The Mark Hughes Diaries

Mark Hughes is an admired ex-pro, whose playing career spanned over 20 years with over 600 league appearances and 163 league goals to his name, turning out for some of Europe`s greatest teams including Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea. The former Welsh international moved into management following his retirement and having managed Blackburn, Manchester City and Fulham, the 48-year-old now sits at the helm of Queens Park Rangers. Vital QPR proudly has exclusive access to his weekly diary and will give you an interesting and reflective insight into the goings on at QPR.

8th October 2012

‘IF CARLSBERG do away days, I`d like them to give me a call. The last time I won a game on the road as a manager, Raheem Sterling was still in nappies and Matthew Rose was revered as a defensive hero down here at Loftus Road; I`ll be the first to hold up my hands and admit this is unacceptable. Things must change and the international break will be spent meticulously planning important tactical strategies – namely how to defend and score goals.

What a delight it is to see Adel back, showing everyone what he can do. I wouldn`t let him wear gloves at the beginning of the season, hence his absence for a few games, but I`ve soon come to realise such a talented player needs warm hands to perform to his best. It was a shame the rest of the team decided they didn`t fancy it on Saturday and I made my feelings known after the game. Reports suggested I locked the players in the dressing room – but this was because Bosingwa had packed his misses` underwear instead of his own and we couldn`t let him out for fear of further humiliation.

Bobby Zamora and Rob Hulse decided to take it upon themselves to lambast ex-managers in the press earlier this week, something I`m not a fan of. I once let slip that Glen Hoddle liked to sleep with his teddy on the coach to games; he didn`t waste any time in shipping me off to Everton when he arrived at Southampton soon after.

An otherwise quiet week was spent reading numerous stories about Fernandes backing me to turn it around. I can sense our first win is just around the corner – it might be a wise idea we don`t give our opposition a 2 goal head start inside the first 20 minutes from now on though.`

Vital QPR would like to notify all readers at this point, that in no way is Mark Hughes actually associated with this website. The opinions stated above are merely for the purposes of entertainment and have absolutely no connection to the beliefs or views of the QPR manager. We hope.