- QPR History in Photos: From the 1880s to the 21st Century - The Bushman QPR Photo Archives
- Mark Hughes Appointed Stoke Manager
- Two Years Ago this Week: Mark Hughes Resigns as Fulham Manager
- QPR Summer Schedule: Add Peterborough
- QPR Dictionary
- Year Ago, Deloitte's Annual "State of Football" Released (QPR not in great shape!) Now waiting latest report
STOKE SENTINEL
STOKE City chairman Peter Coates is confidently backing new manager Mark Hughes to lead his club into an exciting new era.
Hughes has agreed a three-year contract to replace Tony Pulis as boss, just nine days after his Welsh compatriot was shown the door at the Britannia Stadium.
Hughes, who is due to be unveiled at a press conference
today, will be joined by his trusted backroom team of Mark Bowen and
Eddie Neidzwiecki following a clear out of Pulis's entire management
team.
Coates said the 49-year-old Welshman was the unanimous choice of an interviewing panel consisting of himself, son and major investor John Coates, and Stoke City chief executive Tony Scholes.
"I was very impressed when I met him," Coates revealed in an exclusive interview with The Sentinel last night.
"You clearly don't appoint somebody you don't feel you can get on with.
"We had a very good meeting and he responded well to anything asked of him.
"He was interviewed by myself, John and Tony Scholes. The decision was unanimous because we were all very impressed."
He said Hughes arrives in the Potteries armed with an impressive managerial CV, but did acknowledge there could be some opposition from fans.
"I look at results," he said. "He's also a thoughtful, intelligent man with an intense desire to win.
"We had lots of inquiries about the job, including some very interesting names, but we decided Mark Hughes was a fit for us.
"His record speaks for itself. He has done excellently by anyone's standards, but we also understand that whoever we choose, some people will disagree and I don't have a problem with that."
Coates believes Hughes will come to Stoke – as their 21st manager since the Second World War – with a point to prove after being sacked by QPR last November following heavy expenditure on a new squad.
"Because that's one piece of his career that hasn't gone well, I think he feels this is a chance to prove what a good manager he is."
Coates accepted that any opposition to his appointment would drum up Hughes' failure at Loftus Road, but he insisted that experience should be placed into context.
"Those who focus on QPR, that's fair enough, but they should look at the bigger picture and see what he has achieved throughout his career.
"He did very well with Wales and then at Blackburn," he stressed. "At Manchester City there was a change of ownership and I don't think anybody can say Mark didn't do a good job there.
"Then at Fulham he had a very solid season and they were very pleased with him as manager there.
"At QPR the facts are he took over from Neil Warnock and kept them up. I believe his record in the second season was better than Harry Redknapp's after he took over from Mark.
"So there at QPR you had three very well respected managers who all had a difficult time at a club that was in transition with new owners and a new administration."
Coates said the three-year deal with Hughes – rather than the fashionable 12-month rolling contract – was a statement of the club's intent to give him time and breathing space.
"We want to give him time and opportunity," he explained. "We had seven very good years with Tony Pulis, and if we have seven similar years with Mark we will all be delighted."
Hughes has agreed a three-year contract to replace Tony Pulis as boss, just nine days after his Welsh compatriot was shown the door at the Britannia Stadium.
-
Mark Hughes is set to sign a three-year deal with Stoke City today.
Coates said the 49-year-old Welshman was the unanimous choice of an interviewing panel consisting of himself, son and major investor John Coates, and Stoke City chief executive Tony Scholes.
"You clearly don't appoint somebody you don't feel you can get on with.
"We had a very good meeting and he responded well to anything asked of him.
"He was interviewed by myself, John and Tony Scholes. The decision was unanimous because we were all very impressed."
He said Hughes arrives in the Potteries armed with an impressive managerial CV, but did acknowledge there could be some opposition from fans.
"I look at results," he said. "He's also a thoughtful, intelligent man with an intense desire to win.
"We had lots of inquiries about the job, including some very interesting names, but we decided Mark Hughes was a fit for us.
"His record speaks for itself. He has done excellently by anyone's standards, but we also understand that whoever we choose, some people will disagree and I don't have a problem with that."
Coates believes Hughes will come to Stoke – as their 21st manager since the Second World War – with a point to prove after being sacked by QPR last November following heavy expenditure on a new squad.
"Because that's one piece of his career that hasn't gone well, I think he feels this is a chance to prove what a good manager he is."
Coates accepted that any opposition to his appointment would drum up Hughes' failure at Loftus Road, but he insisted that experience should be placed into context.
"Those who focus on QPR, that's fair enough, but they should look at the bigger picture and see what he has achieved throughout his career.
"He did very well with Wales and then at Blackburn," he stressed. "At Manchester City there was a change of ownership and I don't think anybody can say Mark didn't do a good job there.
"Then at Fulham he had a very solid season and they were very pleased with him as manager there.
"At QPR the facts are he took over from Neil Warnock and kept them up. I believe his record in the second season was better than Harry Redknapp's after he took over from Mark.
"So there at QPR you had three very well respected managers who all had a difficult time at a club that was in transition with new owners and a new administration."
Coates said the three-year deal with Hughes – rather than the fashionable 12-month rolling contract – was a statement of the club's intent to give him time and breathing space.
"We want to give him time and opportunity," he explained. "We had seven very good years with Tony Pulis, and if we have seven similar years with Mark we will all be delighted."
Read more: http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/story-19131617-detail/story.html#ixzz2UlF8HjTL
17 years ago today....
The Independent/Steve Bale - May 30, 1996 - Pounds 10m offer to link QPR with Wasps -
Combining football and rugby clubs, much touted since rugby union went professional nine months ago, will become reality if Queen's Park Rangers and Wasps accept bids from a music magnate who intends to bring them together at Loftus Road.
Chris Wright, majority shareholder of the television and entertainment group Chrysalis, yesterday tabled an pounds 8m offer to buy the recently relegated football club from Richard Thompson. At the same time he proposed paying pounds 1.75m for a 49.9 per cent stake in Wasps, with another pounds 1m available for players' contracts.
Rangers director Alan Hedges said that Wright's was just one of three offers for the football club. One is fronted by the former Guinness chief, Ernest Saunders.
"I have been a supporter at Loftus Road for 20 years. That's why I want to get involved - because I am a fanatic," Wright said yesterday. He said that Ray Wilkins would definitely continue as manager, and would have money to buy new players.
Wright believed he had the deal "in the bag" two days ago but said that Thompson "changed the parameters - and that usually means asking for more money".
Wasps have asked for 21 days to consider Wright's offer, which is contingent on their playing first-team matches at Loftus Road and using their present facility at Sudbury near Wembley for second-team fixtures for both the football and rugby clubs, though Wright is reportedly interested in developing Sudbury if his QPR interest goes unrequited.
Wright's plan received the immediate endorsement of their captain, the England flanker Lawrence Dallaglio, and the Wasps players.
"The QPR link-up would undoubtedly be good for Wasps," Dallaglio said yesterday. "It would provide us with the best stadium facilities in the country and help us go into the new era of professional rugby in the right environment to produce a trophy-winning side."
He added: "The surface is like a bowling-green and would be fantastic to play on." Quite how long it would stay in such pristine condition is arguable, though, remembering the experience of Cardiff City when the Cardiff rugby league side played at Ninian Park in the early 1980s. Then, the rugby, even without union's churningly intensive scrummaging, rucking and mauling, played havoc with the turf.
That would be just one of the implications that the Football League would want to investigate. "Any member club wishing to share its ground with another sporting activity would need our permission," League spokesman Chris Hull said.
"There would be obvious concerns as to the standard of pitches for League matches if another sport were to be staged on the same ground."
There are also potential problems with the pitch size. On the few occasions rugby has used football facilities - for instance, when the North played New Zealand at Anfield in 1993 - the pitch has had to be shortened in order to accommodate even a truncated in-goal area.
"These proposals not only offer both clubs financial security but also the chance to establish London's premier sporting venue at Loftus Road," Wright said. "We would ensure that Wasps and QPR retain their individual identities but are able to benefit from the huge marketing and commercial opportunities that the joint organisation would provide."
And 11 years ago today: Nick Blackburn appointed QPR Chairman
May 30, 2002 -BBC Blackburn takes charge at QPR
Nick Blackburn has been installed as the new chairman of QPR, following the club's exit from administration last week.
Blackburn was vice-chairman to Chris Wright, and then acting chairman following Wright's resignation last year.
Rangers chief executive David Davies had been strongly tipped to take on the role of chairman, having helped steer the club through its crisis period.
However, Davies will be staying in his current job, while director Ross Jones has taken over as chairman of parent company Loftus Road plc. BBC
- Flashback: QPR EXIT ADMINISTRATION - AND ENTER ABC LOAN!
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- PHOTOS: Tearing up Loftus Road!
- Six Year Flashback: Examining QPR (and Derby County's ABC Loan)
- QPR's 1965-66 Season in Photos - The Bushman Archives
- GORDON JAGO - Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame Inductee
MAIL -Sousa on the radar for Brighton as club search for Poyet replacement
London Loves Businesa/Shruti Tripathi - Amit Bhatia is Lakshmi Mittal’s son-in-law and QPR co-owner. Is there more to him? - LondonLovesBusiness
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- From Bushman's Photo Archives
