Hughton happy to be main man

WHEN Chris Hughton leads his Newcastle United players out at Old Trafford tonight, there be excitement and trepidation in equal measure.

Hughton is nothing if not a realist. For someone who spent most of his playing career in successful sides, with Tottenham Hotspur and then Jack Charlton’s Ireland, the majority of his life as a coach and now manager has involved battling adversity.

He worked at all levels at Spurs from 1993 to 2007, starting as youth coach, before rising to assistant manager and then taking over as caretaker manager twice. But these were hardly the glory days he had known as a player, winning the FA and UEFA Cups as well as gaining 53 caps for Ireland.