[Football] Chris Hughton: 'It’s a good feeling to be the manager of a big club'

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I'm pro-gratitude so when someone is generous enough to invest £300m and people say "I want more and better", I indeed think they should shut the **** up and realise how bad things could have been. Dont need to be anywhere to have that opinion, its just uncommon sense.

Fine but that investor wouldn't have a club to invest in if it wasn't for many of us past, never forgotten, and present.

The way "we" fought to keep the club alive is unique in todays game, I and many like me will never forget where we have come from and still pinch ourselves to believe where we are now.

That doesn't make us devoid of opinions.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Yes. I watch more Championship than PL.

He had pretty much the same squad that ended in 7th place in 2019/20 and took them to 17th place. Yes, Sabri had lost the first five games of the season so he "only" had 41 games to improve them, and he didnt. They didnt look any better in May 2021 than in October 2020 despite him adding players he wanted (like Knockaert and Murray) and having a season to build something.



I'm not talking about CH in Brighton, I'm talking about CH in Nottingham Forest. They are playing horrible football. They dont want to play anything other than horrible football. CH inherited a squad with Championship Team of the Year Brice Samba in goal, six former Premier League defenders (and at least four of them had got promoted with a team in the past) plus a host of youth/former youth internationals from France and Portugal.

In midfield he had five players with reasonable PL experience, another player with 40+ games in EL/CL, another one who is the first choice ahead of Bissouma in the Mali team, up front there was Grabban who had scored 20 goals in the Championship season before, Lyle Taylor who had a 1 in 2 goal ratio for Charlton also in the Championship, and then added Glenn to the mix.

Some people here (and yes, only here) believe that taking these guys into the 17th spot while playing dull and cautious football was some kind of achievement. It wasnt.

People are now pretending that losing the first four games of the season while playing dull, cautious is also some kind of achievement. It isnt.

Yes, the squad is weaker now than last year but its not like Blackburn or Coventry is oozing with superior, indefeatable quality or that it is impossible to grab a point from a Bournemouth game where the opponent play with 10 men for 30 minutes. What does he say after the games? "These are a good team" and then goes on to talk about getting new players, supposedly so that they can do what he cant - improve the team. But he had a good squad last season and he got a decent starting eleven now, the problem is that none of the quality matters if you resort to defending desperately with 11 men any time you take the lead or equalise a game.

CH got some great achievements with Newcastle, Norwich and Brighton. Thats great. However those achievements in the past does not change the reality of how dire his Forest have been.

All very fair and true comments. His spell at Forest is like an extension of our 2018/2019 season which was truly horrendous football to watch. Our matches were an absolutely miserable experience.

He’s really not doing very well, which is a shame as I will always want the best for that man. Can’t see him in the job much longer.

 

[Bladders]

The games moved on , Hughton hasn’t

The last season he was with us was just painful, really painful to watch .

It was capitulation football , the likes ive not seen before , horrid stuff

If that’s what Forest fans are watching then I truly feel for them

That’s not what you go to watch football for .

Losing is one thing , losing by just camping on your own 18 yard line is something else


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Icy Gull]

The games moved on , Hughton hasn’t

The last season he was with us was just painful, really painful to watch .

It was capitulation football , the likes ive not seen before , horrid stuff

If that’s what Forest fans are watching then I truly feel for them

That’s not what you go to watch football for .

Losing is one thing , losing by just camping on your own 18 yard line is something else


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There are more than a few on here who will take that type of football as long as it brings results. I too hated the style even when we did get results! Depends if you want to be entertained or if that is not as important as winning, however ugly it is.

Playing that way and losing is the pits though

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

The games moved on , Hughton hasn’t

The last season he was with us was just painful, really painful to watch .

It was capitulation football , the likes ive not seen before , horrid stuff

If that’s what Forest fans are watching then I truly feel for them

That’s not what you go to watch football for .

Losing is one thing , losing by just camping on your own 18 yard line is something else


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There are more than a few on here who will take that type of football as long as it brings results. I too hated the style even when we did get results! Depends if you want to be entertained or if that is not as important as winning, however ugly it is.

Playing that way and losing is the pits though

Hughton did what was necessary and kept us up on a bottom three budget, with a far inferior squad than we have now. Arguably, had we gone down during that last season we may not have been that an attractive option to Potter.

It wasn’t great at the end but it was necessary.

Forest are a basket case of a club and reading their own sports writers at the weekend, they highlighted that they have poor quality players, I’d imagine CH will continue the safety first approach, but as you both highlight if it doesn’t work it’s desperate.

As Icy mentioned, some are only interested in success at all costs that’s where I am.

Thankfully, we now have the best of both worlds (I hope).

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

There are more than a few on here who will take that type of football as long as it brings results. I too hated the style even when we did get results! Depends if you want to be entertained or if that is not as important as winning, however ugly it is.

Playing that way and losing is the pits though

The other issue is that there is so much money involved in football these days - in the PL and for aspiring Championship clubs - and the gap is so so so big between the two (and within the PL) - that the fans really do come a distant second when it comes to priorities.

 

[Swansman]

Fine but that investor wouldn't have a club to invest in if it wasn't for many of us past, never forgotten, and present.

The way "we" fought to keep the club alive is unique in todays game, I and many like me will never forget where we have come from and still pinch ourselves to believe where we are now.

That doesn't make us devoid of opinions.

Really, I didnt notice...

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Really, I didnt notice...

Are you aiming to overtake my 11,277 posts this season

 

[Swansman]

Are you aiming to overtake my 11,277 posts this season

Not really, I'm too old to give a shit about post counts.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Not really, I'm too old to give a shit about post counts.

In all my posts I've never used that word - says a lot about you.

 

[Swansman]

In all my posts I've never used that word - says a lot about you.

Not quite sure which word you are referring to or why it is beyond your vocabulary, and even less so why it says anything about me, but whatever floats your boat

 

[Justice]

I find the Hughton bashing distasteful, he was building for the future remember when he signed a skinny kid from France who looked a bit lost when he first arrived? a few seasons on he’s now our best player. Personally think anyone who feels the need to lay into CH is a knob.

 

[Simster]

I find the Hughton bashing distasteful, he was building for the future remember when he signed a skinny kid from France who looked a bit lost when he first arrived? a few seasons on he’s now our best player. Personally think anyone who feels the need to lay into CH is a knob.

It's like people need reminding he:

* took over a shambles and steered us to safety
* finished 3rd in his first full season
* got us promoted in the next
* kept us up comfortably after that
* got us to only our second FA Cup semi final

He will always be a legend here, I don't care how bad it got at Forest.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Not quite sure which word you are referring to or why it is beyond your vocabulary, and even less so why it says anything about me, but whatever floats your boat

Whoops

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Not quite sure which word you are referring to or why it is beyond your vocabulary, and even less so why it says anything about me, but whatever floats your boat

Good effort.

 

[Albion Dan]

I find the Hughton bashing distasteful, he was building for the future remember when he signed a skinny kid from France who looked a bit lost when he first arrived? a few seasons on he’s now our best player. Personally think anyone who feels the need to lay into CH is a knob.

100%. The guy is a legend for what he achieved here and how he turned Hyppias car crash into a promotion winning team. Then keeping us up comfortably against all odds. The poor football thing is largely a total myth. Yes the last half of his last season was awful and exposed his limitations but up until then we were playing pretty good stuff.

 

[Hamilton]

If you think we were dull under CH in the championship, then it maybe you didn’t go? Perhaps you have a selective memory I don’t know, but the one thing we weren’t in the championship was defensive.

Edit - not just you, but I would apply that to a number who have started rewrite history based on a poor ending to his time in charge.

Can I just clarify something.

I said that Hughton's teams were built on a defence first approach. I did not say they were dull. Please, by all means have a hunt for the post where I have said that - you won't find it.

Hughton is focused on getting the defence sorted first. The attacking options are then built off the back of this but ultimately, in my opinion, if Forest fans are frustrated it will be because Hughton is first and foremost making them hard to beat. Then he'll look at how he can win games. That in my view is how he built our promotion winning team.

I don't think this will be counter to your views.

Just looking at the Forest results and they have not lost by more than one goal and have scored in all their games. Hughton will be thinking that this is about shoring up the defence. Then those performances are wins.

 

[peterward]

Hughton did what was necessary and kept us up on a bottom three budget, with a far inferior squad than we have now. Arguably, had we gone down during that last season we may not have been that an attractive option to Potter.

It wasn’t great at the end but it was necessary.

Forest are a basket case of a club and reading their own sports writers at the weekend, they highlighted that they have poor quality players, I’d imagine CH will continue the safety first approach, but as you both highlight if it doesn’t work it’s desperate.

As Icy mentioned, some are only interested in success at all costs that’s where I am.

Thankfully, we now have the best of both worlds (I hope).

That last couple of months under Hughton was some of the worst football I’ve ever witnessed, literally park bus and try not to concede with nothing at the top end.

We only survived due to the 3 worse teams and in most other seasons we wouldn’t have. He is tactically limited and locked in an outdated mindset as the game has moved on.

 

[Swansman]

Good effort.

If you were referring to the word "shit", 1) a quick search says you've used that as well as "feck" quite a lot and 2) the only ones who got issues with the word being used as a casual curse would be people with coprophagic tendencies. Furthermore the comment that the use of the word "says a lot about a person" is plainly ridiculous as it fairly common and I think you're digging a bit of a hole there (maybe you'll find something you like).

Thats that. Lets return to discuss CHs flawless (based on what some people are saying here) work in Nottingham Forest.

 

[El Presidente]

That last couple of months under Hughton was some of the worst football I’ve ever witnessed, literally park bus and try not to concede with nothing at the top end.

We only survived due to the 3 worse teams and in most other seasons we wouldn’t have. He is tactically limited and locked in an outdated mindset as the game has moved on.

I suspect that every season the sides who avoid relegation do so because there are three worse teams, so not sure what you are trying to say.