Q: Why will Kop fans love their new chief? A: Because he got Ron sent off for United...
IT should not take incoming Anfield sporting director Richard Hughes long to win over the Liverpool fans.
The former Portsmouth midfielder can just point them in the direction of Youtube footage showing him being headbutted by Cristiano Ronaldo at Fratton Park back in August 2007.
The Portugal star got his marching orders for it.
And Hughes picked himself up a priceless memory... or, as he put it in an interview in 2020, “one of the highlights of my career”.
Hughes, 44, will officially take up his Reds job on June 1 after finishing this season in his role as first-team technical director at Bournemouth.
As a player, he came through the youth ranks at Arsenal before moving to the Cherries.
He then made the switch along the South coast in 2002 and saw pretty much everything there was to see during a nine-year stay at Pompey.
So says fellow former Fratton favourite Guy Whittingham, who also worked with Portsmouth’s age-group sides during Hughes’ time.
Whittingham said: “He really did see pretty much everything a footballer can experience – the changing managers, going into administration, FA Cup Final glory, incredible escapes from relegation...”
“And during all that time he never changed. He’s the kind of guy you would want to play with and to play for.
“I don’t think that going to Liverpool will change him, either. He has always gone about his business in the same way.
“He has a strong side to his personality – you don’t get where he is without that – but you can have it without having to shout at people.
“He goes about things in the right way and that’s why he has had such success. Ask anyone at Portsmouth about him and they’ll say the same thing – he’s a really great guy.” It was in his Pompey days that Hughes first worked with one Michael Edwards, who was brought in as a Prozone analyst by the then manager Harry Redknapp. Hughes and Edwards will reunite at Anfield in June when the latter returns to Liverpool as the club’s CEO.
For both men, turning up at a local school’s sports ground for Pompey training must seem like a distant memory.
But the lessons they learned on the South coast should stand them in good stead on Merseyside.
Whittingham recalled, laughing: “It was never dull, was it? And, in many ways, Michael was ahead of his time in terms of the performance analysis he was doing.
“Data is everywhere now – people talk about it as much as they do about the football itself.
“But back then Harry was looking for every edge he could possibly get – and Michael gave him that. I think Hughesie was one of the players who really embraced that as
well.” During his time at the club, five-cap Scotland midfielder Hughes also wrote a regular column for the Portsmouth News.
“He was always fascinating company,” said Neil Allen, the newspaper’s chief sports writer.
“And on the pitch he was a reliable and selfless performer.”
Two qualities Hughes and Edwards will want in the players charged with bringing success in the post-jurgen Klopp era.
And, just like at Pompey, it certainly won’t be dull.