Icons: Mark Hughes
It's time to explore another football icon
Mark Hughes is a Welsh football coach and former player of many clubs including Manchester United, Chelsea and Bayern Munich. He is the manager of Bradford City.
From Old Trafford and then to Barca, Bayern and back
During his playing career, he operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United. His first spell at Old Trafford came between 1980 and 1986 when he won the FA Cup in 1985. In 1986, he moved to Barcelona but this time wasn't a success for Hughes. It was during this time when had a loan spell with Bayern Munich.
In 1988, he returned to Old Trafford and had a very successful 7 years. He won the FA Cup twice, the Premier League twice, League Cup and a UEFA Cup Winners Cup. He finally left in 1995. Part of the reason for his departure was the development of the Class of 92 at Manchester United.The video below contains a good insight into his time at Old Trafford. For a period, he was up there as one of the club's greatest ever players.
Premier League news (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com)
One Manchester United fan told us: "What a player he was for us. 1995 was the correct time for him to go but he was a superb player for the club"
Post Old Trafford
He had three successful years at Chelsea. He won the FA Cup, Cup Winners Cup and League Cup. Hughes finished his career with spells at Southampton, Everton and Blackburn.
Managerial Career
Hughes was appointed manager of Wales in 1999 and remained in the role until 2004. He failed to qualify for a World Cup or European Championship during his five years in charge, although his reign coincided with a marked improvement in results. Wales came particularly close to securing 2004 European Championship qualification.
This interview with The Coaches' Voice - YouTube is worth a watch
Hughes then spent four years in charge of Blackburn, guiding them to sixth place in 2005–06. He took charge of Manchester City in June 2008 for a year and a half before spending the 2010–11 season at Fulham. He joined QPR in January 2012, helping them retain their Premier League status in 2011–12. Despite some high-profile signings in the summer of 2012, QPR began the 2012–13 season in very poor form, and Hughes was dismissed on 23 November 2012
Hughes was appointed manager of Stoke City on 30 May 2013. He guided the club to three consecutive ninth-place Premier League finishes in 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16. Progress at Stoke stalled in the 2016–17 season, with the club finishing 13th in the table. Following a poor start to the 2017–18 season, with the club in the relegation zone heading into the new year, he was dismissed by Stoke on 6 January 2018, hours after an FA Cup third-round exit.
He was appointed manager of Southampton on 14 March 2018, signing a contract until the end of the season, with the club one point above 17th place at the time of his appointment. He guided the club to safety at the end of the 2017–18 season but was dismissed in December 2018.
Return to football
In February 2022, he was appointed manager of Bradford City on a deal until the summer of 2024. This was the first time he had managed a club outside of the Premier League. It will be interesting to see the impact that he has at Bradford. Can he use the experience to help them climb the Football League?
The video below contains one of his recent post match interviews.
