Top Stories

Tuesday Kickoff: Hughes takes over at QPR, Cantona’s French campaign & more

Hughes (Getty Images)

Mark Hughes is back in the Premier League after agreeing to become the new manager at Queens Park Rangers.

Hughes signed a deal through the 2013-14 season and replaces the ousted Neil Warnock, who was let go with the club lingering just a point above the relegation zone. The club has not won in its last nine matches across all competitions, including a 0-6-2 spell in the Premier League.

Hughes has been out of the game since this past June, when he resigned as coach of Fulham, and has had his name readily tossed about for Premier League coaching vacancies.

His first match in charge will be Sunday at Newcastle.

Here are a few more stories from around the soccer world:

CANTONA RUNNING FOR FRENCH PRESIDENCY

Former Manchester United great and current New York Cosmos director of soccer Eric Cantona is hoping for perhaps his grandest role of all: President of France.

Cantona announced his intentions to run for the presidency, with his campaign being centered on mitigating the housing and economic crisis going on in the country.

Cantona needs signatures of 500 elected officials just to get on the ballot, where he would run against the likes of incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and rising candidate Francois Hollande in April's election.

DONADONI HIRED BY PARMA

Former AC Milan great, Italy manager and one-time New York/New Jersey MetroStars midfielder Roberto Donadoni has been hired to take over coaching duties at Parma.

Donadoni, who was fired by Cagliari over the summer, replaces Franco Colomba, the 11th Serie A coach to lose his job since August.

Parma had not won in its last seven matches and has given up 11 goals in its last three games, including a 5-0 loss to Inter Milan in its most recent match, which was the final straw for Colomba.

TOTTENHAM AFTER REMY

Tottenham is lurking behind Manchesters United and City in the Premier League table, and with a player move or two to improve the club's striker pool, could wind up toppling both powerhouses. One of the club's targets appears to be Marseille striker Loic Remy.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp confirmed the team's interest in Remy, a French international who scored against the United States in November's friendly. In addition to Remy, Tottenham reportedly has its eyes on Newcastle's Demba Ba.

——————-

Do you see Hughes turning things around at QPR? What do you make of Cantona's candidacy? Think Donadoni can change Parma's fortunes? Think Remy would push Tottenham over the top?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. a mid table team with a rich owner from London in May wasn’t good enough for Mark Hughes, but a near relegation zone rich london team is

    marky gotta make his mind up

    Reply
  2. Of course, that was just his excuse for leaving Fulham. He wanted a long-term deal but Al-Fayed was only willing to give him two years, if I recall correctly.

    Reply
  3. Evidently, working for the Cosmos provides ample free time for employees to take on other endeavors. Cobi Jones has had tons of screen time with Fox Soccer and now Cantona is running for French President. Makes perfect sense…

    Reply
  4. Where’s he going to find the time?!? Don’t you realise Cantona is doing the Cosmos bidding. Be forewarned, Cobi Jones is going to anounce his bid to be POTUS very soon and their plan to rule the World will be in full swing. My friends, the Cosmos must be stopped at all costs, the future of the free world depends on it…

    Reply
  5. We can agree to disagree about the QPR talent being any different from the squads you mentioned. For me, I don’t see the value of sacking a manager in their first prem campaign. We’ll see who’s right though.

    In this last 10 games or so, where they have 7 or 8 losses, they have lost to Spurs, ManU, ManC, Liverpool, and Arsenal.

    Cheers,

    Reply
  6. Something tells me that Cantona’s chances are lower than Weah’s were in Liberia (2005, though it looks like he’s trying to get the vice-presidency now)…

    Reply
  7. Leaves Fulham for their lack of ambition but joins a relegation battling team… Fulham played in the Europa League and QPR may be playing in the Championship next season… makes sense to me…

    Reply
  8. It would be refreshing to have a “politician” (Cantona) who is not politically correct. Or would he morph into just another faceless drone?

    It will be interesting to see if Hughes can do anything at QPR. Why did he leave Fulham? I thought then he must have another job somewhere, but apparently not.

    Reply
  9. There are more resources available at QPR than are available at Norwich, Swansea and West Brom and Warnock made a mess of it. Those other clubs are well on their way to staying up with limited resources and QPR were going nowhere but down. Their home form was totally unacceptable.

    Reply
  10. Sparky gets another shot. He hasn’t been terrible everywhere so why not, I guess. Don’t know why they fired Warnock really, it’s not like there was that much to work with at QPR.

    11 managers fired in Seria A? That is crazy.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Mig22 Cancel reply