Chris Hughton(B. 1958)

[SkStu]

great move for Hughton and thoroughly deserved.

[gastric]

He won't know himself. A club which seems to be pretty harmonious and with some money to spend, how will he cope!

[Noelys Guitar]

He will have to rebuild almost a new team as Birmingham are looking to sell their best players and releasing a lot of players as well. A real challenge but one I expect him to win ie get Birmingham back into the Premiership in one season. Very under rated manager IMO.

[CraftyToePoke]

Cant wait to see how he does, would love to see him pass Newcastle on his way up in a seasons time. With Leon Best on board as the Championships top marksman.

[irishfan86]

Strangely enough Crafty it wasn't really Hughton who gave Best much of a chance. Pardew was the one to really give Best a go.

Seems a weird decision on Newcastle's part to want to part ways with Best though...he's got a lot of promise. Not many young players get a hat-trick like that so soon after making their PL debut.

[tetsujin1979]

Best made his Premier League debut years ago when he was with Southampton.

[CraftyToePoke]

Strangely enough Crafty it wasn't really Hughton who gave Best much of a chance. Pardew was the one to really give Best a go.

Seems a weird decision on Newcastle's part to want to part ways with Best though...he's got a lot of promise. Not many young players get a hat-trick like that so soon after making their PL debut.

Yes, but I think it was Hughton who brought him to Newcastle, but I could be wrong, also I suppose Andy Carrol was tough to drop. I was surprised they are happy for him to leave though, he was a bright spot in their season before the injury.

[Charlie Darwin]

Yeah, Best was unlucky enough to join the squad when the likes of Carroll and Lovenkrands were scoring for fun. He clearly showed once fit that he's a Premier League striker (and a prolific one at that) so it's surprising Pardew doesn't want him. Maybe there are doubts about his attitude.

Should be good having Hughton at Birmingham. With Foster probably on his way to Villa, Colin Doyle will have an opportunity to stake his claim (he already won promotion as #1 once) and Keith Fahey will be one of the senior members of the midfield next season, along with Carr at the back.

[tetsujin1979]

Hughton confirmed as Birmingham City manager: http://www.bcfc.com/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10412~2379962,00.html (http://www.bcfc.com/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10412%7E2379962,00.html)

[the bear]

best of luck to chris, treated very badly at newcastle, hope he proves any doubters wrong

[tricky_colour]

Great to see he has a new job hoping he does well, a lot depends on the the clubs finances I suppose, but I think he is as good a choice as
any for Birmingham.

[ArdeeBhoy]

My Irish Blues mates seem delighted.

Met CH twice, a top fella.

[Philly]

A bit of a slow news day, but I read in a paper here in Sweden this week that Cian is on trial with Malmo and will play for their u-21 side this Friday. Would be an odd move if it happens.

[Acornvilla]

European footie every year ain't to be sniffed at.

[theworm2345]

He's had a handful of failed trials and had been training at Birmingham and playing for their reserves. Swedish league isn't great quality but not terrible either so if he does get a contract would be good.

[Irish_Praha]

Hope he digs out a half-decent career for himself but he's 23 now and hanging around the lower leagues. So he's probably not going to get any more international caps.
Just looked at his wiki page and it says he's only 5ft5 - for anyone that's interested in that sort of thing :p

[Fixer82]

Just looked at his wiki page and it says he's only 5ft5 - for anyone that's interested in that sort of thing :p

ha ha you make it sound a tiny bit perverted

[nigel-harps1954]

Good signing for Shamrock Rovers if they got their ass into gear..

[BonnieShels]

Good signing for Shamrock Rovers if they got their ass into gear..

Pats are supplying it of course.

[ifk101]

He made the local paper in Malmö.

http://www.sydsvenskan.se/sport/fotboll/mff/article1609223/Avgorande-minuter-for-Cian-Hughton.html

What he says is; he wants to stay in Malmö, he's quite similar to his father, he has experience of playing at a relatively high level, he thinks he can develop in the Swedish league, there are players of Premier League standard in Sweden, he can't think of a better career chance outside of England, there hasn't been any interest outside England for him before the trial with Malmö, he doesn't have an agent, he came to Malmö because somebody with Birmingham knows somebody in Malmö, a lot of the talk in training is in English, he expects a few Swedish words to be used in match situations.

The above paper had a live report on the Malmö match(es) yesterday and they reckon he won't be staying with Malmö.

[tetsujin1979]

on the bench today for Birmingham

[tetsujin1979]

Well written article on why Hughton should be the Championship Manager of the Season: http://www.football365.com/faves/7702725/F365-Focus

(pun totally intended by the way)

[geysir]

Very good article, but I don't get the pun.

[bennocelt]

Well written article on why Hughton should be the Championship Manager of the Season: http://www.football365.com/faves/7702725/F365-Focus

(pun totally intended by the way)


That's an excellent article, thanks. Who is Daniel Storey? Would love to read more like this..............

(edit- I didnt get the pun either:o)

[tetsujin1979]

seriously? Neither of you ever played Championship Manager - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Championship_Manager_series
ok, it's not much of a pun, but still.

[geysir]

It still might be a great pun, but any beauty of it was totally lost on me.

[AlaskaFox]

I don't think it's a pun Tets. :(

[tricky_colour]

Perhaps the pun was there was no pun? :)

[Stuttgart88]

Leading candidate for WBA post? (http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/soccer/2012/0430/1224315392719.html)

[CraftyToePoke]

New Norwich manager : http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18356657

[BonnieShels]

Delighted for him.
Great choice for them.

[tricky_colour]

Delighted for him too but it's a tough job in that
Norwich are pretty much at their peak success would be basically maintaining the same sort of
position or indeed just staying up.

[the bear]

very tough job to go into, that team got promoted twice in a row and then a strong first season in the premiership. Momentum, confidence and lamberts tactics made them successful. With a change in manager and the captain looking to jump ship the team could of peaked already. I doubt there will be much money to spend. hope it goes well for him

[BonnieShels]

Hughton at this stage has proven he's a belter of a manager.
He got that Newcastle side promoted at first attempt at a canter and had them mid table when he was sacked.
He also did a fabulous job of fixing the McLeish destruction of Birmingham.

[the bear]

its the knock on effect of another mcleish destruction that got him the norwich post. big eck is putting his kids through college

[seanfhear]

Great to see Chris back in the premier league. He did an incredible job for Birmingham last season. I hope it goes well for him.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.goal.com/en-ie/news/3941/england/2014/04/06/4735545/norwich-sack-hughton-and-appoint-neil-adams?ICID=HP_BN_3

Hughton has left Norwich.

Bit pointless sacking him now imo.

[Paddy Garcia]

A man who is too noble for the game of football.

[tricky_colour]

Seem a bit odd given they will probably stay up.

[samhaydenjr]

Ridiculous decision, at this point...I know they've been inconsistent, at best and that they have a brutal run-in, but victory at Fulham next week would leave them eight points clear of the drop zone, which should be enough to squeeze home. But now they go into that game with a youth team coach going up against a three-time Bundesliga winner. And the attitude of the fans also irks me - they spend fifteen of sixteen seasons outside of the top flight and then get a run of three seasons in the Premier League and start thinking they're part of the elite group of clubs and are entitled to permanent status at the top, leading them to taunt the manager who led them to their best league position in twenty years because they aren't safe a month from the end of the season - I hope they end up like Wolves :mad:

[OwlsFan]

And the attitude of the fans also irks me - they spend fifteen of sixteen seasons outside of the top flight and then get a run of three seasons in the Premier League and start thinking they're part of the elite group of clubs and are entitled to permanent status at the top, leading them to taunt the manager who led them to their best league position in twenty years because they aren't safe a month from the end of the season - I hope they end up like Wolves :mad:

They're no different from any other set of fans (Irish included) who always feel their team should be doing much better than they are. It's in the nature of the beast - human nature even as witnessed by the Celtic Tiger. I've made 10 billion. Must make 15 billion.

The decision is not just based on the recent home defeat BY WBA. They have been a side in free fall for a while and have had some embarrassing defeats under Chris. Shame but we all know what football is like for managers these days. Their life cycle is close enough to that of the mayfly for most with the odd elephant thrown in, in the shape of Alex Ferguson.

[Dunners]

Norwich have had the most success in the past when Hoolahan was in the team playing in a number 10 position off the target man.
He has persevered this season with 4-4-2 leaving Hoolahan out , or when he’s in playing him out of position

You don’t like to see anyone lose there job but he’s had it coming for a long time

[Stuttgart88]

I agree. Nice bloke but I think he has been poor at the helm this season. Fans are like broken clocks: sometimes right. I think they were right in Highton's case, just as they were in the end for Trap. Probably true of Wenger too. Just because you were great once doesn't mean you're the man for the job now. I think Norwich should be grtaeful to Hughton for the work he did but -as an outsider looking in - I have felt that he hasn't been getting the best out of them this year.

[tricky_colour]

Pretty ridiculous decision IMO, they are reasonnable safe in the Premiership, which is right at the top
of their expectations. How many more points are they expecting to have?
There s more room for them to get a lot worse than a lot better.

[DeLorean]

Both good points... I'm a bit torn but think tricky is right that more harm than good could come of it at this stage of the season. At best they're going to achieve what Hughton looked likely to achieve anyway. They probably should have waited until the summer to rock the boat if they felt they needed freshening up.

[geysir]

It was a pretty much nailed on inevitability that he wouldn't be kept on at the season's end. A point would have been expected against Swansea and 3 against West Brom just to keep him going at the club until the end of the season. In this last game, they just didn't do enough against West Brom and ended up hoofing the ball for runners or into the box. baffling considering, Wes as a provider and Hooper assured with ball on the ground. When you look at the team at times, it's hard not to see Hughton's imprint in their tactical naivety.
The timing of his sacking is a bit puzzling. seeing as they were still well favoured to survive, maybe there's a bit more than just panic before the next game, as in dressing room angst beyond repair or/and they have a lot of confidence in the youth team coach.

[paul_oshea]

They werent favourites, because of their last 4 games, in your mind maybe, but your mind only. I'll requote at the end of the season.

I think sacking hughton should see them survive though.

[geysir]

They werent favourites, because of their last 4 games, in your mind maybe, but your mind only. I'll requote at the end of the season.

I think sacking hughton should see them survive though.
Typical, snidey, O'Shea-professing -to-know-it-all but really doesn't, reply :)
Fulham/Sunderland/Cardiff are still favourites today for the drop and Norwich still favoured above those 3 to survive.
On 29 March, Norwich were 1/7 to survive, 31st March 1/3, 5th April 1/4 and 6th April 4/6
The bookies were aware of Norwich's schedule and expected them to beat West Brom and still expect them to beat Fulham, or at least stay ahead of them.

[tricky_colour]

Norwich losing 1-0 away to Fulham, Hoolahan on the bench, change of manager does not
seem to doing them much good so far.
Suits Hughton if they go down of course.
Apparently Norwich were playing well but missing chances.

[paul_oshea]

This caretaker manager is making the same mistakes as hughton. Looking more and more like they will go down as predicted.altho today they did look decent in spurts but when they were behind and had Liverpool on the counter no men came up to support.very strange.