11 Mar 2026 13:16:58.
Speculation:
I think Hughes is staying and will get another shot at a manager.
Planning for the end of the season needs to be done way in advance. Sacking him now or in the summer will disrupt transfer plans. I can’t see him going before September.
11 Mar 2026 14:11:56
I read "Hughes will get another shot at being manager" and almost had a heart attack.
Have a feeling you're right, Ron, and personally I think we will start next season with Slot still in charge.
11 Mar 2026 14:15:05
That way you can be right about Iraola, Ron.
11 Mar 2026 14:53:41
Ron, I do think Hughes might cling on by the skin of his teeth. He shouldn't, but it wouldn't shock me to see him make Slot the main scapegoat. Slot's position is untenable in my view, and that gives Hughes a "get out of jail free" card. Slot's the one who has completely failed to deliver. Hughes can rightly point out that he renewed the contracts of our 2 star players, and managed to sign 3 world class players in Isak, Ekitike and Wirtz. The failure to at least get the world class players at his disposal to play well does solely sit with Slot, and nobody else.
What Hughes should be getting questioned on, though, is why he allowed Quansah to leave, why he allowed Morton to leave, why we did not replace Diaz adequately, and why there seems to be no succession plan in place for Van Dijk or Salah, who are 34 and 33 years old.
I am tempted to say he let Morton and Quansah leave because it was easier to sell them for a quick PSR boost than to negotiate down the astronomical fees we threw about. I'd say he failed to replace Diaz because he put gross mis-faith in Slot to actually utilise Rio Ngumoha, despite Slot making it very clear in his first season that he does not care about the academy, and I honestly have no idea why we have no succession plan in place for Virgil and Salah; that's just embarrassing and inexplicable.
11 Mar 2026 16:47:31
I kind of feel like the plan was to blow up the team slowly and then do the rebuild across two or three years, and trust that the players and squad were good enough to keep us in the Champions League. I'm pretty sure that the huge outlay in the summer was done in the knowledge that it was only half the build necessary to have us at the very top end of European football again once our ageing spine has been adequately replaced. We have to remember that directors of football think in terms of multiple seasons and not just the here and now (which could be right or wrong, but that's what they're hired for, I guess).
The problem lies in the fact that we had clearly very immediate needs in terms of combativeness and physicality, and the team chose to prioritise getting key players that we wanted eventually who were available in the here and now, delaying buying for other key positions that would have been imperative for us this season, leaving them for next year.
The result of that is plain for all to see, and Hughes and Edwards not acting immediately to buy players that could help us in January, because they wanted to wait for the targets they really want in the summer, has had a huge effect.
I think it's a massive gamble that they've taken from the summer window onwards, and it doesn't look like it makes a whole lot of sense at all. I also think that while Slot has clearly made mistakes this year, it seems slightly unfair that all the moaning is directed towards him rather than those above him, though those above him could defend themselves by saying that the results of their work will become apparent when the grand plan eventually comes together. It's kind of hard to see that taking place if we don't make it to the Champions League, though, to be honest.