Mark Hughes appointed Stoke City manager

Mark Hughes is the new manager of Stoke City, the Premier League club has announced.

Hughes has not worked since he was sacked by Queens Park Rangers last November, but he is back in management after being appointed as successor to Tony Pulis at the Britannia Stadium.

The Welshman endured a tough 11 months in charge at Loftus Road, winning just eight of his 34 games in charge, while he failed to secure a victory in his opening 12 matches.

The former Manchester United and Barcelona player has previously managed the Welsh national side, Blackburn, Manchester City and Fulham.

He spent 18 months at City and was the man in charge when the club was taken over by the Aby Dhabi Group but he was eventually replaced by Roberto Mancini. He went on to take up the reins at Craven Cottage and in his one season with Fulham he managed to guide the club to eighth in the Premier League.

“We had lots of inquiries about the job, including some very interesting names, but we decided Mark Hughes was a fit for us,” Stoke chairman Peter Coates told the Stoke Sentinel.

“His record speaks for itself. He has done excellently by anyone’s standards. He’s also a thoughtful, intelligent man with an intense desire to win.”

While Coates believes he has got the right man for the job, the supporters are not so ure with some already calling for him to be sacked.

“From all the people available, he would not have been my first choice, although he has a reasonable record apart from at QPR,” Stoke City’s Supporters Club chairman, Bryan Shaw told The Times.

“Not a lot of supporters wanted Tony Pulis back when he was brought back for a second spell in charge.

“That wasn’t a popular decision because of his style of football. Probably half of the fan base was against him at first but he won the majority over. There is a feeling Hughes is similar.

“If you ask the majority of Stoke supporters, Mark Hughes would not be their first choice. That said, whoever the chairman appoints we have to get behind. We just have to hope he proves us wrong.”

Hughes will be formally unveiled at a press conference on Thursday morning.