A TELEPHONE conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson helped to convince Mark Hughes that it was time to make the jump into club management with Blackburn Rovers, but Hughes was at pains yesterday to emphasise that he is his own man. Single-minded enough to pursue his ambitions when many thought that he would stick with Wales, independent enough to have invented his own managerial style, the new man in charge at Ewood Park dismissed suggestions that he is a Ferguson clone.
“I’m a completely different character to Sir Alex,” the former Manchester United forward said after his appointment was confirmed yesterday. “Possibly what we do have in common is an attention to detail and a determination to prepare our teams in the right way, but my management style is my own. I will do it my way, the way I’ve done it with Wales. I’m not going to come here and try to be something I’m not because people smell you out very quickly.
“I did speak to Sir Alex last week and, although it was a private conversation, he was very supportive. He said it was a good time for me to make the move, but he was only reinforcing what I already knew. There were times when I thought it might be possible to combine the two jobs (Wales and Blackburn) on a full-time basis, but maybe that was my heart trying to rule my head. I knew deep down this was too good an opportunity for me to allow to pass by.”
Hughes will stay in charge of Wales for the World Cup qualifying matches away to England on October 9 and at home to Poland four days later, but thereafter he will focus entirely on Blackburn. He admitted that it will be “a wrench” to leave Wales, whom he has managed for the past five years, but he hopes to bow out on a high before handing the reins to his successor.
Hughes, 40, and his assistant, Mark Bowen, will rely on the input of Tony Parkes, the long-serving coach, as they prepare for tomorrow’s match at home to Portsmouth, but are keen to impose their authority quickly as they bid to steer the club up the Barclays Premiership table. Blackburn are nineteenth, having taken just two points from their first five matches.
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John Williams, the Blackburn chief executive, has no doubts that Hughes represents the perfect appointment, initially on a two-year contract with a rolling 12-month option thereafter.
“Mark was always our first choice,” Williams said.