When getting fired pays rich rewards
The departure of Mark Hughes from Southampton hardly came as a surprise. He now holds the unenviable record of being the first manager to be sacked by two different Premier League clubs in the same calendar year, having been axed by Stoke City in January.
You can put the handkerchiefs away, however, as the Saints will be paying Hughes around £6 million in compensation after sacking him just six months into a three-year contract. But that’s not all.
According to the Guardian, Hughes will now have received a total of roughly £18 million in compensation payouts after having been sacked by Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers, Stoke and now Southampton. Nice work if you can get it.
It was admittedly a bit ironic that Hughes should get the boot of after one of the best displays of the season when the Saints were 2-0 up after 20 minutes and nearly beat Manchester United. But “nearly” is not enough.
“Overall I can’t be disappointed with that performance,” said Hughes immediately after the match. Unfortunately for him, members of the Saints board didn’t see it in quite the same light. With only one win from 14 matches and the team in an uncomfortable 18th place he was shown the door.
Hughes, nicknamed “Sparky” from an old British comic, had taken over from Mauricio Pellegrino in March and just about steered the Saints to safety last season, although they were far from convincing.
Sir Alex Ferguson once called Hughes “a warrior with whom you could trust your life.” But the warrior has looked distinctly battle weary in recent weeks.
Taking over from Hughes is Ralph Hasenhuettl, an Austrian who frankly not many English fans have heard of. He has a good reputation in Germany and is known for encouraging a free-flowing style of football and pressing opponents. His attacking approach took Leipzig to an impressive second place in their first season in the Bundesliga.
This all sounds quite promising, but of course you need the right players to make that style of football work. Unfortunately that’s what Southampton haven’t got. They are in dire need of some new faces. It will be interesting to see if the Austrian can get the current squad to respond.
Hughes began his management career with the Wales national team from 1999-2004. When it was rumoured in Sept 2004 he might be moving to Blackburn Rovers, Hughes commented: “The Blackburn job is just speculation. I have no plans to leave the Wales post. I am a Welshman, who is as proud today of being national team manager as he was on the day he was appointed.”
The next day he accepted the Blackburn post.
His four-year spell at Ewood Park was reasonably successful. He led Rovers to three successive FA Cup semi-finals and also saw the club finish sixth and seventh in the Premier League. However the physical style of play did not earn the club too many friends.
In June 2008, he took over at Manchester City after Thai owner Thaskin Shinawatra sacked Sven-Goran Eriksson. Three months later the Thai sold out to the Abu Dhabi United investment group. Despite being active in the transfer market Hughes could only take City to 10th place in his first season. The second season began well enough, but after a bad run of results in Dec 2009 he was replaced by Roberto Mancini.
Hughes moved to Fulham in 2010 and led the team to a respectable eighth place in the Premier League. However he abruptly resigned, indicating he was hoping to find a bigger club. He admitted later it was a decision he would regret.
He found himself at Queens Park Rangers and in 2012 they just escaped relegation despite losing 3-2 to Manchester City in that memorable final game of the season which saw City clinch the league title in the closing seconds.
Despite making a lot of signings, the following season did not go well for QPR and Hughes was sacked in Nov 2012.
Hughes moved to Stoke City where he was to remain for five seasons. He built up a solid side and for three successive years Stoke finished in a creditable ninth place. Things did not go so well after that, however, and within two seasons he was fired.
In March 2018 Hughes took over at relegation-threatened Southampton and managed to avoid the drop. But the situation has not improved and now he is unemployed... but considerably richer.
Southampton are known as the Saints having started life as a church football team. The club’s main claim to fame came when as a secondtier team they beat hot favourites Manchester United in the 1976 FA Cup final.
They reached the top flight for the first time in 1966. Although they were relegated after eight years, they quickly bounced back. In 1984 they even finished runners-up to Liverpool with a fine team which included Kevin Keegan, Alan Ball and Peter Shilton.
Two years later Matthew Le Tissier joined the Saints and he went on to score 161 goals, many of them quite spectacular. Alan Shearer also made his name with club, scoring a hat-trick on his full debut.
When Southampton were relegated in 2005, it ended a 27-year spell in the top flight, a fine record for a small club. They were back in the Premier League in 2012 and have been relatively successful despite a high turnover of managers and players.
Hasenhuettl’s immediate task is to get something out of today’s crucial visit to Cardiff City who have been showing signs of life recently. The Saints could possibly start with a few prayers.