OUR hearts were broken in 1994 when the country’s collective hope that the bullies of the age – Manchester United – would lose an FA Cup semi-final to unfancied Oldham Athletic was painfully dashed.
Mark Hughes scored with a last-minute “trademark volley” to draw the game. Sir Fergie was jumping up and down on the sidelines at yet another final second reprieve – a feature of his reign – and United of course went on to win the replay thanks to good old Sparky’s rescue act.
There is something to be said for Hughes’ attitude of fighting to the end which saw them avoid an embarrassing defeat that day.
It’s admirable, and it seems he is taking the same approach to his managerial career.
You may remember he was once had no qualms about taking the chief job at Manchester City, United’s fierce rivals. He was a Premier League pick, on the carousel of faces, and supposedly a brain who could get teams ticking.
But unspectacular returns have seen him slowly drop down the divisions in a tour of the UK which has seen him manage QPR, Southampton, Stoke, Bradford and now, oh wow, Carlisle United – the team 23rd in League Two, so 91st in the four league football pyramid of 92 clubs. Once again, they are in danger of being relegated out of the pro divisions altogether.
With no “proper” football on during the international break, Sky Sports showed Carlisle United versus the Milton Keynes Dons and there he was, Hughes – animated on the sidelines in a 2-2 draw. The curly perm has turned ghostly grey but the enthusiasm was apparent – as if he thought that if he can just save Carlisle, he might get a call from a Reading or a Huddersfield.
And if he could just do that right, then maybe a Norwich or West Brom might call.
And if he could just get that right, then maybe, just maybe he could still one day manage his beloved Man United. We’ve all got a dream and to be fair, he couldn’t have done as bad as some of the people that have passed through Old Trafford in the past few years.
Probably, at 61, he won’t make it back. Maybe he will go lower still but his willingness to be at Brunton Park on a cold Tuesday night is rare.
In a messed up sport, his play to the end take means something. Some people just love football.