Chris Hughton

[Guest BlacknWhiteArmy]

Good luck Chris. Will be a tough job mind, as he would say there's a great 'group of lads' there, but they're lacking in quality and will almost certainly struggle next year. Hopefully he manages to get some shrewd business done. Guthrie would be great down there on a free.

[Mr Logic]

Best of luck to him, except for two fixtures, next season.

[Yorkie]

He will not do well if he thinks he can improve their squad with Peter Lovenkrands.

 

He wouldn't be the worst squad-filler for a team like Norwich whose target is Premier League survival.

 

Happy for Hughton; there's few ex-Newcastle employees who i want to see do well as much as this guy. All the best to him, i think he'll do well. I thought they were likely to get relegated if they lost Lambert and Holt, but Hughton will keep them up.

[TheHoob]

Pleased for him 

 

Not so pleased at the amount of money I had on Lee Clarke taking over at Norwich after I recieved a 'tip' that he'd been interviewed 

[TaylorJ_01]

Best of luck, Chris

[David28]

Good to see that Calderwood is back in the business, too.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Good luck to the man, an NUFC hero. Hopefully he'll do well there. He should get a great reception at SJP.

[Ronaldo]

He will not do well if he thinks he can improve their squad with Peter Lovenkrands.

 

I think even Hughton's smarter than that, to be honest.

[Flip]

Proud of him for getting a pl job again! Will definitely support norwich whenever we dont play them and hope he does really sell!

[Dokko]

Proud of him for getting a pl job again! Will definitely support norwich whenever we dont play them and hope he does really sell!

 

Fuking hell 

 

 

[Ronaldo]

Proud of him for getting a pl job again! Will definitely support norwich whenever we dont play them and hope he does really sell!

 

Sell who?

[Dokko]

Btw jumped at the first job offer that came along: no loyalty.

 

 

[Mole_Toonfan]

Proud of him for getting a pl job again! Will definitely support norwich whenever we dont play them and hope he does really sell!

 

Sell who?

 

Think theres a typo there and he meant "really well !" just a guess mind.

[Ronaldo]

As in Holt?

[Tiresias]

Considering Birmingham's owner who can blame him for jumping, was good for them, and sad he didn't get them promoted, must be a bit sick to be a Birmingham fan

[colinmk]

Hope they back him, seem to be well run so imagine they will. Tough job but knowing him he will do well.

[ponsaelius]

Btw jumped at the first job offer that came along: no loyalty.

 

Birmingham are selling players behind his back and are essentially fucked. Wouldn't be surprised if they were after the compensation money here too.

[Sifu]

Best of luck Chrissy, great to see you back in the PL

 

I honestly think he'll do a decent job at Norwich.

[Anderson]

Btw jumped at the first job offer that came along: no loyalty.

 

Birmingham are selling players behind his back and are essentially fucked. Wouldn't be surprised if they were after the compensation money here too.

 

Didn't kick up a fuss when WBA refused to stump the compo up.

[Dokko]

Btw jumped at the first job offer that came along: no loyalty.

 

Birmingham are selling players behind his back and are essentially fucked. Wouldn't be surprised if they were after the compensation money here too.

 

Which club losing their manager isn't after compensation money? Forgot norwich gave away Lambert to Villa.

[Mowen]

Good luck Chris.

[ponsaelius]

Btw jumped at the first job offer that came along: no loyalty.

 

Birmingham are selling players behind his back and are essentially fucked. Wouldn't be surprised if they were after the compensation money here too.

 

Which club losing their manager isn't after compensation money? Forgot norwich gave away Lambert to Villa.

 

No I mean that they're happy to lose him to bring the cash in. His exit has been on the cards for months, they're fucked.

[Dokko]

Btw jumped at the first job offer that came along: no loyalty.

 

Birmingham are selling players behind his back and are essentially fucked. Wouldn't be surprised if they were after the compensation money here too.

 

Which club losing their manager isn't after compensation money? Forgot norwich gave away Lambert to Villa.

 

No I mean that they're happy to lose him to bring the cash in. His exit has been on the cards for months, they're fucked.

 

Yeah I know, was just being a twat. Like you say sinking ship, only hope short term was promotion back first time asking, hasn't happened and the vultures are circling.

[ponsaelius]

Btw jumped at the first job offer that came along: no loyalty.

 

Birmingham are selling players behind his back and are essentially fucked. Wouldn't be surprised if they were after the compensation money here too.

 

Which club losing their manager isn't after compensation money? Forgot norwich gave away Lambert to Villa.

 

No I mean that they're happy to lose him to bring the cash in. His exit has been on the cards for months, they're fucked.

 

Yeah I know, was just being a twat. Like you say sinking ship, only hope short term was promotion back first time asking, hasn't happened and the vultures are circling.

 

Yeah most of their fans don't seem to blame him for going but will be annoyed if he goes back in for their players. Rumours about Curtis Davies apparently.

[AlanSkÃrare]

Brilliant as usual from Caulkin

 

Why Chris Hughton inspires respect - and love

George Caulkin

 

This is a blog about why I love men; if that opening line does not grab your attention, put it in a headlock and wrestle with it - naked, in front of a roaring fire - then God help us, nothing will. It is a statement I stand by with pride and conviction, but if you require a little context or a smidge of explanation, then I will happily provide it. As is required of me, according to the terms of my contract, I am talking football.

 

 

We all have footballing heroes, the players who smash goals or crunch into tackles, who epitomise the ethos of a club with their work, glamour or ability. We go doe-eyed about exploits out on the field, the formative memories that stay with us through the decades, that are gilded or amended to embellish the legend, that fortify us during those (frequent) barren moments. 

 

 

I love those things, but what I’ve come to really treasure, in an era when the bond between the sport and its supporters often stretches to the point of transparence and beyond, when alienation is a constant companion, are those people who accept our affection and who reflect it back, who represent the best of us. Men - and, for now, they mainly still are men - with inclusive personalities. 

 

 

The reason this thought is in my head (as opposed to the usual thought, which is of warm doughnuts served by topless sex robots) is, if you haven’t already guessed, the imminent return of Chris Hughton to Newcastle United. I went to see him at Norwich City last week for an interview which appeared in Monday’s paper and was reminded again about the qualities which guided the club away from turmoil. 

 

 

When I posted a link to the piece on Twitter, there was one response which particularly struck me and it came from a Middlesbrough supporter called Jonathan Ord (@jonord1). “From a Boro fan’s view, he made you dislike Nufc less,” he said. “That’s quite a compliment in its own way.” And, although the concept is a vague and complicated one, it really is. 

 

 

There are others who have had a similar effect. Staying with Middlesbrough, Tony Mowbray and Steve Gibson serve as beacons for Teesside, but whether through their own personal narratives, the fact their relationships with the club have seen them stand tall in dark moments, the philosophy of football, their track-records, they command respect elsewhere. 

 

 

I recall attending an event hosted by the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and hovering on the fringes of a conversation which saw a slightly lubricated Newcastle fan fall to his knees and plead with Gibson to buy his club. Gibson was amused and possibly flattered, but the request was a futile one; the reason why his ownership of Middlesbrough has worked and endured is because of his passion. 

 

 

On the subject of Sir Bobby, the same things applies. He is a different example, because he had a wider connection to the North East and to football in general prior to his appointment as Newcastle manager. A man of Durham, he looked south to the Wear as much as north to the Tyne, while his noble efforts with England left him belonging to all who can remember it. 

 

 

Hate withered inside Bobby. He wanted Newcastle to beat Sunderland and he enthused about the raucous intensity of derby matches, but he was baffled by the enmity between the two clubs. We can be very localised in our rivalry, but he was an ambassador for all of us. In return, he was adored; on his death, supporters of Sunderland and Middlesbrough (and countless others), chanted his name. 

 

 

Niall Quinn was chairman of Sunderland at that moment (fittingly, he and Gibson are both Patrons of Sir Bobby’s Foundation), and he is another man I think about with love. As a journalist, there was rich pleasure to be taken from a footballer capable of referencing the miners’ strike when he spoke, but that connection to the locality deepened as he took root in it. He fell in love, too. 

 

 

In the boardroom, he encouraged a club to lift thier head and believe again. He talked about dreams in the same breath as the hard work needed to reach them, taking his message into arenas and working-men's clubs, delivering hard truths and taking hard questions. He has a lyrical mind, a turn of phrase which inspires pride and he has a common touch; organise a meeting with him and he’d likely suggest a Durham pub. 

 

 

Hughton is not like that. He is uncomfortable in the spotlight and lyricism is not a strength. His press conferences as Newcastle manager could make you weep because his ability to repel pressure, to deflect questions, to focus everything on the collectivity of his “group of lads” were legendary but, if you cared about the club, he commanded respect, too. That calm, placid attitude was precisely what was needed.

 

 

And it should never be forgotten. As it always does, football carries on and renews itself and time blurs the memory, but Hughton was in the dug-out for one of the most important spells in Newcastle’s recent history and arrived there at its most toxic. In retrospect, their promotion feels like a procession, but it was not until the very end of October that season that he was appointed on a permanent basis, that the club were withdrawn from the market.

 

 

On the pitch, Newcastle learnt how to win again and, after all that corrosion, fans could take satisfaction from attending matches, notwithstanding the reduced circumstances. Off it, Hughton restored dignity to an institution which had seen respect leech away from it, accepting victory and defeat with the same stoicism. I adore the fact that opposite his desk in his office at the training ground, he had a portrait of Sir Bobby staring back at him. 

 

 

Newcastle have excelled under Alan Pardew. The regime is still prone to risk-taking - see this summer in the transfer market - but last season’s fifth-placed finish in the Barclays Premier League and a coherent financial plan, have offered both encouragement and understanding (even if not universal agreement). In the early days under Hughton, it was merely chaos. 

 

 

He navigated a path through that and did it while eschewing hysteria, gathering players around him and forming a collective. Stability is not a word which is often associated with Newcastle but that, spirit and Graham Carr - his appointment as chief scout - are lasting legacies. Like Quinn, like Sir Bobby, like Gibson, like Mowbray, he is decent to his core. As with them, he made it more difficult to feel dislike.