Chris Hughton’s coaching career hanging in the balance
CHRIS Hughton has more pressing business in his in-tray right now than worrying about his prospects of becoming the next Republic of Ireland manager.
Hughton is at risk of being run out of Ghana by a mob brandishing pitchforks if things go badly against Egypt tomorrow night (Thursday) in the African Cup of Nations.
The former Spurs and Ireland full-back has been left in no doubt as to the expectations of supporters after the Black Stars failed to shine against the Cape Verde Islands in the opening group game.
The nasty scenes in the team hotel as a fuming fan tried to attack Hughton following the shock 2-1 loss to Pico Lopes and Co reflected the depth of feeling.
AFCON matters and Ghana, as four-time champions, are expected to show up and be competitive, not least because the event is being played next door in the Ivory Coast.
Defeat to Egypt tomorrow and Ghana would find themselves on the brink of an early exit in the 24-team event, which would mean losing face with all of Africa — an unthinkable scenario.
Should Ghana, who fielded a team comprised of Europebased player against Cape Verde, stumble out in the group phase, there would be little sympathy for Hughton.
After the eventts at the team hotel on Sunday, he’d have an inkling of what was coming.
Hughton entered AFCON on a mission to make up for an embarrassing 2026 World Cup qualifying loss to Comoros which has damaged Ghana’s chances of getting to North America. He knows he cannot afford another failure, especially after the lastgasp loss to Cape Verde which has inflamed passion among supporters, used to big days on the big stage. Egypt are the top seeds in Group B and while they laboured to a 2-2 draw against Mozambique in their opening game, in Mo Salah, they possess a proven match-winner. A defeat tomorrow would not mean the end of the AFCON for Ghana as four of six thirdplaced teams advance to the last 16 but the odds would be stacked against them. And anything less than involvement in the knock-out rounds could be very costly for Hughton. If his contract were cut short at Ghana, where would that leave Hughton in the eyes of his supporters in the FAI hierarchy? Undoubtedly, it would impact on his prospects of following Stephen Kenny into the most coveted job in Irish football. His backers would find it bit harder to justify his appointment as a safe pair of hands, while those in the Lee Carsley camp could argue the Ghana misfortune was not entirely unexpected.
Consider Hughton’s recent record in management.
His final season at Brighton in 2018-19 was highlighted by a run to the FA Cup semi-final, but the team’s Premier League form unravelled with six losses and three draws from their final nine games.
Brighton stayed up by one place and two points but Hughton was promptly dismissed.
At Nottingham Forest, after a decent 2020-21, Hughton was sacked in September 2021 following a run of six defeats and a draw at the start of a season.
Yet, the team rebounded under Steve Cooper. At the City Ground, Hughton won 14 games out of 53, a win percentage of 26%, slightly less than Kenny’s 27% win rate in 40 games as Ireland boss.
Since taking charge at Ghana, Hughton has won four of his 11 games, but only one of the last six.
Under Hughton, the Black Stars have scored just nine goals. In their last six games, they have drawn four blanks. They managed one shot on target against Cape Verde.
They are ranked 61st in the world, a place behind the Republic of Ireland, and are likely to stumble back if they don’t survive to the knock-out phase in the Ivory Coast.
It paints a worrying trend for the likeable Hughton, who has been involved on football’s front line for 45 years, as player, coach and manager. His CV carries much lustre. As a player, Hughton was an Irish hero of Euro ’88, a dual FA Cup winner and UEFA Cup winner with Spurs, before promotions to the Premier League as manager with Newcastle and Brighton. He was also No 2 to Brian Kerr with Ireland.
Now, a shot at the No 1 job in Irish football has presented itself. It won’t come around again.
Should London-born Hughton get the FAI seal of approval, he would achieve the rare feat of managing the home countries of his Irish mother, Christine, and Ghanaian father, Willie.
For the moment, Hughton’s focus is on repairing the damage of Sunday night. It’s about getting Ghana team back on track and the fans back onside.