The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 88 The Return of the Warriors

Mark Hughes left Barcelona and returned to England from Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga to join the Red Devils again. This action itself shows Hughes' true love for the Red Devils. This is a brave decision made for the love of the Red Devils to give up the opportunity to win the championship in the Bundesliga.

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The Red Devils failed to buy Gascoigne, but Ferguson had no time to tangle with Tottenham or Newcastle, as he had more important work to deal with. He went to Barcelona, ​​Spain with Charlton, and then to Munich, Germany, to pursue a goal that absolutely could not be lost.

This player is Mark Hughes, who was once a product of the Red Devils' youth training system but no longer plays in England.

Ferguson asked the club to keep it a secret. He and Charlton flew to Barcelona, ​​and the news released to the public was that they were going to learn the management of Camp Nou. When Ferguson proposed to Barcelona to buy Mark Hughes, the Spanish giants readily agreed to the Red Devils' offer. Now, they just need to talk to the players.

Ferguson and Charlton quickly arrived in Munich and officially met with Mark Hughes, who was playing for Bayern at the time.

Mark Hughes is actually a product of the Red Devils youth training. He made his debut for the Red Devils in November 1983. At the age of 11, he performed well in the game, seized the opportunity to score a goal, and quickly entered the Red Devils' first team list. He ushered in the first good time of his career in the 20-1984 season. Hughes is very active in the attacking line, fast and active in shooting, becoming a dazzling new star. This season, he scored 85 goals for the Red Devils, helped the team win the FA Cup, and also reached the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup.

Hughes became a favorite striker for the Red Devils fans, and by the start of the 1985-86 season he was in excellent form. He scored 13 goals in 10 games and performed well in international matches. Hughes's shooting skills improved rapidly, and the fearless Hughes became more and more adept at using his body to charge forward and constantly seek various opportunities. In addition to scoring goals for the Red Devils, he also performed well in the national team against Spain, scoring one of the most beautiful goals of his career.

At the end of 1985, Hughes' performance aroused the strong interest of Barcelona coach Venables, who wanted to use Hughes and Lineker to form a "British partnership". When Barcelona's offer reached 200 million pounds, the Red Devils agreed. Edwards and Atkinson both thought the price was amazing - enough to shock the highest record of the English media.

Edwards was naturally overjoyed. Hughes came from his own youth training system, and now that he could be sold for such a huge price, it would be a huge profit.

Atkinson never considered whether the Red Devils needed Hughes more or whether there were flaws in his formation.

Hughes said in an interview with the Red Devils TV after retiring: "I was very happy at the Red Devils. I came to the stadium every week and played in front of countless fans who liked me. I didn't really want to go anywhere else. I didn't understand the club's approach. I still don't know what Atkinson thinks-it stands to reason that he should keep me."

Mark Hughes was a little confused and went directly to Atkinson to discuss it. Hughes said: "I think things had developed to a stage at that time. I don't know if the Red Devils were short of money, but I felt that they wanted to sell me. The media had already said that the two clubs had negotiated the terms, and the fans began to think that I was going to leave. I felt helpless about all this. I didn't want to leave the Red Devils, but now all this makes me helpless."

Barcelona offered an astonishing salary, which was also a temptation for Hughes. Hughes said: "Barcelona is very generous. This is more than the salary I originally hoped to renew my contract with the Red Devils. No club wanted to keep me, so I agreed to go to Barcelona at the end of the season. The process went very quickly and I signed the contract very quickly. In my heart, I really hoped that this would not happen. I didn't really want to leave and hoped that someone would keep me, but in the end I found that no one did."

After the transfer contract was signed, Hughes started to score goals consecutively. Manchester United fans began to speculate that he was leaving, so they were absent-minded and had no intention of playing for Manchester United. Hughes was unable to defend himself, "I didn't play football carelessly, nor did I think about avoiding confrontation or getting injured. I was just unlucky. I was very disappointed and painful for the fans to treat me like this."

Even with such a blow, Hughes contributed 46 goals in 18 games and is still the team's top scorer of the season.

Atkinson let Hughes go, not realizing that he was digging a hole for himself. Whiteside and Davenport were far from Hughes' level. When the time came to the 1986-87 season, the Red Devils experienced a nightmare start, and Atkinson's fate was sealed.

Mark Hughes went to Barcelona with the "anger" of being abandoned by the Red Devils. At first, he thought he would gain a foothold and achieve success in La Liga, but the reality was cruel. Mark Hughes found that his technical advantages were not obvious in Barcelona. The team would not design a play around him, would not make him the core of the attack, and would not provide him with comfortable passes. His teammates were incompatible with Hughes. Their passes would not adapt to Hughes' characteristics and would not meet his requirements for high balls and crosses.

Mark Hughes grew up in the English football environment, and many of his football thinking is incompatible with Spanish football. Hughes is not very adaptable to Barcelona's tactics. He does not have enough delicate skills to make breakthroughs and cannot become a smart striker. Even if Hughes is willing to pay more, even if he is willing to actively fight for the ball, his teammates think it is a waste of energy, because his teammates expect Hughes to run out of space to pass the ball intelligently, rather than playing the kind of pillar center forward who relies on body collision.

Mark Hughes was criticized by the public after his first appearance. He was completely out of the Barcelona system. Later, Hughes said: "Can I say that I enjoyed the process? I won't be so hypocritical. The system there is very different. That is the environment of Spanish football. La Liga itself has high technical requirements, and Barcelona emphasizes technology more. The way I play in the Red Devils is completely different from here. I can't do more. My teammates can't understand it either. Everything is difficult. Barcelona fans are very professional and picky. Even if I try my best in every game, I can't get their cheers."

Mark Hughes played 37 games in his first season at Barcelona, ​​but only scored 28 goals in 4 league games. The fans at Camp Nou were not satisfied with Hughes' performance and even waved white handkerchiefs at him and booed him with the away fans. Hughes said: "It was a horrible experience. I remember looking up at the stands and seeing everything was white and a harsh noise in my ears. I was in great pain and it was a very frustrating feeling."

Barcelona is a beautiful city, but Hughes had a hard time adapting to the foreign environment. Language was a problem, transportation was a problem, and food was also a huge challenge. In the early summer of 1986, Hughes found a girlfriend who lived in England, but his girlfriend could only come once every two weeks or so and had to stay in England to work. Hughes needed someone to support him, but he had no relatives around him. There was no video chat, no Internet, nothing. There was only Spanish TV to watch, but Hughes didn't understand Spanish at all, so he could only rely on the phone to contact his family and girlfriend.

Hughes was very unhappy and did not perform well on the court. When the Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich offered to rent him in 1987, Hughes immediately started his Bundesliga career.

Hughes was officially loaned to Bayern in early November 1987. The new life in Germany was crazy. Hughes had to face an extreme challenge as soon as he joined. He had to play two games on November 11: the national team qualifier and the German Cup. The most terrible thing was that the two games were not in the same city. He had to fly to Prague first and then return to Munich. The time was also very tight: the European qualifier was at 11:11 pm and the German Cup was at 5:30 pm. When the Bayern affairs officer asked Hughes how to choose, Hughes decided to try this crazy taste. So he played for Wales in the European Cup qualifier against Czechoslovakia and played the whole game as the main striker.

Wales eventually lost 0-2, and when his teammates went back to the locker room to rest, Hughes went straight to the airport.

"When we flew to Munich, we actually missed the first half," Hughes recalled, "but I caught up with the start of the second half." Hughes replaced Kogel in the 63rd minute and made his German debut. The game was very difficult, with Bayern trailing 0-1 for most of the time, but Hughes eventually helped the team tie the game after he came on, and then reversed Monchengladbach 3-2 in overtime to advance.

Hughes said: "I'm happy that the team turned the game around, but I don't think the performance was good because I was exhausted at the time. I actually played 90+60 minutes of regular games!"

The 24-year-old Hughes completed the most incredible task of his career, playing in two games in one day for a total of 2 minutes.

After this test, Mark Hughes integrated into Bayern very easily. He said: "I had a great time at Bayern Munich. They are the strongest club in the Bundesliga and are in their heyday. One of my deep impressions is that they have many professionals such as Hoeness and Rummenigge, who hold important positions in the club. When I played in my first game, the commentator on the sidelines introduced me and emphasized that I played the second game in a row. The fans burst into passion all of a sudden, and they thought that what I did was very cool."

Hughes said: "It's very pleasant to be in Bayern. The club management and staff are very efficient and meticulous in their work. They know exactly what the players think and feel off the court, and will solve any problems for the players, so that the players can avoid adverse effects and ensure that the players can concentrate on training and competition. I couldn't even buy a car when I was in Barcelona because I didn't know where to buy it and no one told me. In the end, I took a lot of effort to rent a car, and the procedures were very troublesome. But they prepared a new BMW for me the day after I went to Bayern Munich. If the Red Devils hadn't wanted me to come back, I might have stayed there because they are really great."

Hughes was impressed by the Bayern club. "Bayern was in a very advanced position in sports science. At that time, Barcelona and the Red Devils did not pay much attention to these. The two did not even have sports recovery and hydration strategies, but Bayern had these very early. Their training plans and sports management are also very advanced. We are talking about the 80s. Bayern has done very well, about 10 to 15 years ahead of other clubs."

Although Mark Hughes was satisfied with his life and training at Bayern, he still lacked opportunities to perform at Bayern. There were many superstars in the Bayern team at that time, and it was not easy for Hughes to become a core player.

Hughes doesn't want to waste his career. He still hopes to have stable playing time and play better and better.

When Hughes received a call from Ferguson inviting him to return to the Red Devils, the former Red Devils player was moved. He finally decided to give up the lucrative life in the Bundesliga and the idea of ​​"winning without effort" in a giant club like Bayern, and return to English football.

After a brief period of wandering and setbacks, Hughes returned to Old Trafford like a warrior.