Mark Hughes Lines Up Two New Signings: Hubris And Nemesis
September 5, 2008
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Nope - not two outlandishly-named and expensive Brazilians - but a swipe at the increasingly cocksure pronouncements of that bloke we used to think was still alright when he was Blackburn manager, present City incumbent, Mark Hughes.
For those of you not having the benefit of a classical education - Hubris is (according to our friends at Wikipedia) a term from the ancient Greek world, meaning: ”overweening pride, self-confidence, superciliousness, or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution”. Nemesis is the flip side of the deal: “a painful response to another’s undeserved good fortune”
Basically - if the Greek gods thought you’d been a cocky little sod they would take you down a peg or two. - - And so it may pan out with our mate Sparky.
If there was any vestigial respect United fans had for their erstwhile hero, it disappeared almost overnight with the vomit-inducing news that he had taken over at City.
Still, at that point our disgust was mixed with a helping of bemusement and a smidgeon of pity - what was Sparky thinking taking over that bunch of clowns who were clearly on the cusp of some sort of financial meltdown?
That sense of bemusement was compounded when Hughes carried on talking up Citeh’s financial clout in the weeks before the close of the transfer window. Had Hughes lost his marbles, we wondered ? Sure, they had bought Jô before Dr. Death realised he actually had about as much cash as Mr. Micawber - but now the game was up, right?
Clearly the twinkly-eyed, smirking Hughes knew just what was around the corner.
Now the cat is out of the bag, Hughes has abandoned his arch reticence for an altogether more cocky approach.
Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, chief representative of the Abu Dhabi group, whose clownish pronunciamentoes are lapped up by the quote-hungry media, has targeted a top four finish for Sparky’s minions this time out and world domination for every season thereafter.
Hughes seems singularly confident of the task:
“I’ve had pressure all my career, as a player and a manager,” he said. “There’s always pressure to win games, irrespective of what club you’re at and what resources you have, so that doesn’t change. Obviously the degree of expectation changes, but that doesn’t really faze me. In fact, it doesn’t faze me at all.
“I’ve been working in the Premier League for four years, it’s the hardest league in the world and, in fairness, I did an exceptional job at my last club. I know I’m good at what I do and that’s not me just blowing smoke up my own arse.”
(Ed: ‘Blowing smoke up your own arse’, Mark - no, sounds more like noshing yourself off, pal…)
“The difference is that there was always frustration at Blackburn because there were weaknesses that I couldn’t address due to not having the financial resources. There are weaknesses in my current team, too, but I’m in a position now to address them any time I want.”
Of course, we’re first to admit there’s an element of shock and annoyance about City’s sudden and ill-deserved good fortune. We’re ingesting a tiny, passing mote of bitterness from our now suddenly cheerful, backward cousins - but, nevertheless, there’s something rashly cocky about their and Hughes’ giddy confidence.
Let’s take City in general and then Hughes in particular.
City may actually find it a darned sight harder to sign players ‘any time’ they want because there’s no guarantee that the (very high) calibre of players the club are targeting would consider the move.
“But look at the players who moved to Chelsea! Why not City?” Ciddy fans immediately counter.
Why not?
Because in spite of their parlous financial situation before Abramovich arrived, Chelsea had slowly built their way to perennial successes of sorts. They are still are much smaller club than United - but they were way bigger than City, even back then. Oh and Chelsea is in London - and as United have discovered over the years, there is a certain breed of (loathsome) player who just can’t abide slumming it in the provinces….Cheshire pile or not.
Granted, City persuaded the clearly clueless Robinho to sign for a club he probably barely new existed - but what can we expect from him? We for one reckon he’ll be an Elano-style disappointment - occasionally spectacular, good for shirt sales but likely to disappear for half the season.
Kaka, Torres, Buffon, Messi - nope. None of these will sign for City. But what if they did? Where does this leave City’s much-vaunted and extremely successful youth programme? And does assembling Harlem Globetrotter teams kid-in-a-sweet-shop-style actually guarantee success ? To wit: the Real Madrid team of recent years.
You can understand City being cock-a-hoop about the new dawn over at Middle Eastlands, but Hughes in particular should probably adopt a more cautionary approach - if he fails to grab that top four finish you can guarantee his Arab bosses will pack him on his way, (probably with his hands and feet still intact.)
He may get a tidy pay off - but no one save himself will be blowing any smoke up his arse, that’s for sure.
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One Response to “Mark Hughes Lines Up Two New Signings: Hubris And Nemesis”
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Hi there
i think the pressure will be high on mark hughes.. with this amount of money… but as a united manager i really don’t care for whoever City buy… Our team is the best in europe If we are in out top form… so we just need to reach our last season form quickly .. or we may not win anything
thanks