Yogi Hughes

[Walter Sobchak]

At the time, a pal of mine who happens to be a lifelong Rovers fan predicted that “he is going to take us down.” I thought he was talking utter mince but once again I was proved to be wrong.

Rewind a few months before that and during an interview with the agent Raymond Sparkes, a man I have a lot of time for, he banged on about his client big Yogi and why it was scandal he wasn't involved football given what he did at Falkirk, a Scottish Cup Final, and Inverness, a Scottish Cup win and third in the league.

I nodded my head in agreement. In my dealings with Hughes I always found him decent and interesting – even if he wasn't as funny as he thought he was – and his record at managerial record was overall good if a bit up and down.

I was telling this to a former player of Hughes, someone I felt had got with him, and by the end of the conversation I had it rammed into my head that the guy I had so much time for shouldn't be allowed anywhere close to a football club.

“And you can quote me on that,” he said. But I'm not allowed swear words so you'll have to believe me.

Hughes is not universally popular, let's put it that way. Indeed, returning to Scotland in 2015 after a five year exile, I was taken aback by the strong negative feelings towards someone who to my mind was quite rightly voted manager of the year.

That wasn't my impression of him at all and I felt Raith Rovers had done well to get in an experienced manager when it became clear Gary Locke, nice guy that he is, wasn't the man to take forward a club who were in the play-offs last season and yet by February were eighth in the Championship, four points clear of second bottom; not great but hardly disastrous.

On Saturday, Kirkcaldy's finest lost to Brechin City on penalties and slipped into the third tier of Scottish football. The ramifications will be huge. They are staying full-time but that won't go on for long if they can't win promotion.

My Raith supporting mate does concede his club was in a bad state before Hughes arrived but much of the blame has to go on the now departed manager. It's hard to mount much of a counter argument.

Hughes managed to sap all the energy and confidence from a dressing room full of honest if not the most talented lads. His most memorable rant came after a 5-0 defeat at St Mirren. There are the lowlights.

“I look at society, compared to when I was growing up. I was working class, had to work for everything I got, it made my humble and those were my building blocks for football and for life.

“I don't think society's like that now. I don't think they care. When I mention the real Raith Rovers guys, the guys in there will think 'I'll probably get another club'.

“What they don't realise if I'll get a phone call from the manager trying to sign them and I won't put my name to any of these guys. No chance. You might not be the best player in the world but it comes down to honesty and integrity, nothing false, stand up and be counted.”

Put yourself in the players' shoes. They will be on a basic few hundred quid a week and will give their all, no professional goes out to play badly, and their manager has essentially called them cheats.

Hughes had lost the dressing room by then but after that there was no going back for him. Raith were doomed from that day one.

Those journalists who cover all the Raith games say the players felt belittled and patronised by Hughes.

There has even been a suggestion that a fight almost broke out on Saturday when some players told Hughes he had to take some responsibility for the relegation.

They'll look in the mirror and that won't tell any lies. If they're honest they'll come into training and say 'I'm at it'” was one of his lines. Maybe it's time for Hughes himself to do just that because his reputation is in tatters.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/1529...=mrb&lp=11

[shaun.lawson]

That article has so many errors, it makes Yogi look coherent. I agree entirely on the post-St Mirren rant though: that was a suicide note from someone who'd realised he was in way over his head, so wanted to blame everyone else instead.

[Diego Armando Toblerone]

That article has so many errors, it made one of my long posts look coherent. I agree entirely on the post-St Mirren rant though: that was a suicide note from someone who'd realised he was in way over his head, so wanted to blame everyone else instead.

FTFY.

[Zizou]

I know Yogi a bit and I know folk who know him better. It's a stitch up and from what I can gather you won't see him in football again as it has sickened him that much

[Giza Brek]

That poorly written article has sickened him so much he won't be in football again?

He's made a cunt of it at Raith but he's done decent enough jobs in the past to see him get another job. His 'rant' after the St Mirren game was nothing but it's easy to put a spin on it in hindsight.

[Cheeky Gnando’s]

I quite like Yogi

[Half Time Guest]

That poorly written article has sickened him so much he won't be in football again?  

He clearly knows he made a cunt of it at Raith, he had plenty of time to get them away from the position they were in and he didn't. 

The rant he went on after getting gubbed 5-0 off St Mirren was purely a deflection tactic.  He knew they probably were going to end up in the play offs after that and were in big trouble.  By going on the rant he was able to deflect any criticism aimed at him and people would just think it was all the players fault, he was merely trying to save his own reputation.

[shaun.lawson]

I quite like Yogi

See, when I wrote stuff like that on Kickback, I just got abuse. I've always quite liked him too - albeit, with suspicions. Is he really like that, or is it an image he's cultivated for himself over the years? He's your typical bog standard SPL manager really: does well for a time, does badly for a time, wouldn't achieve a thing in England.

I don't get the 'stitch-up' AP's referring to though. Hughes' previous job had been his most successful one, spent mostly in the higher echelons of the Prem - meaning he probably over-estimated his chances at turning Raith around, then had an almighty shock when his methods proved counter-productive. Probably saw himself as bigger than the job/club/his players too - or at least, couldn't relate to them.

There's nothing unusual in any of that... but his rant was Billy Brown-esque. What possible good can throwing the entire team under a bus do when you're in a relegation battle? Nothing; it was crazy. Tantamount to sabotage in terms of their chances. And hardly indicative of someone who fancied hanging around to deal with the fall-out either.

[It's utter shit]

I like him but I don't like him.

[CritchSmile]

I also like him, did a good job at Falkirk, Hibs and unbeleivable at ICT.

Something went wrong at Raith but the journo is loving putting the boot in, thats for sure.

[Cheeky Gnando’s]

I like him but I don't like him.

About right.

I wouldn't want to spend time in his company, but he does seem like a genuine guy. Guid hoanest Scotch laddie. Definitely more switched on than he presents, but also definitely as mad as a box of frogs. One of my friends ( in b4 ) played for Falkirk when he was there and he was a riot. Flinging boots at the young players for banter etc.

[Zizou]

That poorly written article has sickened him so much he won't be in football again?  

He's made a cunt of it at Raith but he's done decent enough jobs in the past to see him get another job. His 'rant' after the St Mirren game was nothing but it's easy to put a spin on it in hindsight.

Na just the whole thing. Raith were absolutely fucked in the dressing room before he came in and he's been made the fall guy by the players and chairman (who should probably fall on his sword). If they had stayed up he was immediately going to empty about 6 players.

You could argue that he approached it wrongly with the public rant but if the soft approach wasn't working what choice do you have?

[PHOODLE-OUt]

There's folk out there not blaming Lockie for the drop?

[Winston Churchill]

Locke fucked Raith and Beath over in the same season

[Scott the Dick]

Just look where he had Inverness and where they are now