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When Mark Hughes was appointed as Manchester City's manager last June it quickly became apparent to the players he had inherited from Sven-Goran Eriksson that things would be radically different. Under Eriksson, family and friends – even a busload of Swedish tourists on one occasion – were allowed to pitch up at the training ground to watch the players in action. Hughes preferred the Manchester United model of keeping visitors behind high fences. "It's a football factory," he explained. "People aren't allowed to go to see their mates when they work in a factory, so why should they be allowed into our factory?"
This was a factory with new rules. A memo was sent to the players explaining they would be fined for using a mobile phone or listening to an iPod in the wrong place. Then Hughes made it clear that journalists, agents and "every other Tom, Dick and Harry" would not be permitted through the gates without his permission. Even the fellow in the security cabin was told to take down his Manchester City posters and Ricky Hatton memorabilia because Hughes felt it created the wrong impression.
He anticipated it would be a "culture shock" for some of the players. What he did not envisage was the extent to which it would spiral. At Blackburn Rovers his methods were quickly accepted and, in his days as the Wales national team manager, some of his players gave the impression they would walk through a plate-glass window for him. Yet the spirit of togetherness he hoped to foster among City's players has not materialised. Instead, it has become increasingly apparent he is struggling to contain a small but divisive group of mutinous players.
It is not a subject he is willing to talk about publicly but informed sources have confirmed that Hughes would happily sell, among others, Tal Ben Haim and Elano because he suspects they have been undermining him in the dressing room. Both are said to have been involved in a recent meeting of players in which his methods were heavily criticised.
This is hardly new in football. At every club there will always be players who do not get on with the manager. For all their wealth and privileges, footballers can be riddled with insecurity and nothing pricks a player's ego more than realising they are not a mandatory first-team pick.
Even so, Hughes was taken aback to discover that one fringe player approached the club's executive chairman, Garry Cook, to air his grievances about Hughes's tactics and team selections. The player in question was given short shrift and is not expected to play for the club again. Another player is said to have been laughing and joking after Saturday's 3–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.
The events after that match tell their own story. Hughes was livid but opted not to vent his anger on the players because he felt there was little point remonstrating with the likes of Dietmar Hamann, Michael Ball, Darius Vassell and Jo, the Brazilian striker whose £19m fee (with a further £5m to agents) is looking like one of the worst pieces of transfer business imaginable. All are players with little future at the club and it has become difficult for Hughes to motivate them.
To use the example of Ball, the left-back could have been forgiven if he were distracted by the sight of Wayne Bridge, City's £12m new signing, being paraded on the pitch before Saturday's game. City's status as one of the richest clubs in the world might be exciting for the fans but it has not necessarily been good news for the players who were at the club before the Abu Dhabi United Group's takeover. Ball and Vassell, to name but two, must have known for a long time they have little future at a club that has serious ambitions to be among the best in Europe.
The biggest problems have come from a Brazilian with an eye for a pass and a lovely first touch but previous when it comes to creating dressing-room problems. Elano has already gone public with his criticisms of Hughes – an offence that cost him a week's wages – and since the tensions have seldom been far from the surface.
Elano was dropped from the 2–1 defeat at West Bromwich Albion because Hughes was dismayed by the player's lack of effort in training and, on Saturday, it did not reflect well on him again that he had a row on the pitch with team-mate Daniel Sturridge. When Elano sent a free-kick harmlessly wide it was difficult not to pick up on the disgusted reaction of Hughes's right-hand man, Mark Bowen, on the touchline. Hughes would be interested to learn that Eriksson's contacts at Elano's previous club, Shakhtar Donetsk, warned him that the midfielder does not take too kindly to not getting his own way.
Eriksson, incidentally, was so popular with the players that when it became obvious he was going to be fired they considered going on strike and refusing to accompany the then owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, on a promotional tour to Thailand and Hong Kong. Hughes, it seems, has a long way to go before he wins even a fraction of that devotion.
Results have not gone Mark Hughes' way this season — but his position has not been helped by some of the players who have questioned his tactics and team selections
Eastlands' bad apples
Jo
Appearances 18 (5 as sub)
Goals 3
Mark Hughes thought the striker was at home stricken with tonsillitis when in fact he was sampling the delights of Manchester's nightlife. His manager let him sample the delights of a financial penalty
Tal Ben Haim
Appearances 15 (1)
Goals 0
The Israeli centre-half is understood to have astonished Micah Richards, and his manager, by asking him to switch positions against Racing Santander as his marker was too much for him
Elano
Appearances 24 (5)
Goals 4
Irked by being dropped from the team, he gave a TV interview criticising Hughes and was fined. Daniel Sturridge and the Brazilian also had a set-to on the pitch during the 3-0 defeat to Forest
This was a factory with new rules. A memo was sent to the players explaining they would be fined for using a mobile phone or listening to an iPod in the wrong place. Then Hughes made it clear that journalists, agents and "every other Tom, Dick and Harry" would not be permitted through the gates without his permission. Even the fellow in the security cabin was told to take down his Manchester City posters and Ricky Hatton memorabilia because Hughes felt it created the wrong impression.
He anticipated it would be a "culture shock" for some of the players. What he did not envisage was the extent to which it would spiral. At Blackburn Rovers his methods were quickly accepted and, in his days as the Wales national team manager, some of his players gave the impression they would walk through a plate-glass window for him. Yet the spirit of togetherness he hoped to foster among City's players has not materialised. Instead, it has become increasingly apparent he is struggling to contain a small but divisive group of mutinous players.
It is not a subject he is willing to talk about publicly but informed sources have confirmed that Hughes would happily sell, among others, Tal Ben Haim and Elano because he suspects they have been undermining him in the dressing room. Both are said to have been involved in a recent meeting of players in which his methods were heavily criticised.
This is hardly new in football. At every club there will always be players who do not get on with the manager. For all their wealth and privileges, footballers can be riddled with insecurity and nothing pricks a player's ego more than realising they are not a mandatory first-team pick.
Even so, Hughes was taken aback to discover that one fringe player approached the club's executive chairman, Garry Cook, to air his grievances about Hughes's tactics and team selections. The player in question was given short shrift and is not expected to play for the club again. Another player is said to have been laughing and joking after Saturday's 3–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.
The events after that match tell their own story. Hughes was livid but opted not to vent his anger on the players because he felt there was little point remonstrating with the likes of Dietmar Hamann, Michael Ball, Darius Vassell and Jo, the Brazilian striker whose £19m fee (with a further £5m to agents) is looking like one of the worst pieces of transfer business imaginable. All are players with little future at the club and it has become difficult for Hughes to motivate them.
To use the example of Ball, the left-back could have been forgiven if he were distracted by the sight of Wayne Bridge, City's £12m new signing, being paraded on the pitch before Saturday's game. City's status as one of the richest clubs in the world might be exciting for the fans but it has not necessarily been good news for the players who were at the club before the Abu Dhabi United Group's takeover. Ball and Vassell, to name but two, must have known for a long time they have little future at a club that has serious ambitions to be among the best in Europe.
The biggest problems have come from a Brazilian with an eye for a pass and a lovely first touch but previous when it comes to creating dressing-room problems. Elano has already gone public with his criticisms of Hughes – an offence that cost him a week's wages – and since the tensions have seldom been far from the surface.
Elano was dropped from the 2–1 defeat at West Bromwich Albion because Hughes was dismayed by the player's lack of effort in training and, on Saturday, it did not reflect well on him again that he had a row on the pitch with team-mate Daniel Sturridge. When Elano sent a free-kick harmlessly wide it was difficult not to pick up on the disgusted reaction of Hughes's right-hand man, Mark Bowen, on the touchline. Hughes would be interested to learn that Eriksson's contacts at Elano's previous club, Shakhtar Donetsk, warned him that the midfielder does not take too kindly to not getting his own way.
Eriksson, incidentally, was so popular with the players that when it became obvious he was going to be fired they considered going on strike and refusing to accompany the then owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, on a promotional tour to Thailand and Hong Kong. Hughes, it seems, has a long way to go before he wins even a fraction of that devotion.
Results have not gone Mark Hughes' way this season — but his position has not been helped by some of the players who have questioned his tactics and team selections
Eastlands' bad apples
Jo
Appearances 18 (5 as sub)
Goals 3
Mark Hughes thought the striker was at home stricken with tonsillitis when in fact he was sampling the delights of Manchester's nightlife. His manager let him sample the delights of a financial penalty
Tal Ben Haim
Appearances 15 (1)
Goals 0
The Israeli centre-half is understood to have astonished Micah Richards, and his manager, by asking him to switch positions against Racing Santander as his marker was too much for him
Elano
Appearances 24 (5)
Goals 4
Irked by being dropped from the team, he gave a TV interview criticising Hughes and was fined. Daniel Sturridge and the Brazilian also had a set-to on the pitch during the 3-0 defeat to Forest
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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