mao tse tung
Vital Champions League
61 year old Christopher William Gerard Hughton is a product of the Tottenham Hotspur Youth system, joining the Club at the age of 13, eventually going on to play just short of 300 first team games before spending two seasons at West Ham and one at Brentford.
He also had a distinguished international career playing over 50 times for the Republic of Ireland.
Once his playing career was over, Hughton went back to Tottenham in a coaching capacity, taking charge of their under 21 side; he worked his way up to reserve team coach and then first team coach, taking charge of the first team on two occasions in a caretaker capacity, before being fired along with Martin Jol in 2007
After leaving Tottenham he was offered the first team coach role at Newcastle by the then Director of Football, Denis Wise, eventually being offered the managers position after Alan Shearer guided the Club into the Championship the following year.
Hughton’s first season in the Championship was a resounding success, gaining promotion at the first attempt accumulating 102 points and scoring 87 goals in the process, while having to do without the services of 24m pounds worth of players, including Obafeme Martins, Sebastien Bassong and Damien Duff and signing just 3m worth of additions.
The following season witnessed Newcastle make a good start with Hughton becoming the first Manager of the Month for that season, but with the side sat in 12th place, Managing Director, Derek Lambias decided to dispose of Hughton’s services.
Hughton’s next port of call was at newly relegated Birmingham City in June 2011, inheriting a European campaign as City were the holders of the League Cup.
The season was accepted as a resounding success by the St Andrew’s faithful; they managed to get to the group stages of the Europa Cup, the 5th Round of the FA Cup and into the Championship play offs, losing over two legs to Blackpool.
This proved to be his one and only season with Birmingham who allowed Hughton to speak with Norwich.
His first season at Norwich resulted in an 11th place finish despite flirting with relegation all season; this pattern repeated the following season, eventually resulting in Norwich disposing of his services.
After spending 8 Months out of the game, Hughton was offered the managers role at Brighton in December 2014; he wasted no time gaining a play off position in his first full season, finishing 3rd before losing to Sheffield Wednesday over two legs.
The play off disappointment was put right the following season with a 2nd place finish and automatic promotion.
Hughton won another Manager of the Month award in his first season back in the Premier League finishing the season with a 15th place finish, but things turned sour in his second season being dismissed after the last game of the season and a disappointing 17th place finish.
Style of play:
In an article in the Coaches voice publication, shortly after leaving Brighton, Hughton gave an insight into his footballing philosophy:
He claims to have no predispositions on preferred formation, setting his sides up to be defensively sound but with strong attacking aspects, stating “Ultimately, it’s about winning football matches, and how you do that comes down to the level of club that you are managing and the players that you have.”
So, with his extremely good record in the EFL, it could be we are in for a delayed start to our promotion campaign; however, there are a few worrying similarities which need to be pointed out:
Long career with Tottenham – check
Distinguished career with the Republic of Ireland – check
Former manager of Newcastle – check
Chris Hughton?
No, Joe Kinnear
He also had a distinguished international career playing over 50 times for the Republic of Ireland.
Once his playing career was over, Hughton went back to Tottenham in a coaching capacity, taking charge of their under 21 side; he worked his way up to reserve team coach and then first team coach, taking charge of the first team on two occasions in a caretaker capacity, before being fired along with Martin Jol in 2007
After leaving Tottenham he was offered the first team coach role at Newcastle by the then Director of Football, Denis Wise, eventually being offered the managers position after Alan Shearer guided the Club into the Championship the following year.
Hughton’s first season in the Championship was a resounding success, gaining promotion at the first attempt accumulating 102 points and scoring 87 goals in the process, while having to do without the services of 24m pounds worth of players, including Obafeme Martins, Sebastien Bassong and Damien Duff and signing just 3m worth of additions.
The following season witnessed Newcastle make a good start with Hughton becoming the first Manager of the Month for that season, but with the side sat in 12th place, Managing Director, Derek Lambias decided to dispose of Hughton’s services.
Hughton’s next port of call was at newly relegated Birmingham City in June 2011, inheriting a European campaign as City were the holders of the League Cup.
The season was accepted as a resounding success by the St Andrew’s faithful; they managed to get to the group stages of the Europa Cup, the 5th Round of the FA Cup and into the Championship play offs, losing over two legs to Blackpool.
This proved to be his one and only season with Birmingham who allowed Hughton to speak with Norwich.
His first season at Norwich resulted in an 11th place finish despite flirting with relegation all season; this pattern repeated the following season, eventually resulting in Norwich disposing of his services.
After spending 8 Months out of the game, Hughton was offered the managers role at Brighton in December 2014; he wasted no time gaining a play off position in his first full season, finishing 3rd before losing to Sheffield Wednesday over two legs.
The play off disappointment was put right the following season with a 2nd place finish and automatic promotion.
Hughton won another Manager of the Month award in his first season back in the Premier League finishing the season with a 15th place finish, but things turned sour in his second season being dismissed after the last game of the season and a disappointing 17th place finish.
Style of play:
In an article in the Coaches voice publication, shortly after leaving Brighton, Hughton gave an insight into his footballing philosophy:
He claims to have no predispositions on preferred formation, setting his sides up to be defensively sound but with strong attacking aspects, stating “Ultimately, it’s about winning football matches, and how you do that comes down to the level of club that you are managing and the players that you have.”
So, with his extremely good record in the EFL, it could be we are in for a delayed start to our promotion campaign; however, there are a few worrying similarities which need to be pointed out:
Long career with Tottenham – check
Distinguished career with the Republic of Ireland – check
Former manager of Newcastle – check
Chris Hughton?
No, Joe Kinnear
