SOCCER:CHRIS HUGHTON returns to football management this morning after being handed the task of guiding Birmingham City back to the Premier league at the first attempt, a task he successfully fulfilled at Newcastle United before suffering a surprise dismissal while the club were 11th in the top flight last December.
The 52-year-old former Republic of Ireland defender’s success in turning around a Newcastle side that had lost key players and seemed to be in a fair amount of disarray clearly appealed to City who appear to have opted in the end to appoint him as Alex McLeish’s successor without the need for him to meet club owner Carson Yeung as had originally been intended.
Hughton, who recently missed out on the Cardiff City job and who had asked for time to make a final call on an offer from Martin Jol to become his assistant at Fulham while he sought to secure a manager’s position of his own, was interviewed last Friday by City’s chairman Peter Pannu.
Former Chelsea stars Roberto Di Matteo and Gianfranco Zola were the other main contenders for the position but Pannu is said to have been impressed by Hughton’s assessment of the club’s current squad, his vision for City’s future and his enthusiasm for developing young talent from within St Andrews.
After further talks on Tuesday he was offered the position and having agreed personal terms his appointment was confirmed in a statement yesterday afternoon.
“I am absolutely delighted,” he said last night. “To be joining a club of the stature of Birmingham City, with the history it has, is a pleasure. I’m really looking forward to getting to work.
“For as long as I have been in football the name Birmingham City has been right up there and it is what I regard as a real football club with extremely passionate supporters. There are certain grounds that you go to where you know you are going to be right up against it because of that passion and how vocal the fans are. St Andrew’s has always been one of them and if you speak to most people in football they will say the same.
“We are going into an extremely competitive Championship and with the players set to return for pre-season training very soon I need to get into the job straight away, and I’m really relishing the opportunity to do exactly that and to meet everyone at the club.”
Hughton will start work today with sorting out the futures of key figures like Roger Johnson, Ben Foster, Scott Dann and Craig Gardner high on the list of priorities. All have been linked with moves away and if they are to be sold then Hughton will have to weigh up how to replace them.
It will be somewhat disappointing for Hughton to find himself back in the Championship but he gets to manage in Europe with City although the club’s Europa League programme could quickly become a burden given the hectic schedule for clubs battling for promotion from England’s second tier.
