2008: June 2 - Blackburn grant permission for Mark Hughes to talk to Manchester City regarding the managerial vacancy at Eastlands.
June 4 - Appointed as Manchester City manager on a three-year contract, succeeding Sven-Goran Eriksson as owner Thaksin Shinawatra’s second boss.
July 17 - First competitive game at helm ends in a 2-0 win over EB Streymur in the UEFA Cup first qualifying round.
August 17 - Hughes’ first league game in charge ends in a 4-2 loss to Aston Villa.
August 28 - Guides City into the first round of the UEFA Cup after defeating Midtjylland on penalties.
September 1 - Abu Dhabi United Group reach a takeover agreement with City, making the club the richest in world football. The new owners announce they want a top-four finish. On the same day, City outbid Chelsea to sign Real Madrid forward Robinho in a British record £32.5 million deal.
September 24 - Brighton beat City on penalties in the Carling Cup second round.
November 27 - City reach the last 32 of the UEFA Cup with a 2-0 win at Schalke.
November 30 - Hughes suffers defeat in his first Manchester derby as manager, Wayne Rooney scoring the only goal as United win 1-0. The defeat marks the start of a six-match winless run in all competitions.
December 20 - Results elsewhere see City drop into the Premier League relegation zone.
December 21 - A 2-1 defeat against West Brom condemns City to Christmas in the bottom three. Afterwards, Hughes declares the owners will give him time to turn things around, saying: “They understand where we are in our development. They are pragmatic people.”
2009: January 3 - City suffer a humiliating FA Cup third-round defeat, losing 3-0 at home to Championship strugglers Nottingham Forest.
January - City make a 100million euro offer for AC Milan’s Kaka - a pursuit that ends unsuccessfully.
April - Hamburg defeat City in the UEFA Cup quarter-final with a 4-3 aggregate triumph.
May 24 - City finish 10th in the Barclays Premier League in Hughes’ first season in charge after 15 wins, five draws and 18 defeats in 38 games.
July - The £12million capture of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa sparks a multi-million pound spending spree, which also sees acquisitions including Roque Santa Cruz, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Carlos Tevez and Joleon Lescott.
September - City win four of their opening five Barclays Premier League matches of the season - losing only to derby rivals Manchester United. Hughes reveals he came “close” to walking away from City in the summer of 2008, frustrated at the Thaksin regime.
November - Pressure mounts on Hughes following City’s run of seven straight Barclays Premier League draws.
December 16 - A 3-0 loss at Tottenham piles further pressure on the Welshman.
December 19 - Hughes’ contract as City boss is terminated, despite the 4-3 defeat of Sunderland. Roberto Mancini is immediately confirmed as his successor.
What do you think? Have your say.
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Showing comments 1 to 14 and replies | View All
BlueMarv, Heaton Chapel (19/12/2009 at 18:58)
No football history. Doesnt even know who employs him (rags reference at club function).
Fresh start all round.
Edski Vega, Nottingham (19/12/2009 at 19:02)
jeff jones, Behind Chris Kamara (19/12/2009 at 19:07)
Bertie McGrew , Northern Countryside (19/12/2009 at 19:10)
coleraine true blue, coleraine n, ireland (19/12/2009 at 19:56)
Lavinda Past, Sunny Norfolk (19/12/2009 at 21:29)
Well said that man - Hughes' days were numbered when he sold Dunney and signed Lescott. I can't have any sympathy for any manager who's going to pick up a fortune for not being good enough.
Sam Haggar-Lowestoft-MCFC4LIFE (19/12/2009 at 21:39)
john dodd (19/12/2009 at 21:49)
John Dodd
19/12/2009 at 20:10
The Original Blue Moon Risin', Bury (19/12/2009 at 22:33)
Eddie Shah revolutionised the Newspaper Industry and Sheikh Mansour by his actions will do likewise to The Premier League.
Mark my words. Other Premier clubs will do likewise and get rid of their managers.
Favourites Fergie, Alardyce, Benitez, Brown and McCarthy.
karen tyler (19/12/2009 at 23:56)
Gary Cook leaves little to be admired because Hughes had to have been given until at least the end of this season or else he was too inexperienced for such a big job and should not have been our first choice to lead us onwards, either way fault lies with Gary Cook.
Its refreshing to watch a City team who can score good goals against any opposition, two injured defenders was not an insurmountable problem!
ChicagoBlue, USofA (20/12/2009 at 01:46)
City are in a VERY GOOD position to go on from here. Let's hope Mancini knows what he has got himself into and what is expected. NO-ONE at City will complain about a thing IF, and it is a BIG "if", the players play their hearts out for the team. Those that do are revered, those that do not pass into distant memories. Right now, we have a few multi-millionaires who are destined to be the latter and scant few who will be the former.
Good luck to Mancini, he will need it. Hughes lost TO games before Christmas, which is a record for City. He has us in the top 6, playing open, free flowing football that is exciting EVERYONE (most of the time) and we have a game in hand. We are in a cup semi final and are about to start the FA Cup in 2010. So, IF Mancini loses a two legger to the Rags, loses in the FA Cup and does not instantly win the "soft" games and do as well as Hughes has done in the "hard" games, then what?!!
There are a few players who need to take a LONG hard look in the mirror. Two of them were left out of the team today for inept performances in midweek, and one is wearing the Captain's armband. That's about £70M+ that needs to get a finger out and START being the highly paid professionals/internationals that they WERE.
Saddened,
Cityfan
John Wythenshawe Exile, Indonesia (20/12/2009 at 06:53)
Chris-Sao Paulo, JP, Brazil (20/12/2009 at 12:34)
RAY MURRAY (21/12/2009 at 11:26)
Whatever people think of Hughes as a manager the way that Gary Cook has conducted himself over this issue typifies everything that is wrong in our national game.
He has obviously gone behind all the coaching staffs back at City to do the dirty work whilst still having the face to say that Hughes had the clubs support.
Can anyone ever again trust a word this man can say.
And if it is found as reports to day state that the new manager has been staying at cooks own house then this further reflects on the way the club and cook in particular have conducted themselves.
I hope all city fans whether Hughes supporters or not remeber what cook has done again to this great club. I now here he wont be attending tonights press conference as he doesnt want to field questions from the press.
Is this mans middle name "coward".
Heres to all the city fans who tell him what they think of him
Ray