That didn’t take very long at all. Mark Hughes was officially named the new Southampton FC Manager minutes ago, via press release. The announcement of the Welshman’s appointment comes just two days after they officially sacked Mauricio Pellegrino.
“Hughes has agreed a contract with the club until the end of the season and will take training at the club’s Staplewood Campus for the first time on Thursday,” the statement reads.
“The 54-year-old will bring extensive experience of the Premier League, having managed at Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers and most recently Stoke City, taking charge of almost 450 top-flight matches and achieving eight top-ten finishes in his career to date. The club is confident that this appointment will allow the complete focus of the manager, players and staff to be on the remaining games of this season.”
Mark Hughes also managed the Wales National team from 1999-2004.
The statement attributed to Mark Hughes reads:
“It’s a challenge I’m excited by. It’s a great opportunity to come back to a club I know well, and a club I’ve got real affinity with, and I couldn’t turn that down.”
“I bring experience of the Premier League. I understand what it takes in this league to win games. But first and foremost I think it’s about coming in and maybe being that different voice, that different message from myself and the staff, that will enable the players to recognise and focus on what needs to be done in this key period of the season.”
“The objective clearly is to remain in the league and make sure we’re a Premier League club next year. That’s where this club needs to be, that’s where it should be, and that’s our intention to make sure it remains there.”
Pellegrino was sacked after just nine months into the job. A change was certainly needed as Saints now find themselves in serious peril of being relegated. The south coast club is currently just a point and one place above the drop zone.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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