I wonder what all those Stoke City fans who called for former boss Tony Pulis to be sacked are thinking today as Mark Hughes was names the Potters new manager? Is this really a step in the right direction for Stoke?
Hughes is looking to revive his managerial career after disappointing stints with Manchester City and
more recently QPR.
“(Stoke) have looked maybe beyond my last position and taken my career as a manager as a whole,” Hughes said. “It was difficult (at QPR), mistakes were made. Certainly I made mistakes which I will learn from.”
“I have listened to what people have said as my managerial ability and I will use it as a motivation.”
While Pulis was not a sexy manager he guided the team into the Premier League and turned them into a solid mid-table team, and also took Stoke to the FA Cup Final two years ago. But Stoke fans grew weary of his long ball style of football, wanting something more sexy, more pleasing to the eye.
Hughes first task will be to make Stoke more of an offensive threat as they only scored 34 goals in 38 Premier League games last season
“It’s not a case of wiping away all the hard work that’s been put in place in previous seasons. That would be crazy,” said Hughes.
“But I would like to think I can make them a bit more offensive and maybe that’s where the club hasn’t helped itself in the past by not scoring enough goals.”
The appointment of Hughes was met with a lukewarm reception by Stoke supporters, with one fan protesting by putting a placard on the back of his van calling for Hughes to go, even before he was confirmed as manager.
Stoke owner Peter Coates said:
“I do understand it [fans’ doubts] but I remember very well Tony Pulis was not universally popular when he came to this football club. There was more [dissent] I suspect than there is now, by a long way, so it’s nothing new.
“Supporters are going to have their own views and their own favourites, so that goes with the territory, I understand everybody won’t be jumping up and down but I believe the majority will think we know what we’re doing, we’ve done our homework and we’ve made a good decision.”
Bryan Shaw, chairman of Stoke City’s Supporters Club, said:
“If you ask the majority of Stoke supporters, Mark Hughes would not be their first choice. That said, whoever the chairman appoints we have to get behind. We just have to hope he proves us wrong.”
Not convinced that Mark Hughes is the right hire for Stoke, but we will see this season how we does without having a open wallet to sign players.
