Hughes rebuilds his career – and Stoke

When Mark Hughes took over at Stoke City last summer there were a lot of fans, myself included, fearing the worst.

Although Hughes had done decent work at Manchester City and Blackburn, it was his odd departure from Fulham and the disastrous campaign at QPR a year previously that stood out in the minds of most Potters fans.

Our fears were that we’d be signing a raft of overpaid and underwhelming players and that Hughes would either jump ship or be pushed by Christmas if we had a poor start.

We could not have been more wrong. Erik Pieters, Marc Muniesa and especially Marko Arnautovic immediately looked like quality signings and although the start to our season wasn’t amazing, we still looked like a different side to the one working to the ‘direct’ style of Tony Pulis.

It took a little while for Hughes’ change of style to fully take effect but following the excellent swap deal of Peter Odemwingie for Kenwyne Jones, the Potters looked at home with their new passing game – even the captain Ryan Shawcross looking comfortable on the ball.

An undefeated March, followed by a solid end to the season and Stoke’s annual three-point gift from West Brom meant that Hughes had guided Stoke City to their highest ever Premier League points tally and a ninth-placed finish.

Tenth place was an optimistic target, so to claim nine has left many Stoke fans in awe of what Hughes has achieved.

Hughes’ reputation had taken a battering at Loftus Road, but after this season he has rightly been heralded as one of the managers of the year – behind Brendan Rodgers, Manuel Pellegrini, Roberto Martinez and, of course, Pulis.

It wasn’t going to be easy winning around the Stoke fans, but he has certainly done that now.

There is a real sense of optimism around the club now; if Stoke can keep of their main stars – Asmir Begovic and Shawcross in particular, then there is plenty to be said for Stoke securing another top-10 finish next season and perhaps a run to a cup semi-final.

Hughes looks to have already begun to work the transfer market with Phil Bardsley coming in as a solid free-transfer and Mame Diouf on the verge of a move from the Bundesliga on a free just 18 months after a £6.5million bid was rejected.

If Diouf signs, and scores, then Stoke City should have another successful Premier League campaign.

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