Mark Hughes has declared that, in his most humble of opinions, Stoke City would still be playing Premier League football had the club not sacked him when they did.
Hughes was dismissed back in January shortly after being knocked out of the FA Cup at the very first hurdle by Coventry City, then of League Two.
The Potters were knee-deep in a wretched slump at the time, having also lost their previous three games.
Indeed, the Welshman had been in charge for four-and-a-half years and departed with Stoke mired in the relegation zone, just four points off the bottom of the table, and with a fairly miserly record of averaging just one win per calendar month.
Still, he appeared on BBC 5 Live this morning to inform everybody that he believes he could have kept his former club up had he just been given the chance.
“I still believe that if they’d kept me on they’d still be in the Premier League.”
How different could things have been for #SCFC if they hadn’t sacked Mark Hughes? 👇 pic.twitter.com/U6ux7gHmTJ
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) 31 August 2018
Hughes said:
Sometimes the manager actually is the glue that holds everything together and when you take that manager out, sometimes that’s when things start to go really wrong.
I still believe, people will question this belief I’m sure, that if they’d have kept me on they’d still be in the Premier League.
Blimey. Has there every been a manager with a higher opinion of themselves in the face of all contrary evidence?
In the two-ish years between April of 2016 and Sparky’s departure on 6th January, 2018, Stoke amassed 69 points from 69 league games.
Granite jaw, folded arms and unflappable belief in some mysterious refereeing conspiracy against him and only him aside, Hughes was bobbins at the Britannia and most definitely, unequivocally would have got Stoke relegated regardless.
Glad we got that one sorted.