Will history look kinder on Hughton?

[Canary Legend 0]

Nathan Redmond is developing brilliantly and whilst I don''t think we will keep him for the long term one of the big boys will pick him up.

Never the less we will get a huge fee for him and I think he will break into the England 1st team.

Not everything Ooton did was crap

[lharman7 39]

[quote user="Canary Legend"]Nathan Redmond is developing brilliantly and whilst I don''t think we will keep him for the long term one of the big boys will pick him up.

Never the less we will get a huge fee for him and I think he will break into the England 1st team.

Not everything Ooton did was crap[/quote]

Sorry, who''s Hughton???

[Mr Angry 1,542]

Signing Redmond was down to Delia, nothing to do with CH 😉

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,775]

Every manager makes a good signing though- Gunn signed Holt, Roeder signed Hoolahan etc.

But Hughton''s record wasn''t as bad as people make out. It was the style and approach that was the problem, and the record books won''t reflect that.

[Bury Yellow 2]

No

[Surfbird 1]

Canary Legend - You are correct - Hughton brought in some excellent payers to the club most of them providing todays key players.

He brought in Tettey, Redmond, Olsson, Fer, Hooper, Whittaker and the one failure so far RvW.

I have spoken with most of these players and they confirmed that it was Hughton who persuaded them to come to Carrow Road.

I would like to see him get Brighton promoted.

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

[quote user="Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man"]Every manager makes a good signing though- Gunn signed Holt, Roeder signed Hoolahan etc.

But Hughton''s record wasn''t as bad as people make out. It was the style and approach that was the problem, and the record books won''t reflect that.[/quote]

Actually his record after the ten game run was woeful. Maybe he should be remembered as a decent scout but a dreadful manager who blew the opportunity of establishing this club in the top flight just when the big money was about to slosh in?

Hopefully Neil can repair some of the damage ... This may save Hughton''s legacy.

[Lessingham Canary 99]

He made a few good signings (and one disastrous one) but his legacy will be shown in the record books as relegation, whilst some will never forget the boring, negative set up for matches and constant praising of the opposition (something i have never heard once from AN)

[unique 434]

No

[Grant Holts Moustache 104]

The record books will show he finished 11th and got fired with the club 5 points above the relegation zone. Where as the football wasn''t fun to watch I can see what he tried to do. He just bought the wrong strikers and it didn''t work out. He did how ever bring in some decent players that have been a part of the reason our squad is as strong as it is now.

We''ve moved on now and things look good. He has moved on too and looks like he is doing a good job at Brighton.

We''ve had far worse Managers and had better too.

[Katie Borkins 1]

Bryan Gunn signed Grant Holt.

[westcoastcanary 173]

[quote user="Lessingham Canary"]He made a few good signings (and one disastrous one) but his legacy will be shown in the record books as relegation, whilst some will never forget the boring, negative set up for matches and constant praising of the opposition (something i have never heard once from AN)[/quote]

The "record books" may lead the blinkered to view our relegation as Hughton''s legacy (though in fact they will show that Adams was manager at the time). But serious historians of NCFC will recognise that CH''s true legacy was to complete the transformation of our club by keeping us up in his first season. That was a huge achievement and of far greater long term importance than the subsequent relegation.

[kick it off 1,948]

The problem with Hughton was the style of play. History won''t reflect that, but I will always remember it as the most dour football I''ve ever watched us play. Even worse than under Roeder. 11th place finishes (which we scraped by winning two dead rubber games against teams with nothing to play for) after being 17th ish with two to play IIRC) mean nothing when compared to the price we had to pay watching that $hite for the whole season.

Everyone can point to Hughton''s signings as a measure of success as much as they like, but although he signed good players, he couldn''t get them to play as a good team due to his ineptitude, as shown by the same players performing at twice the level under Alex Neil. His ability to sign good players and make them play $hit is nothing to be celebrated imo.

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

The only reason we survived in his first season was because he inherited a well oiled and vibrant machine. The longer he had his hands on the controls the worse we got.

People who point to the 11th place finish fail to remember the ridiculous leap we made on the final day thanks to helpful results elsewhere and a MCity side finished with Mancini ... On that occasion the league table did lie - it didn''t reflect how good Hughton was (as the following season - despite spending £13m on strikers alone - very much proved).

[nutty nigel 7,506]

History will look kinder on Hughton. It always does as time allows for a more balanced opinion. If you don''t believe me look how history has ended up looking kinder on Worthy. Hughton was loved in comparison to the utter bile and hatred Worthy had to try and manage through.

But the best example of all is Geoffrey Watling. Absolutely detested in the 60s and subject to some of the most vile terrace abuse I can remember. First in line for a statue now though...

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

The history books will also always display what happened when non league Luton arrived at Premier League Carrow Road with Hughton in the dug out.

[mrs miggins 0]

Surely it will look exactly the same? He finished 11th with an ageing Grant Holt as striker, phenomenal achievement, he was then sacked with just a few games to go as we were slipping down the table.

If we had got in a manager such as Dick Advocaat for the last few games for example (I only say this as an example, he may not have kept us up), we will be looking at this differently e.g. ''Hughton should''ve gone earlier but at least the club made the correct decision in the end and we stayed up.'' The fact that the board made the wrong decision and appointed an incompetent youth team manager who only picked up 1 point means that Hughton''s last season with us will be classed as null/void, and rightly so. Who knows how Hughton would''ve done in those last few games, anyone who says they do should be ridiculed. His legacy is what it is.

[PurpleCanary 5,553]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]Surely it will look exactly the same? He finished 11th with an ageing Grant Holt as striker, phenomenal achievement, he was then sacked with just a few games to go as we were slipping down the table.

If we had got in a manager such as Dick Advocaat for the last few games for example (I only say this as an example, he may not have kept us up), we will be looking at this differently e.g. ''Hughton should''ve gone earlier but at least the club made the correct decision in the end and we stayed up.'' The fact that the board made the wrong decision and appointed an incompetent youth team manager who only picked up 1 point means that Hughton''s last season with us will be classed as null/void, and rightly so. Who knows how Hughton would''ve done in those last few games, anyone who says they do should be ridiculed. His legacy is what it is.[/quote]We have some facts to go on. In the reverse fixtures earlier in the season, with Hughton having the advantage of three at home and two away, we picked up no points and had a  goal difference of -11. Adams, with three away and two at home, got a point and a -8 GD.Football being football, no-one can say for certain what would have happened if the change had not been made, but Adams outperformed what the facts tell us we can have expected from Hughton if he had still been in charge.

[mrs miggins 0]

Tbf though I don''t think that says anything purple. I''m sure Hughton didn''t take any points against some teams whilst he was here, but it doesn''t have much baring on the results he could or could not have got, as you say.

I personally think it would be quite extraordinary if Hughton was to lose 7 games in a row considering that he never lost more than two in a row in the league (I believe). Though I can see what you mean.

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

The problem with Hughton was that the biggest single thing he had to deal with was letting Holt go and bringing in new strikers to replace him. Hughton spent record amounts bringing in RVW, Hooper and (presumably wage-wise) Elmander but none of them delivered with any consistency which made the difference between survival and relegation. We are fortunate to have found a better manager to get us straight back up.

[mrs miggins 0]

Just looked at the fixtures from that season as well, we also beat Arsenal and Man U at home. Again just because we beat them doesn''t mean that we''d beat them again either. Also saw that he lost 4 games in a row at the end of December, he always seemed to get a result when he needed it. That Spurs result.

[Making Plans 936]

[quote user="Surfbird"]He brought in Tettey, Redmond, Olsson, Fer, Hooper, Whittaker and the one failure so far RvW. [/quote]Just a shame that once he''d got them he was to stubbon to play a system that suited them.

[Lessingham Canary 99]

Elmander ?

[Van wink 2,994]

A manager that lacked basic man management skills, leadership qualities, tactical awareness but did posess the dubious quality of assisting good players to lower their level of performance. He managed to develop a footballing style that was both turgid and ineffective.

In fairness though the guy was always well turned out and maybe he will be remembered for quality of his tie knot.

[paul moy 235]

No because he''s a negative manager who did not utilise resources in the best way. He underestimated the talents that he had at his disposal by not trying to win games, settling for draws at every opportunity.

If he had tried to be more positive by attacking and building confidence in the players we would never have been relegated. His negative football drained all initiative from his players.

[Gainer the Gopher 0]

We beat some big teams under his guidance, but even when we finished 11th I remember apologizing to people I watched the games with because they were so very boring.

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Shame he didn''t sign Butland as well as Redmond eh?

Also in the end we were relegated 3 points below wba but with much worse goal difference so with hindsight we''d have needed an extra 4 points from our last 5 games (Flham, Liverpool Man U Chelsea Arsenal) ie 5 points rather than the one point we actually got. Anyone who thinks Hughton would''ve got 5 points from those fixtures is insanely optimistic after we got nothing against wba Swansea Soton etc.

With hindsight it was the wba home defeat which cost us relegation. A win then and we''d have survived (assuming they didn''t improve) and even a draw would''ve meant just one extra point would have allowed survival rather than the impossible job Adams was left with

So for me the buck stops with Hughton for that relegation although the board also bear part of the blame for not changing manager sooner.

[FCC 76]

Not sure he will feature historically having won nothing.

I remember him as a gentleman, who had a lot of class, but I never felt he was the right man for our club.

[Katie Borkins 1]

I don''t know how he will be remembered in ten or twenty years time, but I would hope nobody would forget he was given the largest transfer war chest in our club''s history and squandered it on RvW, Hooper, Fer.

The most bizarre thing about the whole arrangement was that neither RvW nor Hooper looked anywhere like suited to the single striker formation that Houghton favoured.  Therefore we spent an awful lot of money, and paid an awful lot of wages, for two players who may well be effective in the right league and in the right system, but were never going to work in the PL with Houghton''s tactical limitations layered upon them.

I will also remember him for sucking the atmosphere and life out of pretty much most of the home matches I saw, and for playing a turgid brand of dinosaur football which, particularly in his final season, made me long for the days when I could sit at home watching paint dry.

Thoroughly professional and nice in all interviews, and a decent player in his day, but my lord he should be remembered as a managerial failure on almost every level.

[nutty nigel 7,506]

None of which was any surprise when he became our manager. Hughton''s philosophy was no secret. In fact articles about his philosophy were unearthed and shared on here going right back to his early coaching days. It was welcomed by many on here when it was fashionable to be of the opinion that another season of lambertesque gung-ho football would see us relegated.