“I’m a QPR fan but I’m also a clinical psychologist…..”

Not me, obviously, but a caller to 606, Five Live’s football phone-in. “And I can tell you now”, he continued, “that Mark Hughes will never be a successful football manager. He’s a depressive. You can see it in his body language, in the way he speaks, in everything he does. He’s okay when things are going well but when they’re not, he simply cannot motivate a team”. Hughes was failing dismally as QPR manager. Just as he had at Blackburn, Manchester City and Fulham. Just as he would again at Stoke and Southampton where yesterday, he was finally relieved of his duties. I’ve never forgotten that call because it was so true. Despite repeated and identical failures, Mark Hughes retained a dour, arrogant refusal to acknowledge that anything was his fault. Surely now he’s had his last miserable crack at managing at a top-flight football club. Surely enough is enough.