HARTY: On Mark Hughes and Albion managerial changes

At the Albion, there have been numerous cases of the next manager being lined up, while the previous one was still picking the team.

As a bloke, Chris Cattlin was one of my favourite Albion bosses, and he saw the scenario from both sides.

When then Albion chairman, Mike Bamber, brought him in as Jimmy Melia's coach in the summer of 1983, cracks were already appearing in his relationship with Melia, and Cattlin's appointment in place of him was only a matter of time.

Unfortunately for Cattlin, three years later, and after a degree of success, in what proved to be his last home game at the Goldstone, an unnamed person, later revealed as then vice-chairman John Campbell, chartered a light aircraft from Shoreham to tow a banner stating "Bring Back Alan Mullery".

So, it was not that big a surprise when Cattlin was sacked a few days later and replaced by Mullery that summer.

Whether or not Mullers' return to the Goldstone was merely as a stalking horse for the relatively unknown Barry Lloyd has been questioned by many Albion fans to this day.

Steve Gritt saved the Albion in May, 1997, but when Dick Knight sacked him nine months' later, the speed of Brian Horton's appointment clearly indicated that "talks" had gone on long before Gritt was shown the door.

It was much of the same for Knight just over a year later when fledgling boss Jeff Wood, another thoroughly nice bloke away from the dugout, was a dead man walking with Micky Adams being spoken to almost a month before he finally became boss in April 1999.

Martin Hinshelwood suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at Watford in October, but by then, his wretched run of 10 defeats had resulted in Steve Coppell being lined up to replace him less than 48 hours after the game at Vicarage Road.

And then it was full circle again for Adams in 2008 when Dean Wilkins' reign as Albion boss effectively finished, when Knight met Adams a good six weeks' before the season ended.

So, for any football fan expressing horror at the way Hughes has been treated, unfortunately it's the law of the jungle. It's not just City or the Albion, there are another 90 clubs, each with their own examples.

The weather unfortunately put paid to any rugby but many thanks to Paul Baker and all at Worthing Rugby Club for still making Saturday afternoon a great experience.

A top-class meal and some great company went a long way to making up for the fact Raiders' game against Shelford was frozen out.

Thankfully, we won't have to wait that long for the re-arranged game.

Both sides have a blank weekend on February 6, so a return to Roundstone Lane is less than six weeks away.

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