Silva’s good, but he’s no Hughton

‘THEY didn’t do their homework about my career,’ sniffed Marco silva of his doubters at the weekend, shortly before going down 3-1 at stoke, a result one presumes will not be featuring highly in the c.v. circulating at better clubs than hull come the end of the season. And yes, it is easy to mock observers such as Paul Merson and Phil Thompson, who both expressed surprise when silva got the job in January. silva looks a very able coach and may well keep a club up that many thought was doomed. he has done a good job. Yet those who questioned the appointment were making a wider point than the suitability of one man. it was about the opportunity afforded to British coaches. Do you know who has also done a good job? Chris hughton at Brighton. A fantastic job, in fact. Brighton have the ninth highest wage bill in the Championship, but look like going up in first place. Bucking your position by almost half the league takes some doing. Yet who has more chance of landing a Premier league job of significance if one becomes available this summer? We all know the answer. silva’s fivemonth rescue mission would count for more than hughton’s 20 years at the coalface in english football, doing a good job wherever he went. Newcastle were mid-table when he was sacked, he took Birmingham into the play-offs and even Norwich were five points above the relegation zone when he was dismissed in 2014. They had taken seven points from their previous seven games. They promptly took one point from the remaining five and went down. hughton gets tough jobs, but, unlike silva, has no way of parlaying them into the big league. Birmingham is exchanged for Norwich, Norwich for Brighton. silva only signed a contract until the end of the season and now gets mentioned in speculative lists of candidates if Arsene Wenger leaves Arsenal. And he seems very astute. You never know he might even have got Brighton up; but, if he did, you can guarantee we’d hear a lot more about it than we ever hear about Chris hughton.