Even those who claim to be repulsed by Manchester City’s new money have time for their manager, Mark Hughes. They remember the player, a fearless striker, most notably with Manchester United, who scored stunning goals and gave defenders as good as he got. They see a coach who did a fine job with Wales and then at Blackburn Rovers, even if his team often reflected the combative nature of his play more than its artistry. And now, Hughes is rising admirably to the challenge of guiding Manchester City through a high-wire walk of incredible ambition.
It was presumed he would be replaced by a stellar managerial name at the end of the season. He was not. It was claimed he was just a puppet for the new owners and did not decide City’s transfer policy; clearly, he does. Even now, it is presumed that if he fails to sustain Champions League form he will be gone by Christmas. By contrast, City have started well, lie fourth with a game in hand, stuffed Arsenal, and scored three away at Old Trafford before succumbing to the relentless nature of opponents chasing a record fourth successive title.
Yet with this ascent towards the elite comes disconcerting behaviour. For recently, the likable Hughes has taken on a trait that seems common to all coaches at the highest level of the Premier League: the desire to defend the indefensible. They study the same evidence as everybody else, and arrive at an entirely different, illogical, conclusion.
Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal, is the master, but Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Rafael Benitez of Liverpool run him a close second. Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, has not been tested by a big match yet, but if he is anything like his predecessors a lapse of reason cannot be long coming (remember when Jose Mourinho extended his conspiracy theories to the Reading ambulance service?).
Hughes saw Craig Bellamy’s confrontation with Manchester United supporter Jake Joseph Clarke on Sunday, and claimed his player was acting in self defence. Clarke is a twerp, no doubt of that. He ran on to the pitch after Michael Owen scored United’s winning goal and if he is banned indefinitely from Old Trafford no tears will be shed. Yet, plainly, when Bellamy went over to him, an incident that ended with the player putting a hand in Clarke’s face, the supporter was restrained by stewards. Bellamy was not under threat; indeed he had placed himself in Clarke’s orbit.
Hughes could have argued that Bellamy was incensed by the intrusion, that he was angry that one of his teammates, Javier Garrido, had been struck by a coin at half-time, he could have explained the extreme levels of provocation footballers deal with during a game. Yet to plead self-defence was silly. And Hughes should not have to look foolish to affect a bond with his players.
They all do it, though. Managers would rather appear dim than hint that a player might have been in the wrong, for fear of upsetting the dressing-room. Yet if Bellamy is not big enough to admit he acted like a fool, how can he be big enough to deliver a title for Manchester City? Hughes is better than that, and he needs his players to be, too.