Hughton cool on job prospects.
Posted on October 16th, 2009 | 7 Comments |
The caretaker manager said:
“I am very happy to do this job for as long as I am asked to do it.
“Speculation about my future is something that I have very much got used to. But that is not the important thing. The important thing is being able to focus on football matches and up until this stage we have been very much able to do just that.
“Any publicity like that is nice and always flattering but the only things we can really deal with are facts. We are where we are and until we are told anything different we just crack on as per normal.
“We are just getting into the campaign. We are a quarter of the way through it and we are enjoying the experience so far and we are learning more and more about this division with each and every game.
“It is very much about the team and that team is growing with each game. We have to maintain that. We will have to play three games in eight days and we know that the league position could change by the end of the week. There are nine points to play for and we have to very much stay focused on the job we are doing and make sure that we remain at the top end of the table.”
The general consensus in the press is that if Ashley can’t sell the club in the next month then Hughton will be appointed as permanent manager until the end of the season. There were however fresh concerns yesterday that Hughton will be given no money for transfers during the January transfer window and will, at best, have to make do with loan signings.
I can envisage a couple of nightmare scenarios here. The first is that we’re crocked by injuries in January and our promotion chances fade as Ashley fails to cough up the cash for enough back-up players. The second is that we get promotion, Hughton’s contract ends and then Ashley puts the club on the market again, imposing the same sort of transfer embargo he did for most of this summer, leaving us ill-prepared for our first season back in the Premiership.
It will perhaps be a test of Hughton if he has to stand up to Ashley and fight to get some players in to either ensure promotion of that we don’t drift while the club is sold next summer. I can’t imagine Hughton would be too successful in that fight given Ashley’s place on the exit chair, but I’d still expect him to try.
Time will tell how all this pans out I suppose.
NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen
I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10).
Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.
Whatever happens, Hughton will be regarded as a good guy for all that he’s done. Unfortunately Mike Ashley would appear to be hanging yet another manager out to dry.