For those that can remember the fag end days of Nigel Worthington’s managerial reign, there was a City player called Andy Hughes.
I thought he was half decent.
For one, simple reason. He was a scrapper.
And when everyone else was running for cover that particular season, Hughes-y was out there; fighting the good fight until his very last breath.
He might not have been able to do this – or that. He might more often than not plant the ball in Row Z when it came to that or a simple pass. But if the next three months in the life of Norwich City Football Club can be likened to a bar room brawl, I would put a pound to a penny that Andy Hughes would be one of the last men standing. He certainly was on one particular derby day.
And as everyone begins to look rather anxiously at what now lies in wait for Chris Hughton’s struggling Canaries, they are going to have to find a bit more by way of the Andy Hughes if safety is to be their’s.
Which is one reason I will defend Bradley Johnson; Ian Crook used to have a lovely phrase for those that liked to scrap. They were a bit of a ‘mongrel’.
Now is not the time for a pedigree poodle. Now you need your mongrels more than ever.
It will set the purists off; that between David Fox and Wes Hoolahan, Norwich have the ability to pass their way out of trouble. That if only City kept the ball better, they wouldn’t be sat tonight one point off the relegation zone nervously peering over the horizon at that final, four-game run-in.
Where Messrs Fox and Hoolahan are unlikely to out-pass anyone.
Because they’re not big enough. They bounce off your standard Premiership midfielder.
Instead salvation might – in theory – lie with a five-strong midfield that has a bit of the Hughesy about it; that has a mongrel air. That gets into people’s faces early; closes down space and angles; doesn’t let the opposition breathe.
Invariably in life, you don’t know what you’re got till its gone – or rather, injured. Alexander Tettey adds something to the party.
Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Manchester City was no fluke; it was built on a decent shape matched with an excellent work ethic. Simples.
There is, however, one, substantial flaw to the whole argument – one that has bevilled the Class of 2013-2014 from almost the start of the season.
That if you play five across the middle and leave just the one up front, the one ‘up top’ has to deliver. He has to play with the heart and the lungs of two men.
In short, he has to play in the manner of a vintage Grant Holt. Or a fit Dean Ashton.
He has to ruffle feathers; pull, big athletic Premier League centre-halves out of the comfort zones and into areas of the park that they don’t want to go.
He has, in short, have to have a bit of a mongrel to him too. He has to put himself about. Floor people; flatten them; make them work.
And once he has earned the right for his team-mates to play, ideally he has to score. He is, after all, the fella on point; the one at the sharp end of the system.
Given Norwich’s predicament, to have your record strike signing warming the bench for 88-odd minutes is not good.
But Ricky van Wolfswinkel is there for a reason. He hasn’t delivered. Nor really looked like delivering for weeks.
For to my mind, Norwich have managed to buy themselves a no doubt lovely lad, who has very little of the Andy Hughes to him. He won’t have fought his way up into the professional game from the streets of Moss Side. Or North London.
He looks too nice for this world.
More than that, he looks a jack of all trades rather than a master of any. Be it presence or heart, touch or pace, the lad appears to lack one stand-out quality right now – although in fairness his confidence is probably shot to bits. Nothing has fallen for him.
He has, of course, still got time to turn his season around; be the player everyone hoped for when he arrived amid such fanfare.
But I go back to my starting point. He will need to find from somewhere the heart of an Andy Hughes if he is to lead Norwich out of the increasing mess they find themselves in.
And Andy Hughes’ don’t grow on trees. Nor do Grant Holts.
I would rather have footballers than huff and puff merchants. The manager has shot the confidence in the players, if they still had it we would be fine.
Great article…and very right in where we now find ourselves. MY issue is with the managers decisions on substitutions and his persistence with Snodgrass who has the skill and ability but is simply not delivering. Trouble is replacing CH is probably too late now…City have got to find the net and Hooper looks best bet to do that. Given the way they play, Hooper and RVW are not the players he needed…would have done better with Bent or Cole.
Oh dear Rick. I normally like your articles but cannot agree whatsoever with this. Andy Hughes was a dreadful player for NCFC and I cannot recall for one minute his willingness for a scrap ever did any good for us.
Funny article. I would argue that Hughes was the main reason we went down that season. When Worthless FINALLY put Safri back in for Hoooze we were transformed and finished the season with form that almost kept us up.
He will always feature strongly in my top 10 worst signings. I’d rather be in the Championship anyway. The EPL is just a fiscal fantasy league that has killed football for the vast majority.
In the long run up to our next game I had considered not reading MFW as I couldn’t face any more repetitive articles on Hughton’s future. I must admit, it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d read our hopes rest on finding the second coming of Andy Hughes!
I agree with the premise of the piece but like other comments, query the choice of your example.
Every side needs a mixture of flair and grit – for every Silva or Hazard, you need someone to do the dirty work and put their foot in, which those teams have. A team full of Wessis will get you nowhere.
Bradley has taken plenty of flack this season, but when it comes to nominations for player of the season (maybe it should be cancelled this year!), who would you put above him?
They may not have been involved in similar relegation scraps to the current one but I would put forward the likes of Gary Holt, Mike Milligan or Rob Newman as more fitting role models for that crucial midfield scrapper position.
Flicky licky, don’t think we got relegated with Hughes, despite how poor he was? He was part of that ‘famous’ spending spree of summer 2005 after we had been relegated from the PL. Him, Jason Jarrett, Mathieu Louis-Jean, Peter Thorne, and later Dickson Etuhu and Carl Robinson we’re supposed to take us back into the PL.
They didn’t.
I cannot accept that after a season of poor football where we have frequently been unable to keep the ball as long as our opponents, score goals or – dare I say it – provide much entertainment, that the solution to our ills is to play an uglier style.
RvW may look like somebody who would be more at home in a boy band than a football team, but that does not mean we need more of the Andy Hughes ilk. In the likes of Tettey, Johnson, Yobo and Bassong we already have solidity and strength at the back end of the pitch. What we need to discover – and this is a big ask as it’s been missing for almost two years – is some attacking vigour, confidence going forward and a desire to take a game by the scruff of the neck. Whether this managerial team can inject that into the team is another matter.
Surely the answer is that you need a mix, and the right mix. Look at David Silva and Yaya Toure, as Pickled Eric says. For me, Bradley Johnson and Alex Tettey are much better versions of Andy Hughes. David Fox, though, is a far inferior version of Ian Crook – in the big games he gets marginalised. Wes is a diferent matter, a player who can influence any game if he’s on form. I hope we see him again.
PS Joe (1): did you see the recent Man City game? If the manager had shot the confidence of the players, that performance wouldn’t have been possible. There are problems, but not that.
Hughes was useless, the worst signing since Gary Doherty… in that both played often and were terrible.
We already have a Hughes style player here anyway…. His name is Bradley Johnson.
Yes I see it now it is becoming clear, we need more Andy Hughes types! I know you believe that big is best when it comes to a premier league midfielder so perhaps Norwich are on the right track with Tettey, Fer and Johnson…who needs Hoolahan? Silva, nah too small, Messi?, not big enough, Carzola? should never sign him just not physical enough, Mata, Suarez, Iniesta, Ribbery – nah too tiny…..big is best! The last thing we need is some creativity, skill on the ball and vision we just need more physical presence and we will be fine. After all it’s working just beautifully at the moment with exactly that approach right?
We need someone who can pick the ball up at the half way line and say “it is my responsibility to take this ball and bury it the back of that net”. No one drives with purpose. Inevitably it ends out on the wings and the crosses aren’t good enough.
We also need a true target man in the box. If we have to route one the ball we need a Crouch, or Carroll who can get it down to Hooper or RVW to put it away.
I feel that our midfield have been scrappers for most of the season. Arguably a team built around a ‘mongrel’ is successful because it will allow the fluent passers to go forth and play. Norwich need to find the blend and the creativity to create from different angles as opposed to the “pass to the wing and cross” approach. If you watch Hooper and RvW they look for the through ball which we have been lacking all year, my view is an in-form Wes could be the man to help them score.
Hughes had his good moments, but his confidence became shot as he became Worthy’s fall guy. I’ve never felt so sorry for a player as I have him. I remember him warming up at half time having just come on as as a sub for someone after a red card. He got dog’s abuse. Just awful. Why should any human being receive that? From his own fans? When that started happening, our slip down the leagues was sealed. You get what you wish for. Funny how it’s beginning to feel so similar…
Rather than having Andy Hughes, I’d settle for the return of Jonny Howson.
Every club can moan about injuries but for a squad of our size, they have more impact. The loss of Howson and Elliot Bennett (great pace/crosser) have made a big difference. We weren’t losing tight away games when Howson was there.
Dave B wants to see a Little & Large up front..hmm – surely that would just make us ping it over from the wings even more than now. And besides, with Crouch and Carroll busy elsewhere, what other available lanky 6’5” is out there?
RvW has not become a bad player in a few months – some take a season to adjust to the pace and power of the PL – I’m sure if we can stay up, he will come good next season. Others like Snodgrass and Bassong have been the opposite and had ‘difficult 2nd season syndrome’ which can’t be explained…but again they haven’t become bad players – just in poor form/low confidence.
Blimey – having to handle all these factors must make the manager’s job a very tough one! You wouldn’t think so with some of the smart comments about Hughton’s abilities.