Source: Telegraph
How Mark Hughes is coping with Manchester City ride
Hughes does not do rants, either towards rival managers or the media, he doesn't play to the cameras or the crowd in the manner of one of his many Manchester City predecessors, Stuart Pearce, and he also doesn't play the game of soothing the egos of those players who might have been indulged and pampered by previous employers.[LNB]But having departed the calm waters of Blackburn Rovers last June for the white-water ride that comes with managing Manchester City, Hughes is learning fast that what worked at Ewood Park is not necessarily a blueprint for success at Eastlands. For a start, the Blackburn dressing-room was conspicuously lacking in Brazilians.[LNB]When Hughes left Blackburn for City last summer, his departure as good as sent his former players into mourning at Ewood Park. Tales of dressing-room unrest within weeks of Paul Ince's arrival as Hughes's successor were simply the emotional leakage from a squad besotted with the methods and man-management employed by Hughes, as spelled out by his Rovers captain, Ryan Nelsen.[LNB]Nelsen said: "Once you meet him, you know you're in the presence of the guy. He's got a bit of an aura about him. He's just a born winner."[LNB]Everybody bought into the Hughes ethos, from chairman John Williams to the fringe players that never once broke ranks to complain at their lack of first-team opportunities. It was the way that things were for Hughes as a player, at Manchester United and Chelsea, and Blackburn's squad mirrored his understated approach.[LNB]Robinho's unscripted departure from City's Tenerife training camp this week, Elano's bitter public attack on Hughes last month in response to being dropped and the fining of Jo for some ill-timed socialising earlier this season are all episodes that would not have happened at Blackburn, not because of Hughes's control at Ewood Park, but because of the self-policing of the dressing-room undertaken by his players.[LNB]If any of the Rovers squad stepped out of line, and there were some lively characters in Robbie Savage, Andy Todd and Craig Bellamy, the likes of Nelsen, Brad Friedel and Stephen Warnock would have addressed the issue before Hughes and his staff were even aware of it.[LNB]The City mustang is still some way from being tamed, however, but Hughes's January acquisition of Wayne Bridge and Bellamy, characters he knows well from previous clubs and positions, will strengthen his voice amongst the squad and further isolate the negative influences.[LNB]Suggestions of splits amongst Hughes's players are over-stated, although it is no secret that Elano and Jo are unhappy at their increasingly regular role as substitutes. Robinho remains a popular figure within the squad and, in Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips, Hughes has two loyalists whose careers have flourished under his guidance this season.[LNB]Adding Kaka to that group of players was a genuine ambition for Hughes, who was described as 'crestfallen' by a source close to the manager when informed of the collapse on Monday of negotiations to lure the AC Milan star to City.[LNB]Rather than being nudged towards transfer targets by Sheikh Mansour's associates, Hughes has carefully identified the players he believes will sate Abu Dhabi's desire for a marquee name, while at the same time bolstering his team.[LNB]The only shadow hanging over the Welshman, however, is the theory that marquee players will only sign for a marquee manager and, despite his illustrious playing record, trophies won at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge more than a decade ago count for little when sat across a table from the world's best players.[LNB]Relative success at Blackburn will not have made much of a splash in Gazzetta dello Sport or Marca, but Robinho jetting off to Brazil and being fined two weeks' wages will. And it will hardly paint Hughes in a good light in the eyes of those star players he is so keen to attract. [LNB]
