IT is clearly a lasting frustration for Mark Hughes that he has failed so far to reach the same heights as a player as he did as a manager for all that those who remember him in his pomp would argue that is no disgrace.
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| Stoke boss Mark Hughes has big ambitions as a manager |
Nine appointments in domestic semi-finals on the field have resulted in nine finals but three semi-finals from the dugout have ended in defeat.
Do not even start him on the semi-final he reached with Manchester City in the League Cup of 2009-10 only to be sacked before they played the semi-final.
"That's another story," he says with a half-grimace-half-smile that suggests he has compartmentalised if not forgotten it. "It was their first one for nearly 30 years by the way. You can mention that."
Anyone wondering whether the fire has dimmed with such repeated dousing of cold water should watch his face tonight as his Stoke City side play the first of two-legged semi-final against Liverpool.
Grim determination will not even come close to describing it. As he noted yesterday and will no doubt tell his players tonight: "Nobody ever remembers losing semi-finalists."
"I haven't been able to make that next step into finals as a manager and I would love to get some silverware against my name," said Hughes. "I had a fantastic career as a player and that is what my expectation was as a manager. But you go a different route with a different level teams who maybe don't have that potential.
"Yet I feel we are a team here at Stoke who can hopefully in the future. These games will be games we expect to be involved in. It is a big challenge against these teams but hopefully we'll do OK."
It is easy to substitute Hughes's own name instead of Stoke into the above as he seeks the final piece of the jigsaw to prove he can mix it with the biggest teams and the best of the foreign managers.
Yet Hughes's current season with Stoke would suggest he can with deserved victories over Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea twice this season already and with a brand of stylish entertainment few have matched.
In addition to taking just a point behind tonight's rivals Liverpool, it has shown them to be an outfit who Hughes rightly points out believe they can push on to the next level.
The Welshman knows the value of finally getting over the line in and laying a hand on domestic silverware though. If it brings greater recognition of his talents so be it.
"There is an ongoing debate about British managers and the chances they have," he said. "If you look at the top jobs over the years, at Man United, Sir Alex Ferguson was there for a long time, at Arsenal Arsene's still in situ, Chelsea don't appoint British managers and Man City was an opportunity which unfortunately was taken away from me.
"My point is that foreign managers [coming to Britain] have a chance to build it domestically so when people look at it they can see they've won cups and leagues which for British managers is a bit more difficult."
It lends an intriguing subplot of tonight's first leg is that ranged alongside him in the away team's dugout is one of the continent's charismatic big-name imported brands in Jurgen Klopp.
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| Stoke stars Marko Arnautovic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan |
Hughes graciously notes that the German seems a charismatic presence who "fills the room with his personality" and "always seems to have a smile on his face". But he is adamant there is nothing much between their two sides in either achievement or potential.
"Both sides have great individual talent. They have shown that one their day they can beat anyone. But we can do that as well and given the different financial outlays that both clubs have and have spent, perhaps the difference between the two teams isn't probably as marked as it should be."
Few could argue that £14.5million has been better spent than the outlay to land his trinity of striking talent - Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan and Marko Arnautovic.
He has been boosted by the successful appeal against the red card given to Geoff Cameron in the match against West Brom on Saturday. "They are game changers and all the top sides have game changers," said Huhges. "The teams just below the elite teams have game changers in their ranks and we certainly have. We have players who can turn games.
"In big games, you need your big players to perform and hopefully they will do that."
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