{"id":610381,"date":"2022-02-24T07:23:34","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T12:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=610381"},"modified":"2022-02-24T07:25:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T12:25:07","slug":"mark-hughes-league-two-bradford-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/02\/24\/mark-hughes-league-two-bradford-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Hughes Makes Unexpected Return as Manager of League Two Bradford City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>League Two Bradford City have confirmed the appointment of Mark Hughes as manager.<\/p>\n<p>Hughes has signed a deal until the summer of 2024, replacing Derek Adams at Valley Parade.<\/p>\n<h2>Mark Hughes Makes Shock at League Two Bradford City<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud83d\udcf0 BREAKING NEWS | We are delighted to announce the appointment of Mark Hughes as our new first-team manager &#8211; on a deal until the summer of 2024!<\/p>\n<p>\u27a1\ufe0f | Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JudgrEwE1B\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/JudgrEwE1B<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BCAFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BCAFC<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TakeMeHome?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#TakeMeHome<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/d3jSEAc39R\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/d3jSEAc39R<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bradford City AFC (@officialbantams) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/officialbantams\/status\/1496786812735471620?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 24, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Coup Appointment for the Bantams<\/h3>\n<p>Welshman Mark Hughes had been out of management since a short spell at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/02\/10\/frantic-premier-league-match-southampton-three-points\/\" target=\"_self\">Southampton<\/a> in 2018. The 58-year-old shocked the footballing world when being announced as Bradford City&#8217;s new manager this morning. The spectacular return will no doubt see big expectations for a club that doesn&#8217;t want to be in League Two.<\/p>\n<p>The Bantams sit 15th in the League Two table after a poor start to the season. They are 10 points shy of the play-off places with 13 games left to play.<\/p>\n<p>Hughes will take charge of his first game on Saturday, February 26, hosting Mansfield Town.<\/p>\n<p>On his appointment, Hughes told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bradfordcityafc.com\/news\/2022\/february\/mark-hughes-unveiled-as-new-city-manager\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bradfordcityafc.com<\/a>: &#8220;I am really pleased to be here and am looking forward to the role, and the job in hand. It has been an exciting few days. It is maybe a little bit of a surprise that I have come in, but do not be put off by that!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am here for a reason: to make Bradford City a team people want to come and watch &#8211; and are proud to watch.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The supporters come in their numbers, and that is the thing I have missed since being out of management. I am looking forward to the matchday, getting that adrenaline flowing and interacting with the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Certainly, from now until the end of the year, we just want to finish strongly and see where that takes us.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We want to move the club and everybody with it forward, and hope we can have the success everyone wants.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Hughes&#8217; Incredible Experience<\/h3>\n<p>Hughes has been there and done it all. As a player, with the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/02\/15\/manchester-united-star-still-contemplating-old-trafford-future\/\" target=\"_self\">Manchester United<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/02\/18\/barcelona-offer-chelsea-defender-cesar-azpilicueta\/\" target=\"_self\">Chelsea<\/a>. As a manager, he has led his country and been a safe go-to for many <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/02\/23\/peter-etebo-injury-boost-watford\/\" target=\"_self\">Premier League<\/a> clubs. In fact, the one thing he lacks is an experience of League Two.<\/p>\n<p>The two-time Premier League winner with Manchester United has managed the seventh-highest number of games in the competition in history.<\/p>\n<p>He was also trusted with the Manchester City job in the early days of the Sheikh Mansour regime.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you&#8217;re a fan of Hughes or not, he will certainly bring a lot of interest to Bradford City in the coming years.<\/p>\n<p>Chief executive officer Ryan Sparks added: &#8220;We are delighted to have secured Mark&#8217;s services, and I am looking forward to working alongside him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His record and stature in the game speaks for itself, and he has achieved a great deal. To have him in our dugout is representative of the club&#8217;s ambition and desire to be successful.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mark expressed an interest in becoming our manager and, following talks between myself and Stefan (Rupp), we are today thrilled to be in a position to unveil him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is, without doubt, one of the most significant appointments in the history of our football club. Mark recognises our true potential &#8211; and has the desire to ensure we fulfil it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<br \/>\n<a id=\"qb1CftApRoFFwjKfVjS70Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1067233728\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'qb1CftApRoFFwjKfVjS70Q',sig:'YDQ60Gv2ELXhAO4SOM3-2sHu3tqBnHVH96dkBLAAG50=',w:'594px',h:'402px',items:'1067233728',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>League Two Bradford City have confirmed the appointment of Mark Hughes as manager. Hughes has signed a deal until the summer of 2024, replacing Derek Adams at Valley Parade. Mark Hughes Makes Shock at League Two Bradford City \ud83d\udcf0 BREAKING NEWS | We are delighted to announce the appointment of Mark Hughes as our new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3469,"featured_media":610383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,34,30],"tags":[2939,357],"class_list":["post-610381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-league-football","category-league12","category-news","tag-bradford-city","tag-mark-hughes"],"modified_by":"Jordan Hackett, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}