Chris Hughton is starting to get praise from those who know all about the game of football.
Chris Hughton – shown when Newcastle won 1-0 at Cardiff City
And we have to think that if Chris can indeed get the Newcastle club promoted this season, there will be a lot more praise thrown his way for the fantastic job this man has done on Tyneside this season.
And Hughton will deserve every accolade thrown his way.
Gordon Strachan, manager of Middlesbrough, and former Coventry, Southampton and Glasgow Celtic manager, has praised his Newcastle counterpart Chris Hughton today.
Middlebrough manager Strachan, believes the 51 year-old Londoner has done a great job in charge of the Newcastle club this season. And it’s a club Hughton took over in very uncertain and dismal circumstances last July 1st.
Gordon Strachan talked about Hughton today:
“He’s done a smashing job. It wasn’t easy at the beginning of the season. I know what it’s like when you go into a club and there’s upheaval.”
“He’s managed to keep his good players beside him, and to work with him, and because of that, they are doing very well.”
“He bought wisely in the January window – and I know that for a fact because I tried to buy two of them! He’s done the right things.”
“Mike Ashley has stuck it out and keeps investing in the club, which is fair play to him, so between Ashley and Chris, they have done great together.”
Chris is the type of man who can work with almost anybody, and he’s a hard working and honest guy, and a real gentleman, who doesn’t seem to have a bad word to say about anybody.
The fact that he played a back-room coaching role under Kevin Keegan, Joe Kinnear and even Alan Shearer at Newcastle is testament to a man who is not only committed to his job, but committed 100% to the Newcastle United club.
Oh, and he’s also worked hand-in-hand with Newcastle owner Mike Ashley this season to good effect.
Long may Hughton’s success continue on Tyneside.
Comments always welcome.
8 comments so far
ToonTex
Mar 12, 2010 at 4:45 PM
Comment #1Got to hand it to him. He has us playing at a high level in this league and has negotiated his share of rough patches. Truly earned his praise. Get in, Chris!
Bucks mag
Mar 12, 2010 at 5:12 PM
Comment #2Very admirable manager, utterly professional.
BUT still can’t get rid of doubts about whether he could cut it in the Premier League.
pobstar
Mar 12, 2010 at 5:31 PM
Comment #3Got to admit doing a far better job than anyone, including myself, would have thought possible with the situation at the start of the season but I just can’t stop thinking about this ‘players council’ that started after the 6-1 drumming from leyton orient, is that not who we should be thanking?Take our squad for previous two seasons, A group of star players just turning up and thinking their talent will show through( last season) vs A group of good players with a hard work ethic ( this season) the hard work will win but CH will prove to me he is the reason if he can keep them focussed next season. I give him till Dec next year. Then it’ll be everyone wanting him out
estechco
Mar 12, 2010 at 6:05 PM
Comment #4Know what you mean Bucks mag, but to be fair the guy he will have a further 12 months experience under his belt by the time it (hopefully) becomes an issue.
Captain Beefheart
Mar 12, 2010 at 6:33 PM
Comment #5NUFC should build the club around his management style. just as we failed to do with Sir Bobby. But, as ever, we won’t.
Instead, the idiot brigade will bay for blood at the first opportunity. They have been doing it for years and years and years, I suspect they don’t even know why they do it. In truth the last long term stable manager (before KK’s pre ’97 heroics and Sir Bobby’s solid but all too short stint at the helm) was Joe Harvey, and we sacked him because we lost a cup final and preferred to appoint a succession of flotsam and jetsam in his wake .
But sacking managers is what we do best, in fact it’s the only thing we do well at all, and it clearly works for us. After all we haven’t won a scrap of meaningful silverware ever since Joe himself was sacked. And we’re so good at it we can sack managers for the most unlikely of reasons; booting out Arthur Cox for having the cheek to get us promoted, or Sir Bobby for failing to get us into the Champions League yet again…. But didn’t we weep so at his funeral (or was that guilt pangs, Freddy put the knife in but he wasn’t alone in the hounding out of Bobby)?
Does nobody have the vision to see what a gem we have (undeservedly) acquired in Chris Hughton? But mention Chris’s name here and it’s always a complement followed by a cynical sideswipe, look there’s Bucks Mag at it (above) – why even Ed did it yesterday.
Problem is, we at NUFC have been losers for so long we can’t recognise a true winner (like CH) when we see one. This guy will achieve great things and win serious silverware for some club, whether or not it’s at the Toon is largely up to the scalp-happy supporters.
dan007
Mar 12, 2010 at 11:26 PM
Comment #6http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/uploads/assets/240×359/legends/chris_hughton.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/history/legends/chrishughton.html&usg=__QuOG_QgdlfGafsB_70Zp4Spetc4=&h=359&w=240&sz=21&hl=en&start=60&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=9KC9Z_ovl8AlKM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=81&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchris%2Bhughton%2Bcup%26start%3D40%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
Paul Nugent
Mar 13, 2010 at 3:33 AM
Comment #7Well said Cap’n. I have been a part of the Toon Army for almost 40 years, albeit from a distance, and I believe CH is quite literally “a gem”. We have discovered he works for a pittance – way less than some of his players – and yet he does not complain. He has kept his head when all about were losing theirs, quietly getting on with the job in hand. He has earned the respect of the team and his peers, and enabled everyone connected with the club to feel a rare sense of optimism. I would attribute much of this to the fundamental goodness of the man – a rarity in football these days, and it has brought everyone together in a positive way. We should shake his hand, slap him on the back and give him our full endorsement.
dave 1961
Mar 13, 2010 at 2:53 PM
Comment #8what a load of rubbish we are playing in a poor second tier of football and we have scraped our way thru until the last few games it is stupid that people are now say build the club around him yes if we want to be a 3rd tier club we need to keep control of ourselves let’s see what happens next year I will love to be wrong about him but I have my doubts.