Mark Hughes has made a shock return to management with League Two side Bradford City.
Hughes, 58, has taken on the Bradford City job after the club sacked Derek Adams last week.
The Bantams are currently sitting in 14th place of the League Two table and have lost their last three league fixtures.
Hughes has been out of management since leaving Southampton in 2018, with the Bradford City job becoming the eight of his managerial career.
The player, the manager…
Hughes has enjoyed a prolonged career in football. As a player, he played for all of Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Chelsea, winning a heap of trophies whilst also making 72 appearances for Wales.
And it was with Wales where his managerial career would begin. He managed the national side between 1999 and 2004 before taking the Blackburn Rovers job.
After another four-year stint, he’d go on to Manchester City, Fulham and QPR, before landing at Stoke City in 2013 where he’d spend the next five years.
He took charge of Southampton briefly in 2018 but has been without a job since, and his arrival at Bradford City will no doubt split opinion among Bantams supporters.
The Bantams are in their third season in League One. The club has endured a tough recent history but they remain a team with a loyal and passionate fan base, and those fans are desperate to see their side climb up the EFL pyramid.
Hughes certainly has a wealth of experience but after being out of the game for so long, whether or not he can acclimatise to the modern game remains to be seen.
Up next for Bradford City is a home game v Mansfield Town this weekend.
