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Hughton deserves some warmth on his Carrow Road return as we welcome his jubilant Seagulls

19th April 2017 By Will Jennings 32 Comments

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People often forget that Chris Hughton kept Norwich City up. It’s sad, really.

Despite his commendable efforts in engineering an eleventh place finish in the top flight, leading City on that memorable ten game unbeaten run and toppling the might of Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal, he will always be remembered as the man who took Norwich down.

Pity.

Hughton’s City may have divided supporters. What positive results his side gained were so frequently undermined by ostensible performances of conservatism, a lack of enterprise and the absence of any offensive verve. By April 2014, anti-Hughton sentiment had become almost universal, manifesting itself so palpably in that miserable affair against West Brom. He had to go.

But Hughton deserved better. His fifteen-month regime did not have to end with the unedifying sight of our candid manager being struck on the head by a flying ‘clapper’. Regardless of your thoughts on City under Hughton, his tenure did not need to end in such undesirable circumstances.

City enjoyed the good times under Hughton, times when we could all unite and believe vivaciously in our beloved yellow and green cause. Hughton was at the helm for so many of our most unforgettable conquests of recent times, ambushing Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United on atmospheric Carrow Road evenings before vanquishing United’s parochial rival at the Etihad.

And we will never forget Jonny Howson’s dazzling dribble through a mesmerised City defence.

But things soon turned sour. After a mid-table finish that pipped the brilliance of Paul Lambert the previous season – albeit with three fewer points – Hughton’s fortunes in the City hot seat deteriorated.

Early defeats to Hull, Aston Villa and Fulham were to prove fatal, providing insufficient grounding for a successful survival campaign. Norwich under Hughton lacked the dynamism, fearlessness and character of the Lambert epoch, instead being characterised by unnecessary caution and vigilance. The fans turned.

This was not the large-scale, vocal and visible campaign for the ousting of a manager we have seen so recently in NR1, but instead one that had its roots less embedded in results than it did in the performances being witnessed.

We became tired watching our side equip themselves with such a lack of endeavour, failing to entertain the loyal masses who flocked to away games at Cardiff, Southampton and Newcastle. Our grievances were justified.

But Hughton’s distasteful departure is not how he should be remembered. Yes, he did play a considerable role in terminating City’s three-year odyssey in the Premier League and yes, he did so in an unequivocally unattractive way, but incompetent recruitment – again – and the relentless augmenting of disillusionment on the terraces did little to foster an environment conducive to achieving Premier League safety.

David McNally’s impetuous remark concerning the prospect of replacing Hughton in February 2014 was equally unhelpful.

Hughton is a man of dignity, integrity and principal. He never shied away from providing the fans with honest, sincere and forthright answers in times of adversity. In a long term sense, things didn’t work out for him at City. I – like many others I’m sure – wish things had ensued differently.

Which is why I’m so delighted to see what he has achieved at the Amex. Hughton inherited a Sami Hypia-led side near the foot of the division lacking in belief, ideas and quality, transforming them into a united group of second-tier champions elect through an effective synthesis of intelligent recruitment and tactics.

Owing to Hughton’s work, the Seagulls are flying once again.

Anthony Knockaert has been superb, illuminating the league with unparalleled quality going forward and his clinical finishing. Glenn Murray and Dale Stephens have been equally efficacious, while the excellent Lewis Dunk and goalkeeper David Stockdale – I hesitate to say – have provided substantial stability at the back.

City’s defence should take note.

Hughton’s influence has been profound, not solely signing but also successfully motivating his terrific group of players and pioneering a run of results superior to even the faltering Newcastle United’s.

If there are those who argue that this Brighton squad have overachieved, they only go to further the degree to which Hughton has proved himself as a first-rate Championship manager. The outstanding job he has conducted was embodied in ninety painful Norwich City minutes in October last year – a five-star Brighton performance. Grim.

So Hughton’s efforts necessitate a benevolent Carrow Road welcome. His work 174 miles south aside, not many managers in City’s recent history can claim to have kept us up in the top flight. Alternatively, if you do consider Hughton’s second season of misery to be a fundamentally unforgivable encounter, remember Hughton the man, not Hughton the manager.

He tried. He cared. He deserves better than receiving a chorus of hostility when he returns in front of the Sky cameras on Friday night.

In a week when City won away and the prime minister called a surprising snap election, who knows what the evening’s football will bring. What remains certain, however, is Hughton’s credibility, decency and likeability as both a man and manager.

That, in my mind, is how he should be remembered.


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Filed Under: Column, Will Jennings

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Comments

  1. Jeff says

    19th April 2017 at 7:20 am

    Sentiment at its drivelling best. It was the most arduous tenure we’ve had to endure for many seasons. He deserves neither a warm or a cold welcome because he represents a big dose of ‘meh’. I’d be far more interested to read your starry eyed piece on Mr Lambert than a bona-fide non entity.

    Reply
  2. Jeff says

    19th April 2017 at 7:21 am

    Ps. It’s amazing how a bit of time apart can make you wistful over the perceived good parts.

    Reply
  3. Dan Rivers says

    19th April 2017 at 7:38 am

    Irishman? The chap from Newham, E7? He’ll get plenty of applause from me on Friday night that’s for sure. The sacking culture in England is a joke. The sooner owners understand that the better.

    Reply
  4. Ian S says

    19th April 2017 at 7:50 am

    Chris Hughton is without doubt an excellent manager and possibly the right manager at the wrong time for us. However, removing him and replacing him with Neil Adams was nothing short of laughable. Look at how their careers have developed before and after.

    Reply
  5. Stewart Lewis says

    19th April 2017 at 8:29 am

    Good stuff, Will.

    A balanced view of Chris Hughton – rare as hen’s teeth.

    Reply
  6. Andy W says

    19th April 2017 at 8:42 am

    One of the most dignified men in football. I was a critic as I thought he was too defensive, but in a game beset by petty jealousies and inflated egos, the way he conducts himself is a breath of fresh air.

    Reply
  7. Gary Field says

    19th April 2017 at 8:44 am

    1 – Dan Rivers, “the sacking culture in England is a joke.” You’re right to a degree, although the departures of both Chris Hughton and Alex Neil suggest Norwich has tried to do things differently. Perhaps others should decide themselves if that’s a good or bad thing?

    As for Chris Hughton’s time here, I’m torn between deciding whether it came down to him having poor resources available to use, or his poor use of the actual available resources?

    Reply
  8. George says

    19th April 2017 at 8:55 am

    Totally agree Mr. Jennings, he deserves our appreciation, both for what he did for us, under, at times, exceptionally difficult circumstances, but especially for what he has done with Brighton. No doubt there will be some who give him the bird on Friday night, every Club has some of those, and Norwich are no exception, but hopefully there will be enough decent folk around, to deafen the jeers. His dismissal and subsequent replacement, was probably the most farcical we´ve seen at Norwich in our entire history – god knows what they thought they were doing.

    Certainly I could well understand it, if he were to give a wry, inward smile, if the title is won on Friday – good luck to him!

    Reply
  9. Andy Delf says

    19th April 2017 at 9:15 am

    Well done Chris Hughton and his Brighton team. I remember the collection buckets when Brighton were facing extinction, the football family came together to do their bit to save Brighton. So good luck to them and they should be applauded on their success on Friday night. As for Chris Hughtons time at Norwich he was never anything other than decent and gracious but didn’t gel with NCFC and so it was better for all there was a parting of the ways. However as is it’s habit in recent years the board dallied in the decision to part ways and that caused the acrimony that followed.

    Reply
  10. Jon Dunn says

    19th April 2017 at 9:42 am

    Well written piece. I was one of the first to send congratulations to BHAFC as soon as the results were in on Saturday (I lived there for a while, so have a soft spot for the place)
    But in terms of his time here, second season especially, he appeared to spend more time ‘bigging up’ the opposition – whoever they were, than coaching our players to actually cross the halfway line now and again and give RvW some support. Witness how Ricky has performed before and since his ghastly spell at Norwich for evidence.
    The proof of his pudding, the ‘acid test’, will be how he, CH, makes the step back up to the top flight with Brighton next season.
    I wish him and the club all the very best.

    Reply
  11. Andy Head says

    19th April 2017 at 10:13 am

    Really well balanced Will. Hated what we became under Hughton but no reason to dislike the man.

    Reply
  12. darren says

    19th April 2017 at 10:56 am

    Hughton’s big problem at Norwich is that he never worked to the players strengths, more to their weaknesses. Plus increasingly dull football to boot.

    Paul Lambert knew he didn’t have a great squad either, but he got the best out them and didn’t try to make them do things they were not good enough to do. Hughton never got that.

    A very likeable guy by all reports and certainly made McNally sleep easier at night than his predecessor, but wasn’t right for Norwich.

    Reply
  13. Stewart Lewis says

    19th April 2017 at 11:46 am

    Darren #12: Good description of what Lambert did.

    But isn’t it also exactly what Hughton did in his first season with us?

    Reply
  14. Keith B says

    19th April 2017 at 12:31 pm

    It’s so easy to forget that we were still concentrating on winding down the debt at that time, and although Hughton had more funds in the transfer market than others before him, he did not have the salary budget that most of our rivals did.

    Hull were paying players like Huddlestone, a fringe England player – something Howson has never been, nor would Wes or Snodgrass be were they also English.

    WBA had Anelka, Scott Sinclair (supposedly a rising star) and Sessegnon.

    Villa had Darren Bent for whom they’d paid £18m – which puts the sum we paid for RvW into context.

    Unfortunately whilst Lambert’s approach to a less than level playing field was an attempt to play attacking football Hughton’s was dreary – and ultimately didn’t work.

    What was most wrong with the Hughton situation though was the timing of his departure. There was no way anyone could rescue us with 4 or 5 games to go, at least 3 being against top sides. So either he should have gone months earlier or been allowed to rebuild in the Championship. McNally clearly had faith in him as a manager – and given his record before and since, rightly so – but having stood by him in the winter seems to have lost his nerve under the pressure from social media.

    Reply
  15. Gary Wenn says

    19th April 2017 at 12:32 pm

    He may be a nice bloke but for me he failed at Norwich. Yes, he finished one place above Paul Lambert, but in Lambert’s season we never looked in relegation trouble. Hootun’s first season saw us in a relegation fight for 36 games in a 38 game season. It was not until we beat an already on-the-beach WBA we were safe. As for his second season………all I remember is dreading the next match I was going to as he was so negative. Defend a 0-0 and no plan B. And then there were his interviews. All he said was how good the opposition was. Nothing else and nothing of note.
    I will not jeer him and I will certainly will not cheer him.

    Reply
  16. martin penney says

    19th April 2017 at 12:37 pm

    #11 Andy has written my entire comment for me.

    I met CH once (while coming to the end of his playing career at Tottenham before moving to West Ham) and he was genuinely a nice bloke imo.

    No booing or indeed clapping from our little lot in the UB I’m sure.

    Water under Carrow Bridge, I’d say…

    Reply
  17. James Finbow says

    19th April 2017 at 1:10 pm

    Excellent article.

    Chris Hughton was the right man at the wrong time. Following in Lambert’s swash-buckling footsteps was always going to prove tricky.

    His record as a manager is excellent – even taking into account his time at Carrow Road – and he’ll have a much more solid and stable base to work from down on the south coast next season. It is, after all, ‘his’ team this time.

    I think they’ll surprise a few people including our own supporters.

    Reply
  18. Cityfan says

    19th April 2017 at 1:36 pm

    He’ll be remembered as the man who took us down because he took us from a position of strength to relegation fodder. With more money than anyone before him. Those are the facts. I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Jeff but frankly he’s right.
    Now can we get over Hughton and move on?

    Reply
  19. pab says

    19th April 2017 at 1:49 pm

    I don’t think there will be a “chorus of hostility”. With the passing of time and the problems we have suffered since he left I think the most likely emotion will be indifference ….

    Reply
  20. volcanopete says

    19th April 2017 at 2:00 pm

    Chris Hughton is the top black manager in the country.To explain the unhappiness of his final days at Carrow Road,there has not been enough attention given to the impact of 2 vicious racial attacks,including from those describing themselves as Canaries’ fans had on the man as an individual-I think they hurt and hurt hard and on the board’s decision to keep him on having received 2 doses in 2012 and 2013,times I was ashamed to be a football fan let alone a Norwich fan.Just Kick It Out and no return to the bad old days that took the life of Justin Fashanu.

    Reply
  21. Dave B says

    19th April 2017 at 2:20 pm

    Hughton was handed a team riding high on the crest of a wave. They’d risen from League 1 to a Premier League season where they were never threatened by relegation. Hughton took this team and within four months turned them into a squad of losers.

    Yes, he had a brief spell of success in the shadow of Lambert. But what followed was one win in eighteen, sackable form. We plummeted towards the relegation zone. This was masked by two wins against teams who had nothing to play for. He then squandered away fantastic sums of money and led us through another dire season of results and performances.

    Here and there he pulled a rabbit out of a hat, but let’s not forget the team we were when he took over vs. the team when he left. I said it then and I’ll say it again now, the impact of Hughton on Norwich City will be felt for a decade.

    Still, nice guy and all that.

    Reply
  22. martin penney says

    19th April 2017 at 3:09 pm

    #20 volcanopete: I had no idea of any of what you describe. Really.

    When CH was at NCFC the last thing we were concerned with was his ethnicity. Who gives a toss anyway?

    I had no idea he was subjected to racist stuff.

    Sad, sad, sad.

    Reply
  23. Gary Gowers says

    19th April 2017 at 4:25 pm

    #20 volcanopete – I’m with Martin P on this one – was completely unaware this was even a thing with regard to Chris H. Awful, horrific if true, but best left where it belongs: in the past.

    Reply
  24. Nicholas Mead says

    19th April 2017 at 5:07 pm

    Norwich City’s biggest defeat since the war? The thrashing by Manchester City when we were managed by Mr. Hughton.
    Norwich City’s worst-ever defeat? The home loss to non-league Luton when we were managed by Mr Hughton.
    Norwich City’s worst-ever signing? Multi-million pound disaster “Ricky” Van Wolfswinkel – signed by Mr Hughton.
    He may, or may not be, a “nice” bloke – but Brighton are more than welcome to him.

    Reply
  25. Suffolkcan says

    19th April 2017 at 5:27 pm

    Time is obviously a great healer. Hughton was a bad fit for us. I haven’t forgtten losing at Hull, the games where he played to keep the score down eg Villa away.I never heard any racial stuff. He wasn’t any good for us. End of.

    Reply
  26. Suffolkcan says

    19th April 2017 at 5:31 pm

    Oh and don’t forget, ‘they can hurt us’ about every team. Such a contrast after the Lambert years when we took on everyone and mostly won.

    Reply
  27. Alex B says

    19th April 2017 at 7:04 pm

    Hughton has had and always will have his detractors just like any manager.

    Maybe the plug was pulled too soon on his reign as City manager but we will never know he was alway certain he could have kept city up, but as with this season the major decision was made too late in the day.

    His major signings Bassong, Turner, Hooper and Bennett haven’t proved themselves and Hooper now at Sheff Wed still not setting the world.

    But for all the comments I have made I do wish him the best at Brighton just after Friday Night.

    Reply
  28. Stewart Lewis says

    19th April 2017 at 7:46 pm

    Nicholas #24: If you’re selective enough, it’s always easy to pick out specific horrible-looking results in someone’s record.

    In his Premier League season with us, Paul Lambert lost to Man City by an aggregate of 11-2. That same season we lost 4-0 to MK Dons in the League Cup, a truly awful humiliation. Does that make Lambert a liability for us?

    Reply
  29. Dave H says

    19th April 2017 at 8:11 pm

    Whatever the views on Hughton’s time at Norwich, I believe Brighton & Hughton should be shown the respect they deserve for their achievements in getting promotion to the Premier. Opposition fans have paid us the same compliment in the past and I think it’s one of the more positive aspects of football supporters.

    Reply
  30. Nicholas Mead says

    20th April 2017 at 1:37 am

    Re: #28. The difference between Paul Lambert and Mr Hughton is that Paul Lambert took us from the bottom of League One to mid-table in the Premier League.Mr Hughton took us from mid-table to the brink of relegation, whilst spending a fortune to do it. So no, Paul Lambert was not a liability. Very good word to describe Mr Hughton though.

    Reply
  31. Stewart Lewis says

    20th April 2017 at 10:47 am

    Nicholas #30: Clearly true that Lambert created momentum which enabled us to reach the PL and survive a first season.

    But no-one thought that he (or anyone else) could sustain it for a second year without massive spending. When Hughton started his first season here, we were overwhelming favourites to go down – but we finished 11th.

    Then he DID spend big, and badly, and we had a miserable season. A game of two halves, if ever there was one.

    Reply
  32. darren says

    21st April 2017 at 8:40 am

    Stewart #12. Hughton had the momentum of what Lambert achieved, gradually ebbed that away and bought badly. Lest we forget Lambert took his foot of the gas towards the end of his reign, so we should of got more points.

    I totally see why Hughton was brought in. A safe pair of hands who was technically minded and wasn’t going to be looking elsewhere in the vein that Lambert did. He was just what the club didn’t need in retrospect, they needed a motivator rather than a technically minded manager and we suffered the consequences.

    Reply

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