MARK HUGHES will today be announced as the new manager of Blackburn Rovers after last night’s statement by the Barclays Premiership club that the Wales manager will take charge at Ewood Park with immediate effect. Blackburn moved quickly to secure the services of Hughes as successor to Graeme Souness after being given permission to speak to the manager by the Football Association of Wales (FAW) yesterday afternoon.
Hughes, 40, has a clause in his contract permitting him to speak to Premiership clubs and the appointment was concluded when Blackburn and the FAW reached a compromise agreement that will allow the former Manchester United forward to remain in charge of Wales on a part-time basis for next month’s World Cup qualifying matches against England and Poland before ending his five-year spell in charge.
Blackburn agreed to the job-share agreement to secure the services of Hughes, who was always the club’s No 1 target after Souness was handed the opportunity to succeed Sir Bobby Robson as manager of Newcastle United. Hughes will take with him Mark Bowen, his assistant with Wales, and will take over from Tony Parkes, the caretaker-manager, before Saturday’s visit of Portsmouth to Ewood Park.
While he has yet to manage at club level, Hughes’s success during his time in charge of Wales, together with his impressive playing career, has reinforced his credentials as a Premiership manager-in-waiting and his decision to swap country for club comes as no surprise.
Hughes was enormously popular as a player at Blackburn, where he spent the final two years of his career, combining playing duties with his role with Wales before taking up the post on a full-time basis two years ago. He does, however, face a testing challenge at Blackburn, who have been in decline for 12 months. The success of two seasons ago, when they finished sixth and qualified for the Uefa Cup after winning the League Cup, is long gone and, after a brush with relegation last season, Rovers have shown few signs of improvement this term.
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Blackburn, who are second from bottom in the Premiership, need an immediate upturn in fortunes if they are to avoid a battle against relegation. Saturday’s 3-0 defeat away to Newcastle underlined the team’s weaknesses and Hughes will have little chance to bring in new personnel before the transfer window opens in January. The skills Hughes developed with Wales, where he coaxed impressive performances from average players, could prove invaluable.
Under the guidance of Hughes, Wales have progressed from being international also-rans to one of the most improved teams in Europe. That progress was graphically demonstrated by Wales’s displays during the last European Championship qualifying campaign, when at one stage they appeared certain to reach the finals in Portugal before missing out in a play-off against Russia.
Hughes was anxious not to disrupt his country’s chances of progressing to the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006 and will oversee the Wales squad for the trip to Old Trafford on October 9 and the visit of Poland four days later. Hughes will then step down, leaving the FAW with a five-month gap before the next competitive fixture in which to find a successor. Blackburn will also be required to pay compensation, expected to be about £300,000, to the FAW.
Robson has emerged as a potential successor to Hughes after the former Newcastle and England manager received the endorsement of Alun Evans, an FAW councillor. Evans has touted Robson as a replacement, working alongside Gary Speed, the Wales and Bolton Wanderers midfield player.
“I don’t want to nail my name to just one candidate, but we could do with having someone like Robson,” Evans said. “He could be asked to step in as a caretaker, with Gary Speed assisting him. Speed is considered by some as a possible long-term candidate to manage Wales.”