A lesson for us all

Many may well have forgotten the the fact that Blackburn Rovers F.C. were the original "Rich Man's Play Thing" when wealthy businessman Jack Walker decided to sink a seemingly inviable amount of money into a extremely unfashionable club - delightfully, his club. Almost 15 years on, Blackburn are an established part of the Premier League order, playing in Europe regularly and have, in Mark Hughes, an exceptional manager.

As player, Mark Hughes was, to say the least, uncompromising -I once saw him physically assault Alan McDonald in front of 54,000 witnesses I tell a lie, I saw him do that on 3 separate occasions. He was a superb player in spite of his, all too often unnoticed, physical nature. When he took up the managerial sheepskin as an initially as an international manager there were many suspicious of whether he had what it takes. Too quiet? Not enough experience? Great players don't make great managers.

Now at Blackburn we are seeing the blossoming of a rare talent. He buys well, he is tactically astute, makes inspired substitutions, nurtures youth and protects his under fire players. And he's British.

His tactics haven't always been to the taste of the soccer purists - "Big 4" coaches who seem to want plucky losers rather than gritty and challenging opponents with fire in their bellies - but it is likely that this season we see a further notches on his managerial belt.