Christopher Hughton’s interview approach

[Simon bristol]

10 hours ago, M.D said:

So, Chris Hughton attended an interview for a role with a championship club and came in completely unprepared not knowing the background of the club or its playing staff.

he then had no plan or insight in to how he wanted to take this club forward apart from get rid of all the playing staff.

does that sound believable?

Well if mark ashton says it, then it must be true

[Wolf Island]

8 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Journo could have heard it from someone below exec level within the club with a grievance, and then the journo be the one who told Exiled Robin.

Leaks often and understandably take quite circuitous routes. Always off the record, always through multiple layers.

Exactly. The idea that only those within the interview room would know what happened, in any industry let alone one as leaky and incestuous as football is simply wrong.

[GrahamC]

9 hours ago, Henry said:

Why not mention it at the time? It’s easier to come out now to back a mate up.

At the time the “process” as we have become accustomed to call it, was live. 

Dave & I shared messages privately about what we had heard (which were broadly similar).

What Dave says is 100% true, though of course none of us, as we were hearing this through 3rd parties, can know how totally accurate it was.

[pongo88]

There have been various suggestions as to whom within or close to the club leaked the story. This is all irrelevant as there are only two realistic possibilities: 

1) Those who conducted the interview deliberately spread the story to a third party with the aim of this person leaking it to others. 
 

2) Someone not involved in the interview process just made it up to give the impression he was ITK 

[Kid in the Riot]

So we are expected to believe that Chris Hughton, who over the past 12 months has been offered and rejected 3 jobs in the Championship (Brum, Cardiff, Millwall), turned up at Bristol City (a job he actually wanted) and was completely unprepared? 

It would be a laughable rumour, were it not so malicious in trying to discredit Hughton as a consummate professional. 

As others have said, it's either:

A) been made-up completely by someone; or

B) was leaked by either JL or MA to a third party, and they simply cannot be trusted as reliable sources, given it is in their interests to try and justify the appointment of Holden.

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

2 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

So we are expected to believe that Chris Hughton, who over the past 12 months has been offered and rejected 3 jobs in the Championship (Brum, Cardiff, Millwall), turned up at Bristol City (a job he actually wanted) and was completely unprepared? 

It would be a laughable rumour, were it not so malicious in trying to discredit Hughton as a consummate professional. 

As others have said, it's either:

A) been made-up completely by someone; or

B) was leaked by either JL or MA to a third party, and they simply cannot be trusted as reliable sources, given it is in their interests to try and justify the appointment of Holden.

Chris Hughton's integrity versus those two clowns' integrity....tough decision(!)

[Fordy62]

27 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

So we are expected to believe that Chris Hughton, who over the past 12 months has been offered and rejected 3 jobs in the Championship (Brum, Cardiff, Millwall), turned up at Bristol City (a job he actually wanted) and was completely unprepared? 

It would be a laughable rumour, were it not so malicious in trying to discredit Hughton as a consummate professional. 

As others have said, it's either:

A) been made-up completely by someone; or

B) was leaked by either JL or MA to a third party, and they simply cannot be trusted as reliable sources, given it is in their interests to try and justify the appointment of Holden.

Correct. It’s either extremely unprofessional or lies. Neither would surprise me. 

But I’d say it’s 99% likely the latter. 

[mozo]

2 hours ago, JonDolman said:

All we know is Holden did impress.

Objectively we don't even actually know that.

All we know is that he got the job.

[Portland Bill]

Mr Hughton, Mr Cook, yes we know you both have got great records in coaching teams to promotions, but,the problem is, you just don’t know enough about our under 15 academy players. Mr Holden does though, so bye!

[spudski]

9 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Cook has a situation that maybe complicated by the terms of his release from Wigan.

However fair point, Hughton would certainly be the one to generate most clicks- Wigan were refusing to release Cook from his contract though or the administrators were as he was deemed to be an asset.

Look around at some of the leaks in football though, some of them probably even likely occur for trivial or irrational reasons.

The bit I can to some extent believe is that he may have wanted a bigger wage and transfer budget than we could justify.

@spudski has posted about the club and industry before, would be interested in whether he thinks this could've been leaked and especially by anyone below top exec level.

Anything can be 'leaked' mate...depends whether it was just a general comment to someone in passing...or whether there is an agenda behind any comment.

All staff members chat and enquire about what's going on at a Club. Some are more careful about who they talk too outside of the Club.

I've even known of stories being made up to see where leaks are coming from.

The majority of employees have to sign confidentiality agreements when leaving if given a settlement.

It only needs say an analyst down the food chain to enquire from someone further up the food chain so to speak...' heard anything as to why CH didn't get the job?...answer...' heard he didn't interview well'...whether true or not...and before you know it Chinese whispers start...

[RedorDead BCFC]

Not saying I believe the tweet or anything. 
But reading some of the comments regarding Hughton being a model professional and should of been interviewing us etc. 
So either these posters know him personally to make these assumptions or like the tweet, they could be just making it up. 
For all we really know he may be an arrogant toss pot in real life, or he could be the first man to get a round in. We are all after all like the tweet, speculating. 

 

[!james]

Hopefully Hughton reads that and sues for slander! 

[Red Skin]

There are two sides to an interview.   The candidate needs the kind of questions that will let them present their strengths and their case for getting the job.  

How would address shortcomings of the squad to improve results?   

Is a very different question to..

Tell about a time when you have turned around the performance of an underperforming squad?

The first version would favour Holden and Hughton could be considered ill prepared. (How could he ever give a convincing answer without knowing the players or what's been tried already??!)

The second version of the question would give Hughton the opportunity to demonstrate his experience and expose Holden's lack of experience.  He have (unproven) idea how to do it with this squad, but has never succeeded before.  

Some people forget that identifying the right candidate relies heavily of the competency on the interviewers to ask the right questions, not just on the answers they get back.

 

[Kibs]

14 minutes ago, RedorDead BCFC said:

So either these posters know him personally to make these assumptions or like the tweet, they could be just making it up. 
For all we really know he may be an arrogant toss pot in real life, or he could be the first man to get a round in. We are all after all like the tweet, speculating. 

 

I wouldn’t call it speculating. He’s widely regarded as one of the nicest people in football. Of course, the many many people who have said and written these nice things about him may all be lying - but why would they? 

[Henry]

10 hours ago, Davefevs said:

 

Because you’d all go “source”, and I’m not willing to divulge, nor do we ever know whether they truly know.  And I pissed off a few people when I made a comment about Rory Holden without naming him but using the “eyes” emoji.

So I just kept this quiet.  As I said, I heard he was still in with a chance too.

I wonder if @Kid in the Riotheard similar.

Well I wouldn’t, some may, but generally people don’t expect people to reveal sources.

Its easy to be ITK after the event. I think you and Exiled Robin are being sucked in to the spin machine from the club. 
 

As @Kid in the Riot has explained better than I can, it makes no sense whatsoever.

[Street red]

3 minutes ago, Red Skin said:

There are two sides to an interview.   The candidate needs the kind of questions that will let them present their strengths and their case for getting the job.  

How would address shortcomings of the squad to improve result?   

Is a very different question to..

Tell about a time when you have turned around the performance of an underperforming squad?

The first version would favour Holden and Hughton could be considered ill prepared. (How could he ever give a convincing answer without knowing the players or what's been tried already??!)

The second version of the question would give Hughton the opportunity to demonstrate his experience any Holden's lack of it.

Some people forget that identifying the right candidate relies heavily of the competency on the interviewers to ask the right questions, not just on the answers they get back.

 

This..... Some people forget that identifying the right candidate relies heavily of the competency on the interviewers to ask the right questions, not just on the answers they get back.

[Leveller]

1 hour ago, pongo88 said:

There have been various suggestions as to whom within or close to the club leaked the story. This is all irrelevant as there are only two realistic possibilities: 

1) Those who conducted the interview deliberately spread the story to a third party with the aim of this person leaking it to others. 
 

2) Someone not involved in the interview process just made it up to give the impression he was ITK 

Seriously? I don’t know much about the club set up, but records must be kept of meetings like this and it’s likely there are admin staff who see such records, as well as the three or four main principals on the interview panel?

[Numero Uno]

Only the most gullible of the gullible will believe this bullshit as anything other than leaked spin from one of the Board.

Someone questioned yesterday how you can support the new manager but not the circus upstairs. Very easily is the answer.

[Red Skin]

1 minute ago, Street red said:

This..... Some people forget that identifying the right candidate relies heavily of the competency on the interviewers to ask the right questions, not just on the answers they get back.

I know this from recent experience sadly.  Two people interviewing for a role they know nothing about.  

For an important appointment like head coach, surely we could have got someone like Joe Jordan or some other manager we have good relations with (maybe not Gary Johnson on this occasion) to help with the interview process?  

[Banjo Island]

I think mr hughtons problem could of been a lack of knowledge on the three B's of football management bluff bullshit and buzzwords

[RedorDead BCFC]

12 minutes ago, Kibs said:

I wouldn’t call it speculating. He’s widely regarded as one of the nicest people in football. Of course, the many many people who have said and written these nice things about him may all be lying - but why would they? 

True, but like I said we can only take on what we’ve heard. He is airing on the side of a nice person but it don’t mean he interviews well. 

[supercidered]

11 hours ago, M.D said:

So, Chris Hughton attended an interview for a role with a championship club and came in completely unprepared not knowing the background of the club or its playing staff.

he then had no plan or insight in to how he wanted to take this club forward apart from get rid of all the playing staff.

does that sound believable?

Not just that but he turned up in flip flops, shorts and muscle top. He thought it was in the bag! Then straight off to Weston on the lash to celebrate after.

Not ITK just being a kn@b.

[Bristol Oil Services]

I like the idea of Jon L being an interviewer - him sitting in judgement of people applying for jobs; people like Chris Hughton, for example, with all the many life challenges he must've overcome. How much experience, I ask myself, does Jon have on the other side of the table, of being an interviewee, let alone an interviewer?

How many jobs has Jon L rocked up to and been interviewed for?

 

[Red Skin]

14 minutes ago, Moments of Pleasure said:

I like the idea of Jon L being an interviewer - him sitting in judgement of people applying for jobs; people like Chris Hughton, for example, with all the many life challenges he must've overcome. How much experience, I ask myself, does Jon have on the other side of the table, of being an interviewee, let alone an interviewer?

How many jobs has Jon L rocked up to and been interviewed for?

 

As per my post above, involving an experienced manager - like Joe Jordan - involved in the 'rigourous' process would surely have been valuable and provided some objective (but maybe unwelcome) opinion.  

In the same way Holden acknowledged his lack of experience and wanted some experienced coaches to work with, maybe the interviewers should have addressed their own shortcomings as part of the process.

It's done now anyway. 

[The dastardly red]

12 hours ago, Portland Bill said:

Hughton has forgotten more about football, than the people who interviewed him know about the game. 

I call it bullshit. 

At least you don't "call bullshit" which is one of the most irritating phrases. 

It's a phrase that seems to be growing in popularity on this forum. It's incredibly annoying.

People who use that phrase should ask themselves some serious questions, starting with why the hell do they want to sound like Tom Cruise in the first place. 

[Port Said Red]

28 minutes ago, Moments of Pleasure said:

I like the idea of Jon L being an interviewer - him sitting in judgement of people applying for jobs; people like Chris Hughton, for example, with all the many life challenges he must've overcome. How much experience, I ask myself, does Jon have on the other side of the table, of being an interviewee, let alone an interviewer?

How many jobs has Jon L rocked up to and been interviewed for?

I doubt it’s an interview like the ones you and I would have attended, or the ones I used to train Managers to conduct. I can’t imagine anyone saying to CH... “Tell me about a time when you couldn’t get a player to do what you needed. What was the situation and how did you rectify it?”  

I really hope CH gets a Championship job this season, we will all know one way or another whether he still has it in him to succeed.
 

[redsquirrel]

could it be possible he said he would like the job but not just yet until the covid thing was under control? wanted 2 decent coaches i.e, the england blokes and would check back in 6 months time say?  there could be anything behind why he didnt join, all we do know is Ashton doesnt tell it how it is

[bcfc01]

13 minutes ago, RalphMilnesLeftFoot said:

Omg, this thread is superb. 

The twists, the turns, the tinfoil conspiracies. 

If someone didnt interview well, they didnt interview well, can happen to anyone at any time. 

That's about as complicated as it gets. Cant wait  for the next twist or theory. 

Simply magnificent. 

5 pages to get to the heart of it 

[Kibs]

15 minutes ago, RalphMilnesLeftFoot said:

 

If someone didnt interview well, they didnt interview well, can happen to anyone at any time. 

That's about as complicated as it gets.

Who didn’t interview well and where have you heard this? 

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

Imagine the MA/ JL shiteshower interviewing someone like Cloughie or Shankly?

WGAF if they "interview well"?