Concerns should exist over Mark Hughes having a big budget at QPR

When anybody in football talks about ‘ambition’, I think we all know by now that they’re really talking about ‘money’. So when Mark Hughes left Fulham citing a lack of ambition on the banks of the Thames, he was really referring to the lack of transfer funds made available to him.

It’s not hard to see why the Welshman has been enticed to Loftus Road then, with all the bank notes spilling out of Tony Fernandes’ pockets.

The problem is though, that Hughes’ track record with money isn’t particularly good. Some managers operate best in frugal conditions, and conversely seem to get over-excited when they have too much cash at their disposal.

That’s Hughes in a nutshell, and Tony Fernandes would be well-advised to not to loosen the purse strings too much at QPR. Realistically, I’m sure Hughes has already been given a guarantee over the funds that will be available, but still.

If you look back at his managerial career, two things become obvious; he has an outstanding eye for a bargain, but he overpays for players if given a chance. I know that’s a contradiction, but look at his track record at Blackburn (modest finances) versus his spending at Manchester City (blank cheque)

Chris Samba – £400,000
Ryan Nelsen – Free
David Bentley – Sub-£1m
Roque Santa Cruz – £3.5m
Benni McCarthy – £2m

Clearly, all five of those deals represented outstanding value – remember also that Blackburn raked in £35m for the combined sales of Bentley and Santa Cruz. Ironically of course, the latter was bought by Hughes at Manchester City for a vastly-inflated £18M – in addition to, amongst others:

Carlos Tevez – £32m
Jo – £18m
Wayne Bridge – £10m
Tal Ben-Haim – £5m
Joleon Lescott – £22m
Kolo Toure – £16m
Emmanuel Adebayor – £25m
Robinho – £32m
Craig Bellamy – £14m

It’s not exactly a glowing reference.

In no way do I think that he’s a bad manager, more that he hasn’t really earned the right to be trusted with a big budget – given that the one time he did have access to one, he essentially failed.

If Fernandes is strong with him in West London then I’m sure it will all go well, he just needs to be sure not to leave the cheque book lying around for too long.