A Tale of Two Statements?

The departure of Mark Hughes, one leading tabloid reckons, could well have been down to a lack of ambition shown by the club.

If we take a trip back in time to May 11th 2011 we find that Mark Hughes is quoted as saying,

"I am very happy at Craven Cottage and am looking forward to building on what we have achieved this season. I enjoy a good relationship with the owner, management, players and fans of Fulham and look forward to continuing that relationship next season."

But returning to yesterday, June 2nd 2011 and Mark`s departing statement, we find that things had changed dramatically,

"As a young ambitious manager I wish to move on to further my experiences. I would also like to take this opportunity to clarify that neither myself nor my representative have approached - or have been approached - by another club."

Something that was subsequently born out when Aston Villa blew out of the water speculation that Hughes was the favourite to become their manager by remarking he wasn`t even on their radar.

So what has changed so dramatically in such a short space of time?

Clearly something is amiss, clearly something changed to make Hughes walk away.

If the crux of the matter is a lack of ambition, or to put it more succinctly a lack of transfer funds compared to what Hughes wanted, where does it leave us as a football club?

Would you want to come to Craven Cottage knowing that mid-table after mid-table is all you`re likely to ever accomplish in and working in an environment whereby transfers are from the bargain bucket, or have we gauged the whole situation wrong?

Perhaps Hughes never had any intention of remaining at Craven Cottage on a long term basis. Perhaps Hughes saw the post merely as a gap-filler on a curriculum vitae that didn`t need an eighteen month gap. Perhaps Hughes used us to simply fill that gap knowing we were always too good to put a relegation black-spot on the reference document and that something just above mid-table would be recognised as a decent enough spell here?

Who knows anymore!



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