Mark Hughes News Archives

Blackburn Rovers‘ hopes of UEFA Cup football next season took a hit when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Tottenham.

Bulgarian international Dimitar Berbatov gave Tottenham, who have already made sure of a return to Europe by winning the League Cup, a sixth-minute lead before Morten Gamst Pedersen levelled for Blackburn on the half-hour mark.

England goalkeeper Paul Robinson was left out by Tottenham after being troubled by an ankle injury and his replacement Radek Cerny was soon in difficulties when he fluffed a clearance.

But Spurs were soon in front.

Steed Malbranque passed for Jermaine Jenas who found Berbatov in space and the Bulgarian coolly slotted in his 22nd goal of the season.

At the other end of the pitch, Pedersen had a shot saved by Cerny before England winger David Bentley created an equaliser for the Blackburn star.

Bentley breezed past Pascal Chimbonda before pulling the ball back for Pedersen to finish past Brad Friedel.

Bentley and his England international counterpart Aaron Lennon both shone in an end-to-end game but neither side was able to find the killer touch with the result leaving Rovers in eighth place and Tottenham in 11th.

Blackburn can still improve on this season, with Portsmouth facing a tough run of fixtures with an away game to West Ham on Tuesday and then home next weekend to a resurgent Newcastle United. Tottenham on the other hand have more to worry from Newcastle United overtaking them than of them going on to overtake West Ham.

Former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier says English footballers are pushed into top management jobs too quickly. He has told the BBC Inside Sport programme that he believes Bryan Robson, Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate all took on senior positions far too soon.

“In France, you cannot become a manager when you step out of your career as a player,” he said.

“Would a manager of a big company put somebody without experience into a key position in his company? No, he would not, but they do in football.”

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So the see-saw that is the Premier League lead has swung back the way of Arsenal again after they became the first side this season to leave the City of Manchester Stadium with three league points, whilst their North London neighbours Tottenham apologized for humiliating them in the Carling Cup last month by halting the Manchester Utd Globetrotters with a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane - although the ungrateful souls among Gunners fans may still manage a grumble about Juande Ramos’ side conceding an equaliser with literally the last kick of the match, via a combination of Carlos Tevez & Michael Dawson.

Behind them, Chelsea lost ground in third place as Jermain Defoe’s debut goal for Portsmouth denied Avram Grant’s side a club-record tenth successive victory after Nicolas Anelka had picked up his first league goal for the Blues.

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West Ham’s Premiership survival last year required a lot of luck. The were bound for relegation, 11 Premiership matches without a win and a difficult trip to Ewood Park to face European hopefuls Blackburn ahead of them.

However, with the score at 1-1, Bobby Zamora’s shot hit Carlos Tevez before crossing the line. Tevez was in an offside position and the ball failed to cross the line. Howard Webb gave a goal and West Ham went on to win 2-1. Everyone knows what followed, Sheffield United weren’t happy, but the Hammers won 7 of their last 9 games to stay up!

This time around and West Ham aren’t struggling. They are 10th, underachieving maybe. Blackburn lie 8th (not including Saturday’s matches), seven points ahead having played a game more.

The statistics don’t look good for the London side. They are yet to beat a north west club this season while Blackburn are undefeated in 8 encounters with clubs from the capital! Rovers have lost 1 of the last 7 home games (4-0 against Aston Villa) and stand much better in the head to head. Blackburn have won 28 of the meetings between the sides at Ewood Park, with only 11 wins for West Ham and 5 draws.

The game also sees a return to Blackburn for Lucas Neill and Craig Bellamy. Unlikely that the pair will get a good reception from the Ewood faithful! Neill’s decision to quit Rovers was met poorly by the fans, similarly was that of Bellamy to Liverpool.

The one thing going in West Ham’s favour is that they have a full squad to choose from. Blackburn are without their solid and reliable captain Ryan Nelsen and England hopeful David Bentley, who scored twice in the win against Newcastle on Saturday, both are suspended for one game.

Score prediction

Despite being without two good players in Nelsen and Bentley, Blackburn can call on Andre Oijer and Steven Reid to fill the gaps. West Ham are a good side but the home advantage will give Rovers the edge.

Blackburn Rovers 2-1 West Ham United

Blackburn Rovers have enjoyed an excellent start to this season’s Premiership. Indeed it is the best start they’ve had since 1994/95 when they went on to take the title. So what exactly is it that the club is doing so well?

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What with TV revenue swelling player salaries, takeovers galore and spiraling ticket prices, Premiership management has assumed the role of poisoned chalice in this day and age. The stakes are higher than ever: managers of the clubs coming under new control feel pressure to impress potential new owners or risk being jettisoned in preference for a new man (see endless media speculation, aka more pressure, regarding Steve Bruce’s future at Birmingham in recent weeks).

Then there is the delicate balancing act in getting results and pleasing the fans, which Stuart Pearce could no doubt have testified to last season as Man City’s season ticket renewals for 2007-8 threatened to fall sharply, while ‘Little Sam’ struggled to live up to Bolton fans’ expectations in the months proceeding the ‘Big Sam’ era. Even Chelsea’s ‘Special One’ was believed to be grappling for power over new signings and pacifying dissatisfaction from Stamford Bridge’s powers that be regarding his style of football.

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In yet another turbulent week of European football and tabloid whispers, Monday and Tuesday’s saw newspapers beginning to link Mark Hughes to the (now vacant) Tottenham hot-seat.

For most people this rumour was a non-starter (if anything because Hughes distanced himself from the rumours, and because Blackburn find themselves in a far healthier stage than Tottenham Hotspur at present), and the news of the apparently impending arrival of Juande Ramos to the Lane has put paid to this particular story.

However, for me, the story could not have come at a more propitious moment; what better moment can there be to analyse the career of one of Britain’s great managerial hopes?, especially when there has been surprisingly little coverage of the excellent job done by the current Blackburn manager, whose side ironically travel to White Hart Lane on Sunday.

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Will he or won’t he?

With wonderkid Wayne Rooney itching to get back to first-team action there were rumours that he could be brought back, in some role, for the Manchester United v Everton game. Highly unlikely that something like this would happen, what with World Cup 2006 still fresh in SAF’s mind.

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Roy Keane. Mark Hughes. Marcello Lippi. Carlos Queiroz.

Who would you pick (in two years) as your next Manchester United manager?

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