Mark Hughes to join Fulham
The hunt for a new Fulham manager looks to have finally come to an end; former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is believed to be the man to take over at the Craven Cottage. Fulham have been on the lookout for a new man in charge since Roy Hodgson left the post and went to Liverpool.
Earlier Fulham were strongly linked with the former Tottenham boss Martin Jol who is currently applying his trade in Amsterdam with Ajax. The deal was believed to be all but done and Jol himself had openly admitted that he wanted to join Fulham. Martin Jol was reportedly unhappy with some transfer issue and funds at the club. Ajax however cleared the air with Jol and convinced him to stay.
Fulham owner Muhammad Al Fayed then turned his attention towards other candidates. Mark Hughes was always in the frame but was never the first priority for Fulham. The former Manchester United player has been without a job ever since he was let go by Manchester City last year in December. City replaced Hughes with the former Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini.
Mark Hughes switched roles from a player to manager 11 years ago; he took charge of Wales’s national team and actually did quite well. A team captained by his former team mate Ryan Giggs almost made it to the European championships in 2004. Wales lost the chance to go to Euro 2004 when the lost in a playoff match against Russia.
Soon after that, the same year, he was handed the job at Blackburn Rovers. Mark Hughes had a young team at his disposal, and actually did pretty well. He guided the team to UEFA cup qualification and also made it to the semi final of FA cup. Under him a number of young players developed into world class individuals; Bentley who later made it to the England team also emerged under him. Norwegian international Pederson was also believed to be one of the best left footed players in the league. Pederson’s form however has gone down ever since the departure of Hughes.
4 years later Hughes decided that it was time to take the next step and joined Manchester City; the club that was bustling with cash after the Abu Dhabi based business group took over the club.
Mark Hughes made good use of the money and made some big signings, but still the big names could not get him the success that the new owners desired. Hughes was eventually let go in December last year.
Hughes will take over a team that enjoyed their best season under Roy Hodgson last year. The expectations will understandably be immense, and Hughes will have his work cut out for him. Fulham had a dream run in Europe last season and against all odds made it to the final of the inaugural Europa League. The cottagers beat some big names like, Juventus, Werder Bremand and others on their way to the final. Atletico Madrid though did get the better of the London side by 1-0 in the final. Fulham also finished at their highest spot in the Premier League.
The man who replaces Hodgson will surely have a lot of baggage, for a club like Fulham the 2009-10 season is not a norm and can happen once in a while. Nevertheless, still when a club has tasted success the fans and the board only want more and more.
Mark Hughes was spoiled at Manchester City with huge sums of cash available for him to buy players he wanted. On the other hand at Fulham he will have to make a big adjustment and make do with a much smaller budget. It will be interesting to see if he will be able to make it work at Craven Cottage.
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