Stoke City manager Mark Hughes wants to cast out QPR memories

Mark Hughes, Stoke City manager

Stoke City‘s new manager says he wants to leave the past behind and wants to relish a fresh start at Stoke City. He is all set to prove the doubters wrong and wants to convince the Stoke support that he is the right man for the job. He seems to have fitted well in the club’s surroundings.

“That’s credit to what’s in place here,” Hughes said in an interview to the Guardian. “Maybe I’m getting it wrong but I just think there’s a real sense that people want me to do well.”

He has a record of being one of only 25 managers who have taken charge of more than 200 Premier League games and his win ratio puts him at 10th position on the list.

He has had successful reigns as a manager with Blackburn and Fulham as well, but his disastrous 10-month reign last year with QPR destroyed his reputation.

“I’d like to think people would see the bigger picture but I can understand why they don’t, because probably after QPR I think a lot of people had made their mind up that I was the root of all evil and I was the reason why the club went down last season,” said Hughes, who had kept the club up the previous year.

“I was there for the first 12 games, we didn’t lose them all, we lost a fair percentage of them. In the first 12 games we played eight of the teams that finished in the top 10, so it was a difficult start. But you have to win football matches and if you don’t, you allow people to criticise you.”

Hughes, former Manchester United player, takes his team to Anfield to play their EPL opener against Liverpool. On being asked about his feeling on facing Liverpool, “A trip to Liverpool on the opening day is not the easiest place for a former Manchester United player to start a new job,” although Hughes has always thrived on Anfield’s atmosphere.

“I love going back, I think it’s one of the great arenas in sport. You know you’re going to get dog’s abuse on occasions, and sometimes you get wags behind you that say things that make you chuckle inside. But we’re really looking forward to this game, we’re going to have huge support and we’ve got to give them something to cheer.”