BY GRAHAM CLIFFORD
I SERIOUSLY considered asking Chris Hughton if he fancied going for a pint when I first met him back in 2006 at Tottenham’s training ground in Chigwell.
Relaxing on a bench while Sky Sports reporters fussed around the likes of Jermaine Defoe, Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov and photographers grappled for position, Hughton and I chewed the fat oblivious to the mayhem ensuing around us.
It’s not that I won the new Magpies boss’ admiration for my witty rhetoric and firm handshake but rather that I was Irish and for Chris Hughton that was good enough to let the guard down.
As well as being assistant manager to Martin Jol at the time he was also the Republic of Ireland’s second in command under Brian Kerr.
Indeed when it comes to bridesmaids Hughton has donned more meringues than most. The former Republic of Ireland defender was assistant at Tottenham under 10 different managers.
Besides Jol he played second fiddle to Ray Clemence, Doug Livermore, Ossie Ardiles, Gerry Francis, Christian Gross, George Graham, Glenn Hoddle, David Pleat and Jacques Santini.
It’s an amazing statistic — imagine, that’s 10 welcome new gaffer parties as well as 10 leaving dos!
Hughton’s loyalty to Tottenham — who he served as a player for 13 years between 1977 and 1990 — is a testament to the man.
It’s little wonder then he was so relaxed on the afternoon I met him given the fact that Tottenham’s training ground had become a second home to the Stratford-born full-back for most of his adult life.
By the very nature of top football managers his career at White Hart Lane as an assistant and twice as caretaker manager is remarkable.
Most managers are power hungry and like to do things in their own way.
This usually means drafting in a new understudy but for the 10 bosses under whom Hughton worked, the desire to find a new number two evaporated quickly after they met the former Irish international.
Why?
Because Chris possesses all the qualities which a new gaffer would want to use and what’s more he’s likeable to everyone.
When he finally parted company with Spurs in October 2007 we wondered what the future held for the first black player ever to line out for his adopted country.
But just three months later the 50-year-old was back in work — this time as a first team coach at Newcastle United under Kevin Keegan.
If Chris believed he had worked for the most turbulent club in Premier League football in terms of managerial merry gorounds then St. James’ Park must have made him reconsider that belief.
He joined a club with its finger perilously close to the self destruct button and when Newcastle were relegated from the top flight last season Hughton must have wondered if he’d made the right move in upping sticks and relocating to the north-east of England.
Last season, of course, Hughton — then promoted to assistant manager — worked under the fiery Joe Kinnear before he fell ill, acted as caretaker boss himself and finished the season as Alan Shearer’s deputy.
While Newcastle United’s chairman Mike Ashley did everything possible to offload the club during the summer Hughton had to try to reassure the players that there would be light at the end of the tunnel.
All this when he didn’t know what would happen to the Magpies or indeed to his own contract.
As caretaker boss Hughton won the Championship Manager of the Month award in August and again in September and after Ashley confirmed he couldn’t find a buyer for the troubled club was named permanent manager at St. James’ Park last week.
Finally — after 16 years as a coach and assistant manager — Hughton had secured the top job at a major football club.
He would be the first to say that over the years a permanent manager’s job was not always what he wanted.
He more than most saw enough bosses lose their jobs to know it could be a poisoned chalice.
But the time is now right for Hughton to have a top job.
He’s served his apprenticeship many times over and given the fact that Newcastle are now purring like a well-oiled engine his talents as a shrewd and calm tactician are being appreciated by all.
It’s worth noting as well that the new Magpies boss plays a clever game.
He doesn’t need to shout and swear like former Newcastle manager Kinnear, he doesn’t need to kick bottles on the sideline in frustration and he doesn’t need to verbally have a go at referees.
Indeed the Magpies faithful are passionately embracing their new boss.
This week Hughton said: “From the very first game this season the fans have been right behind the team.
“The players and myself know what a difference that makes and it has gone a long way to getting us where we are now.
“We knew it was going to be tough and we’ve found that recently. But we’re still in a magnificent position at the top of the league. And if everybody can pull in the same direction like they have done so far I’m confident that we’ll put this football club back where it belongs — that is the most important thing.”
My chance of having a pint with Chris Hughton may now be further away than it was during his Tottenham days and if we did have a tipple now it may well be Newcastle Brown Ale, but if Hughton himself continues to play his cards right he could be sipping champagne come season’s end.