A Chance At Redemption: The Mark Hughes Story

[orion523]

He never expected it to be this way. A star in every sense of the word on the pitch for such fabled clubs as Manchester United, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich, Mark Hughes had the type of confidence that only top level success could bring, so when he moved into club management two years after retiring from the game, he had absolutely no doubt that he would succeed, he didn't.
Between September of 2004 and November of 2012, Hughes managed to go a quite mediocre 140-84-118 with absolutely zero trophies for the likes of Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham, and QPR.
In his final managing stint at QPR, Hughes was sacked after failing to lead his club to a single victory after 12 games. The calls stopped coming, would he ever get another chance? Is this how it was all going to end, in abject failure? It couldn't, because he knew deep down he could be a success, win trophies, maybe even with the league, he just needed that one shot, that once chance at redemption.....

The Rules


OK guys, here goes, my last CM with FIFA 14. Same rules as usual, Legendary gameplay, my sliders, strict board, first transfer window closed, European play active in season one.

[orion523]

Mark Hughes
Managerial Career Almanac

1999-2004 Wales(International)
41G - 12W - 15D - 14L


2004-08 Blackburn Rovers
188G -82W -47D -59L

2008-09 Manchester City
77G -36W - 15D - 26L

2010-11 Fulham FC
43G - 14W - 16D - 13L

2012 Queens Park Rangers
34G - 8W - 6D - 20L

2013-14 Stoke City
38G - 14W - 11D - 13L 53 points, 9th place finish
Capital One Cup: Lost 2-1 to Bolton in Round of 16
FA Cup: Lost 2-1 to Burnley in 3rd round

[orion523]

1 June 2013

Stoke City Hires Mark Hughes As New Manager


Hughes replaces Tony Pulis at Stoke City

Stoke(AP) -After a six month long wait, Mark Hughes returned to football management today with BPL side Stoke City, giving him the chance to prove his critics wrong after a shockingly poor spell at Queens Park Rangers.
The 49 year old Hughes, a former Manchester United and Chelsea striker was sacked by the struggling London club QPR in November.
"Stoke have looked beyond my last position and taken my career as a manager as a whole, Hughes said. It was difficult at QPR, mistakes were made. Certainly I made mistakes which I will learn from."
Hughes was hired by Stoke on a three year contract to replace Tony Pulis, who left earlier this month after seven seasons following a 13th place finish.
"I have listened to what people have said concerning my managerial ability, and I will use it as motivation, Hughes said.
Hughes who also played for Barcelona and Bayern Munich will be hoping to revive his managerial fortunes which have been patchy at best since making his debut in the dugout with Wales.
After playing 72 matches for Wales, Hughes took charge of his national team in 1999 and came close to reaching a first major tournament since 1958.
He left in 2004 to move into club management at Blackburn, transforming the northern English club from relegation candidates into a side that twice qualified for the UEFA Cup through top 6 finishes.
Hughes was enticed to Manchester City in 2008 but, after a change in ownership to Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour, he was sacked the following year after failing to deliver a title despite more than $300 million being invested into players.
Hughes was back in work with Fulham ahead of the 2010-11 season, but resigned at the end of the campaign to "further my experiences."
That turned out to be managing London rival QPR from January 2012.
After keeping QPR in the Premier League on the final day that season in May, Hughes was sacked in November after a dismal start to the new campaign that saw the club fail to win a single game out of twelve. From afar he saw QPR ultimately relegated earlier this month.
At Stoke, Hughes will be expected to carry on the work done by Pulis, who guided them into the Premier League and stabilized them.
Despite an FA Cup final appearance in 2011, when Manchester City won, some fans had grown tired of what they considered a dated style of football and Stoke ultimately decided it was time for Pulis to leave.
Hughes wants to turn the club into a stronger, attacking force, but will not rush any changes.
"It's not a case of wiping away the hard work that's been put in place in previous seasons, Hughes said.

[orion523]

2013-14 Stoke City Season Preview

2012-13 Recap
Premier League: 13th
FA Cup: 4th Round
League Cup: 2nd Round

Players In
ST Juan Agudelo(New England, Free), CB Marc Muniesa(Barcelona, Free), LB Erik Pieters(PSV, £3 million),
CAM Stephen Ireland(Aston Villa, £500,000), ST John Guidetti(Manchester City, Loan), RM Peter Odemwingie(Cardiff City, Swap), W Oussama Assaidi(Liverpool, Loan), ST Marko Arnautovic(Werder Bremen, Undisclosed)

Players Out
Mid Jamie Ness(Leyton Orient, Free), ST Juan Agudelo(Utrecht, Loan), ST Kenwyne Jones(Cardiff City, Swap), LB Danny Fox(Nottingham Forest, Free), ST Michael Owen(retired) MID Rory Delap(Burton, Free), GK Matthew Gledhill(Sligo Rovers, Free), MID Matthew Lund(Rochdale, Free), GK Carlo Nash(Norwich City, Free), CB Matthew Upson(Brighton, Free), MID Dean Whitehead(Middlesbrough, Free)

Expectations
Stoke seem to have taken a risk by changing their manager for the first time since they won promotion to the BPL in 2008, in a move that will apparently see a revolutionary reversal of their notoriously direct style. However, it's unrealistic to expect new man Hughes, who's not the antithesis to Pulis anyway, to radically change the club's approach immediately, especially given he's hardly had the chance to bring in his own players yet. That means we shouldn't expect too great a leap from last season, with a lower to mid table finish likely again.

[orion523]

2013-14 Stoke City Team Sheet

2013-14 Stoke City Team Sheet (4-2-3-1)
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
GK	Asmir Begovic(82)	Jack Butland(72)	Thomas Sorensen(72)	Daniel Bachmann(60)
RB	Geoff Cameron(72)	Ryan Shotton(69)	Kevin Gomez Nieto(60)	Ben Glasgow(19)
RCB	Ryan Shawcross(76)	Marc Wilson(71)
LCB	Robert Huth(77)	Marc Muniesa(67)
LB	Andy Wilkinson(73)	Erik Pieters(72)	Jack Campbell(54)
CDM	Steven N'Zonzi(78)	Wilson Palacios(71)
CM	Glenn Whelan(73)	Charlie Adam(73)	Jordan Richardson(60)
RM	Peter Odemwingie(71)	Jonathan Walters(70)
LM	Marco Arnautovic(76)	Matthew Etherington(75)	Oussama Assaidi(74)**	Brek Shea(69)
CAM	Stephen Ireland(75)	Charlie Ward(57)	Peter Skapetis(55)
ST	Peter Crouch(76)	John Guidetti(73)**	James Alabi(60)	Karim Rossi(59)

** Loanees
-LM Oussama Assaidi is here on loan from Liverpool

-ST John Guidetti is here on loan from Manchester City(£1.2M purchase option)

Loaned Out

-CDM Maurice Edu is loaned out to the Philadelphia Union

-LM Michael Kightly is loaned out to Burnley FC

-ST Juan Agudelo is loaned out to FC Utrecht

-ST Cameron Jerome is loaned out to Crystal Palace

[orion523]

With Share Factory added to PS4, a tart like me may be able to create some gameplay videos for the dynasty, it'll obviously be a huge WIP, but I think it'll be worth it in the end.

[orion523]

2013-14 Capital One Cup
Round One Results
13-14 August 2013

13 August 2013
Barnsley 1-0 Stevenage
Blackpool 3-2 Preston North End
Brentford 1-2 Gillingham
Bristol Rovers 1-0 Doncaster Rovers
Burnley 4-0 York City
Burton Albion 3-1 Exeter City
Charlton Athletic 4-1 Bury
Coventry City 3-1 Walsall
Crewe Alexandra 1-3 S****horpe United
Dagenham & Redbridge 1-1(4-3p) Chesterfield
Leicester City 3-1 Millwall
Leyton Orient 4-0 Colchester
Middlesbrough 2-0 Torquay United
MK Dons 0-1 Bolton Wanderers
Morecambe 2-1 Derby County
Newport County 1-0 Notts County
Northampton 2-2(5-4p) Yeovil Town
Oldham Athletic 3-3(3-4p) Blackburn Rovers
Oxford United 1-2 Carlisle United
Peterborough 3-1 Hartlepool
Plymouth Argyle 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Port Vale 1-2 Ipswich Town
Queens Park Rangers 2-0 Leeds United
Reading 3-1 Cheltenham Town
Rochdale 0-2 Swindon Town
Rotherham United 1-0 Birmingham City
Sheffield United 3-0 AFC Wimbledon
Shrewsbury Town 0-2 Bournemouth
Southend United 2-2(4-3p) Crawley Town
Watford 2-0 Fleetwood Town
Wigan Athletic 3-1 Mansfield Town
Wolverhampton 2-0 Bristol City
Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday

14 August 2013
Accrington Stanley 0-2 Tranmere Rovers
Brighton & Hove 1-2 Huddersfield Town
Portsmouth 2-1 Bradford City

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2013-14 Barclays Premier League
Match Day #1
19 August 2013
Anfield, Liverpool

Liverpool 1-0 Stoke City

Scoring Summary
33' Philippe Coutinho - LFC

New Look Liverpool Prove Too Much For Visiting Stoke City


Philippe Coutinho fires home the game's only goal

A deft piece of first half skill from Philippe Coutinho secured Liverpool their first opening day home victory since 2001 as they were able to stave off a late charge from the visitors in a 1-0 triumph over Stoke City.
Back footed right from the opening whistle, Stoke were nearly blown out of the building before the match was fifteen minutes old, but three critical saves by Asmir Begovic kept the visitors on level terms as they searched for a way to gain a foothold, but try as they might, the Potters just couldn't cope with the pure speed of their opponents who finally took the lead on a Philippe Coutinho goal in the 33rd minute.
Once in front, Brendan Rodgers' lads backed off slightly, and it nearly cost them with new boys John Guideti, and Marco Arnautovic nearly equalizing late in the match, but in the end however it was the Reds earning victory, holding on for the 1-0 triumph.

Results From Match Day One In The Barclays Premier League

17 August 2013
Arsenal 4-1 Aston Villa
Chelsea 1-0 Hull City
Crystal Palace 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Norwich City 1-0 Everton
Sunderland 1-3 Fulham
West Bromwich Albion 2-3 Southampton
West Ham United 1-1 Cardiff City

18 August 2013
Manchester City 4-1 Newcastle United
Swansea City 1-1 Manchester United

19 August 2013
Liverpool 1-0 Stoke City

Coutinho's Goal
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...93710891000677

Highlights From The Match
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...96355955734821

Box Score

Aug 19, 2013 - Stoke City vs Liverpool
TEAM	1	2	SCORE
Stoke City (0-0-1)	0	0	0
Liverpool (1-0-0)	1	0	1

Team Stats Comparison
Stoke City		Liverpool
41%	Possession	59%
8	Shots	14
4	Shots on Target	7
11	Tackles	11
3	Fouls	0
0	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
2	Corner Kicks	5
50%	Shot Accuracy	50%
75%	Passing Percentage	88%