Libero

Ritchie and Kenny both speak highly of him and I respect their opinions. They are in a better position than most to judge managers so for that reason I feel compelled to support their faith in Hughes. Like any other fan I truly hope that Hughes repays the faith the club, players and fans are putting in him

I see what you're saying Clacher, I do certainly believe that there is no smoke without fire. I just feel that Hughes is no different to Butcher in the respect that he will not take any bullsh#t from players and if the player doesn't like it then they can ply their trade at another club. I could see how this may filter out to the fans as having a reputation for being too hardline with his players. At our own club we saw Imrie, Blumenshtein and Vigurs all bounced out for rumoured poor attitude by Butcher. I'm sure he will have given Ross Caldwell a dressing down at Hibs after his petulance last weekend. I firmly think Hughes is of the same ilk From what I have read/know about Hughes he demands hard work and 110% effort at all times and I feel that is something our players pride themselves on. Despite have some reservations about Hughes I think that his motivational side is strong and that the demands he puts on players in terms of effort is similar to Butchers

Here is one of his former players giving his view on Hughes appointment: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/john-hughes-success-inverness-ct-2881209 Sounds like he has the same approach to lack of effort as Butcher does. I certainly wont criticise him for that. We have seen Butcher bounce players out of the club before for poor attitude and lack of effort and if Hughes adopts the same approach, which sounds likely, then good.

Clacher have you heard about this 'poor treatment' of players from the players themselves or from fans of other clubs on forums etc? Given Kenny Camerons business acumen i would expect references would be an absolute priority for him

Hughes wasn't my first choice but i'm prepared to give him a fair crack of the whip Came across well in his interview once you get past the accent It sounds like he prioritises hard work, team spirit and using the underdog tag to its most. These things are what our club has strived on over the years. hope he carries on the good work of the last manager

There's certainly plenty of options out there. Hope he appoints an assistant soon so that we don't have another 50 odd pages of guesswork Possible candidates, although some wildly speculative; John Collins? Owen Coyle? Micky Barron? Barry Wilson? Ritchie Foran? Duncan Shearer? Charlie Christie? Chris Sutton?

@ Theeagle , given your sources can you enlighten us on who will be joining Mr Hughes on the backroom staff?

A lot of Hibs play during Hughes tenure was long punts up the park bypassing the midfield. Dislike. I cant recall much of his spell at Hibs TBH but seemed to recall his Falkirk side playing neat passing football. hopefully the long ball at Hibs was down to crap players an not his tactics

or indeed his DoF A post we done away with, and never replaced, in our relegation year. Why would we take one on now? Didnt we do away with the post because Grassa moved from DoF to Vice-chairman? Also if you are to believe rumours then it was almost entirely Butchers idea to get rid of the DoF position. Hughes has worked with a DoF at a few of clubs so wouldn't be against having one and who's to say the board wont now deem a DoF necessary

If as we hear the final three candidates were Hartley, Sheils and Hughes then i would have had them in the following order of preference Hartley, Hughes and then Shiels. Would have preferred Hartley but if it is Hughes coming in then we can expect slick passing football and a very hard working unit. Think his style of play will fit in well with our players. He is a motivator and i think more a tactician than Butcher I for one will be glad to see the back of long ball guff anyway Whoever comes in will have my support

or indeed his DoF

The Courier article is the only source of information we have at the moment that has actual quotes from our chairman. Think that says a lot for how secret our negotiating has been. It says absolutely nothing about who the favourite is or who the most likely is. The only conclusion we can draw from that is that the press are equally in the dark as we are therefore any names being banded about today surely are just guesses Everything else is just speculation IMO

Hughes co-managed with Owen Coyle at Falkirk. Could the double act make a reappearance at TCS? Or a Hartley-Hughes double act perhaps?

6 bosses in the English leagues lost their jobs yesterday.......hope they're not all on the bookies list now

Glad to hear it, the mere mention of his name, no matter how obscure the link was, coming back here filled me with absolute fear

Todays papers seem to rule out Brewster returning, phew!! Likewise it seems that Appleton isn't a main contender despite being interested. Main contenders still seem to be Hartley, Hughes, Levein, Shiels, Houston and if local rumours are to believed Chris Sutton

What a set up that would be!! Unfortunately I would think that the salaries combined would be out with our budget

There's a few names on that list that worry me. Larsson is definitely one IMO. Brewster is another! Cant say i'm over-excited by the new names added to the pot today. Wouldn't imagine that Appleton and Blackwell have a great knowledge of the Scottish game and we have all seen in the past how difficult it can be for managers with little knowledge of the Scottish game coming to manage in the league Sounds like the guys still in the running are: Sutton, Hartley, Levein, Hughes, Levein, Lazlo and possibly a couple of others From that list I would still probably have Hartley as favourite

*bump* interesting to see that Hartley is the clear frontrunner with the readers of this forum

heres another good quote and linky for the article: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/alloa-paul-hartley-sticks-with-positive-approach-1-3062014

Hiya kingsmills, hiya pal Just read these quotes from Hartley regarding the way he likes football played: Like the sound of that

Agreed but we have made a few astute and successful managerial appointments in the past and its never taken this long. Just seems to me to be taking quite a long time, its been 2 full weeks we have been without a manager and that's excluding the 3 days of limbo after Butchers antics at the Hibs v ICT game. Maybe its just my impatience shining through

I have to say that I thought we would have heard more by now. Even rumours are pretty thin on the ground at the moment. I think this is what is throwing the bookies odds all over the shop as no-one has really given anything away as to what we're going to do If, as we are led to believe, interviews are still being undertaken at the moment then it us unlikely a decision would be made by the board before Thursday/Friday at the earliest and then an announcement/unveiling on Friday or the beginning of next week. I certainly am not worried about the fact that Shearer, Kellacher and Foran are still running the show but I thought we would have something a bit more concrete to go on by now

One of today's papers (cant remember which one) suggests that as Butcher's control of the football side of the club grew that Grassa's lessened and could have added to unrest. Also it is suggested that Grassa's opinion or indeed involvement in the managerial vacancy recruitment process was not needed or requested and this didn't sit well either

Ex Ireland manager Giovani Trappatoni. Di Matteo? Di Canio? Recently read he was still getting paid £130000 a week by Chelsea. I don't think he will be looking for a job. If we were to appoint him then that would effectively mean he would be getting paid about £130,001 a week!!Shouldnt be sniffed at