Hughes the hard man will not be fazed by Newcastle job

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Ferguson, Hughes' manager at Manchester United, said: 'Nothing could ever intimidate him.

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'He was liable to be at his most assertive when the stakes were highest. You just have to look at the determined set of his strong features to know that you are dealing with a warrior.'

For prospective managers of Newcastle, self-doubt cannot be an issue. As Graeme Souness so stridently pointed out on Sunday, a new manager will hear enough questioning voices from the shadows around St James' Park as it is.

Newcastle need a strong man to quell the hysteria that has risen over the course of another disappointing season, and the Hughes credentials are certainly impressive.

As much of Tyneside clamours for the return of Kevin Keegan, Hughes represents the sensible choice. An intelligent, pragmatic coach who will stay true to his beliefs and values and not get swept up in the Newcastle soap opera that Souness alluded to when he described the club as the most difficult he had managed.

More than ever, Newcastle would appear to need a manager capable of cutting a gentle swathe through much of the nonsense that is said, written and sung about this 'great' club who have not won a domestic trophy of note since 1955.

Hughes is softly spoken and can be reserved. At times he can be disappointingly dour. But he is a hard man, a manager prepared to make the difficult decisions without blinking. Sentiment, when it comes to football, is alien to him.

The change in playing personnel and attitude that is needed at Newcastle will not faze him. At 44, he has been around long enough to understand the value of loyalty. But he also knows that, when it is taken to extremes, it can be damaging.

Hughes, for example, was happy to rescue his former Wales scuffler Robbie Savage from an unhappy spell at Birmingham three years ago. This season, he nudged him out of the back door with an equal absence of fuss.

This is the essence of Hughes. He will perhaps not realise it, but he mirrors Ferguson in that regard. Decisions are taken for the greater good, for the long term — and nothing else really matters. Some may ask when and where Hughes has worked under a spotlight as bright as the one that burns in Newcastle. It is a fair point.

Anything he managed while coach of the long- suffering Wales team was a bonus while expectations at Blackburn were not terribly demanding when he left the international scene to replace Souness at Ewood Park in the autumn of 2004.

However, the alternative view is that a step up to a club like Newcastle would represent a natural progression for a time-served coach. That is more than could be said of other candidates, such as rookie Alan Shearer.

Hughes's record in the transfer market is more than credible, too — and there will be plenty of that to do at Newcastle.

It is difficult, for example, to find a better value-for-money summer buy in the Barclays Premier League than £3.8million striker Roque Santa Cruz while players such as Stephen Warnock (£1.5m), Andre Ooijer (£2m), Ryan Nelsen (free) and Benni McCarthy (£2.5m) have proved prudent acquisitions.

Under Hughes, David Dunn has begun to find himself again and David Bentley has developed into a wide midfielder who will surely win many more England caps.

So why would Hughes want to leave the security of north Lancashire for a club who have just spat out one talented British manager and could easily decide it does not like the taste of the next?

Quite simply, it is the right time for one of the Premier League's most ambitious managers. Hughes's three years at Blackburn have moved the club forward but he has told associates he feels he can do little more.

A 4-1 home defeat by Coventry in the FA Cup demonstrated how thin Blackburn's squad are, and, with gates remaining moderate, Hughes knows there is little potential for that to change.

After Sunday's win at Bolton, Blackburn sit eighth in the table. Is there scope to go much higher than, say, sixth? Hughes believes not and feels it is time to move on while his stock is high.

He could have left last summer. Manchester City identified him as second choice behind Sven Goran Eriksson and, as the Swede dallied, it became clear to the club's headhunters that Hughes was ready to switch.

His ambition should surprise nobody. This, after all, is a man who once left United for Barcelona. The only imponderable is his desire to return one day to Old Trafford as manager.

Some feel he should sit tight and wait but Hughes is aware that his old boss, Ferguson, is showing little signs of moving on and believes that success at another big club would only add polish to his c.v.

If he fails, he may regret it. But, as Ferguson said, nothing will ever intimidate Hughes.