Charles Hughes (football manager)

For other people with this name, see Charles Hughes (disambiguation).

Charles Hughes was the director of coaching for the Football Association. He authored the FA's official coaching manual and was an early developer of long ball tactics.^[2]

Charles Hughes
Born	1933 (age 90–91)
Nationality	English
Known for	Director of coaching for The Football Association.^[1]

Coaching

Charles Hughes began his coaching career with the England national amateur football team and Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic football team between 1964-74 winning 48 matches out of 77.^[1] Charles Hughes began football coaching in 1964 by being assistant coach to Allen Wade, he used the experience he gained from studying for a degree in physical education at Loughborough University.^[3] Hughes would later become the Director of Coaching for The Football Association and publish his book, The Winning Formula, which would be the basis of how English football would be played and coached for several decades.^[4][5][6][7]

Tactics

Hughes presented his ideas in the magazine Match Analysis and concluded most goals were scored from three passes or fewer, therefore it was important to get the ball quickly forward as soon as possible. He based this analysis on over one hundred games at all levels, including games involving Liverpool and the Brazil national team, as well as many England youth games. His ideals were developed from those previously developed by World War II Wing Commander Charles Reep.^[8] From his statistical analysis, Hughes emphasised the importance of particular areas of the field from where goals were most often scored. He called these areas the 'POMO' – Positions Of Maximum Opportunity – and asserted that players would score if the ball was played into the 'POMO' enough times. He stressed the importance of set plays and crosses into the penalty area.^[9]

Legacy and criticism

Many coaches and managers in England advocated his long-ball philosophy but some critics have derided his philosophy for encouraging a generation of players who lack basic technical skills and understanding of different tactical playing strategies.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}

Work

The Official FA Guide to Basic Team Coaching ISBN 0-340-81600-7

References

1. Football: Learning to live with football's bogeyman: Dave Hadfield lived next door to Charles Hughes - and survived Hadfield, David. The Independent. 13-08-94, Accessed 08-06-10
2. Fox, Norman (28 November 1993). "Profile: The professor breaks cover: Charles Hughes". Independent. London. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
3. "Maximum Opportunity". Theblizzard.co.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
4. Wilson, Jonathan; Auclair, Philippe; Smyth, Rob; Lowe, Sid; Macintosh, Iain; Montague, James; Hunter, Graham; Delaney, Miguel; Vickery, Tim; Levinsky, Sergio (3 March 2014). "The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly: Issue Twelve". Blizzard Media Ltd – via Google Books.
5. Cox, Richard William; Russell, Dave; Vamplew, Wray (2002). Encyclopedia of British Football - Richard Cox - Google Books. p. 63. ISBN 9780714652498. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
6. Anthony, Strudwick (7 June 2016). Soccer Science. Human Kinetics. p. 566. ISBN 9781450496797 – via Google Books.
7. Andrews, Ian (2013). "It's A Man's Game: English Football and Socio-Cultural Change" (PDF). etheses.lse.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
8. . When Saturday Comes. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
9. Robson, Bobby (2005). Farewell but not Goodbye. Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-82346-0.
10. Cartwright, John (23 March 2002). "The guru who is not afraid to upset the apple cart". The Daily Telegraph. London.^{[dead link]}
11. Lawton, James (12 November 2001). "England must develop the creative instinct". The Independent. London.
12. Cartwright, John (25 November 2007). . Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 26 November 2007.
13. Stevenson, Jonathan (17 December 2007). "How will English football develop?". BBC.
14. Hughes, Rob (24 November 1993). "Will the Bulldog's Fall Give Rise to a New Breed of English Soccer?". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
15. Hughes, Rob (14 June 1995). "The New Boys From Brazil". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
16. Kingstone, Steve (3 June 2005). "Brazil's coach in plagiarism row". BBC. Retrieved 15 September 2010.