SPARKY BETTER THAN FIRST THOUGHT

Last updated : 24 November 2002 By Editor

Fat Ron in The Guardian:

If someone had asked me years ago whether I thought Mark Hughes would go
into management, I'd probably have said No. When Sparky was with me at
Manchester United he seemed a private guy who wouldn't have those sort of
ambitions.

Almost two decades down the line he's doing a great job in charge of Wales,
looking as though he was born to be a manager. If he can lead his country to
the finals of Euro 2004, who knows where he might end up? You can be sure
he'd get offers from big clubs.

Sparky has every chance of taking Wales to their first major tournament
since 1958. The win in Azerbaijan was a big result and you wouldn't be
amazed if they went to Yugoslavia in April and avoided defeat. The game in
Italy next season looks a crucial one and, at the moment, Italy wouldn't
frighten you to death.

And Eric Harrison, now Welsh coach, in The Telegraph:

“I never expected that Mark would make a manager - never in a million years. He was a curious mix - a lion on the pitch, where he'd kick his own grandmother, but quiet and unassuming off it - and I thought probably that wouldn't make him managerial material.

"But when I heard his first team talk, before the game against Belarus away over two years ago now, I thought to myself, 'Dear me, this lad has got a chance.' I remember almost everything he said and I remember looking at the players as he said it. You can tell in players' eyes whether they're impressed, and they were - no doubt about it."