, got the ball rolling at Manchester City - signing the likes of Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta - and was rock solid at Fulham.
In eight full seasons as a Premier League manager he's never finished outside the top half, though at QPR, the one real blot on his copybook, he would likely have been relegated with the team had he not been sacked.
"No one is reinventing the wheel, there's not too many secrets...It's just a case of wading through the new ideas and seeing what we can embrace."
At the beginning of this season it appeared the sack might be looming again after Stoke made their worst start to a season in 65 years. But the club held their nerve and results, until last weekend's home defeat to Bournemouth, improved.
Hughes has earned patience after three seasons in which the team's style has been transformed, big-name players have been attracted and club records have been set for points, goals, wins and highest finish in a Premier League season.
"I do not underestimate what I've got here, I'm privileged to have this job. I'm one of the few Premier League managers and that's a huge thing," Hughes adds.
"We've had three good years, but what Leicester did and their fantastic story has probably made it harder and raised expectations.
"Can the rest of us even get close? I don't know. But it looks like the big boys have got their act together and are not going to allow that to happen again in the future.
"We still have our hopes and dreams. Stoke is an ambitious club, Stoke wants to go places, Stoke wants to get stronger. This club hasn't won a trophy in a long time, we'd like to get another one on the CV, and that's realistic."
As a player and a manager, not many can match what Mark Hughes has seen and done in this league. Maybe we should talk about him more.
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