After Mike Williamson’s sacking on 1st February following a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Swindon at Brunton Park Carlisle United were cut adrift at the bottom of League Two and showed no signs of fight, passion or pride.
The subsequent appointment of Mark Hughes raised a few eyebrows but his experience and CV spoke for itself. He came in when the player’s confidence was at rock bottom and the supporters had given up hope.
He took over a sinking ship and gave the players a reason to fight and show some pride in their performances again. Ultimately Carlisle were still relegated but that was not down to Mark Hughes, the damage was already done but he gave us a fighting chance which nobody thought we had. The powers that be have to put their faith in Mark Hughes this summer and let him build a team that he can get out of the National League at the first attempt.
Today I’m going to look at Hughes’ Carlisle United managerial record and tell you why I’m backing him to take us back up to the football league.
Mark Hughes’ Carlisle United Record
Since his arrival in February Hughes has won five games, drawn six and lost seven. Now that record may not set the world alight when you add in that none of these players are his players, he’s trying to manage a mess left by two sacked manager and dreadful recruitment and he still managed to get 21 points from that is a huge tick in the box. If he gets his own players and turns a few of them draws in to wins and a couple of defeats in to positive results and all of a sudden his record looks a whole lot better.
What impressed me since Mark Hughes came in was that we were doing the basics right again. We’d forgotten how to do the basics under Williamson and Hughes had us defending our goal better, keeping the ball better and most importantly creating chances again.
Another thing that impressed me was the improvement of certain players under Hughes which highlights his man management ability as well. Georgie Kelly was fit and firing, Gabe Breeze getting better with every game, Stephen Wearne and Callum Whelan creating chances and Matthew Dennis leading the line well.
Why Keep Mark Hughes?
Hughes has now built a relationship with this squad of players, he knows who he can trust and who he needs to move on. He has improved individual players which highlights his man management ability, he has got the best out of what he has but now he has a chance to bring in his own players and coaches and really put a stamp on this team and I think he’s earned the right to do that.
Hughes was an excellent striker in his playing days and I think it’s no coincidence that he took over and now our strikers are firing. If he got strikers that he actually recruited I would imagine that would be a huge plus for this side as well.
I do understand that Hughes and his style of play isn’t for everyone but I’d rather play the Hughes way than the Williamson and Simpson way. He deserves this season with full backing to see what he can achieve with his team.
Thanks everyone for reading Paddock Perception, I hope you enjoyed it.
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@CraigWL1997
Paddock Perception 
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