Is Chris Hughton the most underrated manager in the Premier League?
The phrase “one of the nice guys in football” gets banded around far too much these days for anyone’s liking. Truth be told, there are a number of personable and approachable people in the modern-day game, you just don’t get to see that side of them very often.
With that being said however, it’s possible that Chris Hughton may actually be the nicest man in the game. Of course, we are slightly biased in this regard but a quick search of the internet will turn up compliment after compliment regarding the man’s demeanour, kindness and good-guy vibes.
With this being said, however, being a nice guy doesn’t actually qualify you as a football manager – in fact, don’t nice guys usually finish last according to the old idiom? After guiding them to the Premier League and keeping them there, Chris Hughton is finishing anything but last with the current crop of Brighton players. But, is he getting the credit he deserves for the job he’s doing?
It’s fair to say that Mike Ashley won’t be on many people’s Christmas card lists this year. His reluctance to back Rafa Benitez in the transfer market has led to many of the fans turning on the Sports Direct owner and this isn’t the first time that he’s got things woefully wrong. Make no mistake about it, Chris Hughton was harshly sacked at Newcastle United. Hughton took Newcastle back into the Premier League and enjoyed a 55% win rate up in the North East, winning 39 of his 70 games in charge. By anyone’s standards, that is a strike rate that most managers would be proud of and the fact that Hughton is currently operating at a win rate of around 44% speaks volumes about the job he did in Newcastle.
Whilst Hughton harbours no ill will towards Ashley or the club, he still maintains that he’s not sure why Newcastle sacked him. Hughton isn’t soft by any means but, at the same time, isn’t the sort of character or man to hold grudges – he simply gets on with his business with minimal fuss and does what he does best. However, pundits such as Alan Shearer and journalists such as BBC’s Phil McNulty were less than impressed at the way Mike Ashley and the club handled the situation.
On balance, the sacking of Hughton at Newcastle was nothing less than ignominious and the fact of the matter is that Mike Ashley felt that the club were deserving of a “bigger name” manager. He consequently employed Alan Pardew, John Carver and Steve McClaren, who left with the club with win percentages of 38, 15 and 22 % respectively. Hindsight may be 20/20 but whichever way you look at it, Hughton was underappreciated and underrated at Newcastle and the club paid the price for a number of years afterwards.
It’s quite easy to forget that Hughton was once in charge of Birmingham – after all, he spent less than a year at the club before being approached by Norwich. However, Hughton guided the blues into the group stages of the Europa league after a 3-0 aggregate win over Portuguese side Nacional and carried this form into their domestic campaign. Hughton won Championship manager of the month for October after winning 4 and drawing 1, consequently leading Birmingham to the fifth round of the 2011/2012 FA Cup (before they were beaten by Chelsea). Under Hughton’s stewardship, Birmingham finished fourth in the Championship and were eventually beaten 3-2 over two legs by Blackpool.
As the tale goes, Norwich then came calling for Hughton’s services and the Essex man enjoyed memorable victories in the Premier League over both Arsenal and Manchester United, as well as an infamous League Cup win over his former club Spurs. Despite the fact that the club had been battling relegation all season, Hughton’s first season in charge at Norwich saw the club finish an impressive 11th. However, the club parted company with Hughton the following season with the club five points above the relegation zone in 17th place.
Hughton rejected various assistant manager roles at a number of Premier League clubs after leaving Norwich on account of him wanting to be the main man in charge. When Brighton came calling, Hughton has admitted that the opportunity was too good and that the blueprint was already in place to take the club up to the Premier League.
Hughton was true to his word and, on April 17th 2017, Brighton were finally promoted back into the top tier of English football. In March earlier this year, Hughton became the first black manager to win the Premier League Manager of the Month award after an excellent string of results in February. As we are all aware, Brighton finished last season in a creditable 15th place, seven points ahead of the final relegation place which Swansea occupied.
When you look back over Chris Hughton’s relatively short managerial career, he has achieved more than some do in a lifetime of management. Hughton has experienced promotion to the Premier League on more than one occasion, has survived relegation battles, enjoyed a number of cup runs and has even managed in European competition. When you consider the C.V. of the man, he is quite clearly criminally underrated, especially considering that he’s never mentioned as a candidate when one of the “top” jobs become available.
When you look at some of the favourites for the Champions League listed at Oddschecker, you start to realise the size of the tasks at some of Europe’s top clubs and this brings with it a whole host of different pressures, but you wouldn’t bet against him being a success at a team like 67/1 former-club Spurs, if Pochettino was ever lured elsewhere. It’s difficult to say whether Hughton would be a success at a club competing in the Champions League but at the same time, it would be great to see one of football’s nicest, most hard-working managers get the opportunity somewhere down the line.
The way that Hughton has helped develop players such as Lewis Dunk is a testament to Hughton’s coaching skills and, after proving to be equally as savvy in the transfer market, there’s no telling where Hughton can take Brighton next. The only thing for certain is that Hughton isn’t done with Brighton by a long way, and both Brighton fans and neutral observers will undoubtedly be keen to see what the understated Essex man can do with the wealth of talent as his disposal.
