Source: Northern_Echo
Proud Hughton denies being offered job
CHRIS Hughton last night dismissed reports suggesting he had been offered the manager’s job at Newcastle United on a permanent basis, but his players’ character and resolve at the Cardiff City Stadium nevertheless enhanced his claims for the post.
A hard-fought 1-0 win over the Bluebirds extended Newcastle’s unbeaten start to the season to seven matches, and lifted the club back to the top of the Championship table after they had been temporarily dethroned by West Brom.
There was little of the slick football that had been apparent in their previous away win at Crystal Palace, but Newcastle’s players fought tigerishly in the face of some concerted Cardiff pressure to defend the advantage earned through Fabricio Coloccini’s first-half header.
Hughton, who was named Championship Manager of the Month for August at the weekend, was delighted with his players’ commitment, and expressed his pride at their continued winning run.
“I’m very proud,” said the temporary Newcastle boss.
“You go into some games knowing it could be quite open and you might be able to play the type of football you like, but you go into others knowing it’s going to be very tough.
“The most important thing then is that you compete well, which I thought we did. I thought we limited Cardiff in their home stadium to minimal chances. We knew it was a game where we would have to defend well as a group and we did that.
“We probably didn’t play as well on the ball as we have done in other games, but as a group I couldn’t have asked any more from them. I’m very proud of this group of lads.”
Yesterday’s victory came on the first anniversary of the start of Hughton’s first spell in charge of the Magpies, and the former Spurs coach is making a convincing case for a permanent role.
Mike Ashley’s attempts to sell the club continue to falter, but while the Newcastle owner is expected to make a decision about the future of the manager’s position shortly, Hughton insists it is business as usual as far as he in concerned.
When asked to comment on stories suggesting he had been offered the job permanently, he said: “That’s news to me. As far as I know the situation is still exactly the same. I’ve been asked to take charge of this team until told different and I haven’t been told different at this stage.”
He continues to plan for the future, however, and will step up his attempts to make at least one loan signing this week.
Marlon Harewood, Caleb Folan and Daniel Cousin are all attacking options, and while Nile Ranger impressed in a lone striker role yesterday, Hughton is desperate to bolster his forward ranks.
“We are working hard on that side of things,” he said. “It’s no secret that we would like to bring players in. At the moment, we’re really getting away with it in terms of the squad, but we know the games are coming thick and fast over the next few weeks.
“We’re certainly working at it so, for me, the sooner things start to happen the better. I don’t know whether we’ll be able to do anything before the Blackpool game, but I think most people would accept that we need to bring people in.”
Newcastle will be without Alan Smith when they travel to Bloomfield Road on Wednesday, but while there was little controversy about the second booking that led to the second red card of the midfielder’s Magpies career, Hughton felt he was unfortunate to earn a first booking for a lunge at Joe Ledley that appeared to result in a charge of persistent fouling.
“I thought Alan was very unfortunate,”
he said. “There was no argument with the second booking, but on the first we felt at the time that he didn’t touch the lad. I know the lad had to do an evasive movement to get out of the way, but we didn’t think Alan touched him so with that in mind I thought the sending off was very harsh.”
