AARON Hughes possesses the kind of resume which could be said to over-qualify him for the Hearts manager's position, let alone a spot in the Tynecastle side's back line. Compared to Ian Cathro, the 30-year-old whizz kid at the club's controls, the Northern Ireland international has a wealth of experience from the last two decades mixing it with the great and the good at the sharp end of world football.
Handed his debut at Newcastle by Kenny Dalglish, Hughes went on to work under Ruud Gullit, Sir Bobby Robson and Graeme Souness in eight years at St James' Park. He learned from Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa and from Harry Redknapp - under whom he played alongside Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar - at QPR. Roy Hodgson was his boss for a stint at Fulham which took them all the way to the 2009-10 Europa League final, where they lost narrowly to a David de Gea and Sergio Aguero-inspired Atletico Madrid side.
He regards his toughest-ever opponent as Thierry Henry, there were recent spells in Australian and Indian football and then there are his exploits at international level, where he currently has 104 caps, enough to put him behind only Pat Jennings in the nation's all-time list. Most recently, at the age of 36, he found himself playing three matches, including taking on World Champions Germany, at Euro 2016. The one thing he hasn't got, and would dearly love, is the chance to actually win something. That quest commences in the Scottish Cup tomorrow with Hearts at Stark's Park.
"I've been really lucky to still be playing at this age with no major injuries," said Hughes. "I've worked under some great managers and played with some great players and characters.
"But winning something probably is the one thing that is missing," he added. "I’ve had a couple of runners-up but a medal of some sort would be nice. When I’m finished, and looking back on all the games and the different things that have happened, it’s knowing that, at one point, yes, we were actually champions of something. If you ask any footballer, they would say the same thing.
Out in India [with Kerala Blasters] we got beaten in the final on penalties and even to have won a trophy there - although it might not be viewed as the most glamorous league - it still would have been a trophy and I really wanted to win it. But it just didn’t happen."
Hughes, whose connection with Hearts No 2 Austin MacPhee from the Northern Ireland set-up was crucial in the move, shrugs off the seven-year age difference, not to mention the huge disparity in their respective experience. For his part, Cathro had identified getting some more veteran leadership into his team as a priority even before they memorably collapsed to a 3-2 defeat at Dens Park earlier this season.
"Working with a younger manager?" he added. "Yeah, that's new. But I'm tempted to say I still feel 25 in my head so I don't think about it too much. The manager is quite a strong character. When I sat down and had a chat with him, you could tell that. He's very focused and very motivated. He had that strong presence about him. When you've got that, it doesn't really matter what age you are.
“The obvious thing I can help with will be experience, just knowing how to deal with certain situations in games," he added. "I’m not going to be beating full-backs on the wing, doing step-overs or stuff like that."
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