Wales Hughes was appointed as head coach of the Wales national team in 1999, while still playing elite club football for a few more seasons. Initially appointed on a temporary basis alongside
Neville Southall to replace
Bobby Gould, Hughes had soon done enough to earn himself a long-term contract, with Southall eventually leaving the set-up. When he took over, Wales were going through a bad patch but in the five years with Hughes in charge, Wales came close to qualifying for
UEFA Euro 2004. In their
Euro 2004 qualifying group, Wales ended up second, beating
Italy 2–1 in
Cardiff in the process, but were denied a place in the final tournament after losing to
Russia in the
playoffs.
Blackburn Rovers Hughes quit the Welsh national side in September 2004 to take charge of Blackburn in the FA Premier League, the last club he had played for. His key aim was to keep Blackburn clear of relegation, which he succeeded in doing, while also taking the club to an FA Cup semi-final for the first time in over 40 years. In his second season, he helped Blackburn finish inside the top six of the Premier League and subsequently qualify for the
UEFA Cup, beating teams such as Chelsea, Manchester United (twice) and Arsenal en route. After just missing out on the
League Cup final, his team sealed their spot in Europe by defeating champions Chelsea 1–0 at home. On 4 May 2006, Hughes and assistant
Mark Bowen signed new three-year contracts to remain at Blackburn until the summer of 2009. Hughes then set about creating a formidable side at Ewood Park. He entered the transfer market, bringing in players such as
Benni McCarthy (£2 million),
David Bentley (£500,000),
Ryan Nelsen (free),
Stephen Warnock (£1.5 million),
Roque Santa Cruz (£3.5 million), and
Christopher Samba (£400,000). Rovers finished tenth in the Premier League in 2006–07, and reached the
UEFA Cup round of 32, where they were knocked out by
Bayer Leverkusen 3–2 on aggregate. Rovers faced Chelsea in the
FA Cup semi-final, their third consecutive semi-final since Hughes took charge. The match ended in defeat, 2–1. He won the
Premier League Manager of the Month award for October 2007, and eventually led Blackburn to a league finish of seventh in 2007–08, Hughes's final season in charge at Ewood Park. During his spell in charge of Blackburn, Hughes's side was accused of being "over-physical" and "dirty" on multiple occasions and the club finished bottom of the Premier League disciplinary table in all four of Hughes's seasons in charge.
Manchester City On 2 June 2008,
Manchester City dismissed manager
Sven-Göran Eriksson. Interest was also reported from Chelsea, however, who had recently dismissed their manager,
Avram Grant. Blackburn confirmed on 2 June that they had agreed to allow Hughes to talk to City. The following day, Blackburn agreed to a then-
world record compensation package for Hughes to take over as manager of Manchester City, and he was appointed as head coach on 4 June 2008 on a three-year contract. Following the appointment, Manchester City's executive chairman
Garry Cook stated, "The Club intends to invest in new players as well as securing the long term services of key members of the current first team squad. Mark has already identified some of the players and backroom staff that he wants to see here at City, and we will begin the process of recruiting them immediately." The players who did arrive were
Jô,
Tal Ben Haim,
Vincent Kompany,
Shaun Wright-Phillips (returning from Chelsea) and
Pablo Zabaleta. Hughes's first match in charge resulted in a 4–2 loss to Aston Villa at
Villa Park but was followed up with 3–0 wins against West Ham and
Sunderland. On 1 September 2008, Manchester City were taken over by the
Abu Dhabi United investment group, who made large amounts of transfer funds available to Hughes, allowing City to break the British transfer record and sign
Robinho from
Real Madrid for £32.5 million. Hughes was very active in the January 2009 transfer window, signing
Wayne Bridge from Chelsea,
Craig Bellamy from West Ham and
Shay Given from Newcastle, as well as
Nigel de Jong from
Hamburger SV. City finished tenth in Hughes's first season with the club, as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. City's home form was among the best in the League, but their away form was among the worst. In the summer of 2009, Hughes added
Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn, and
Emmanuel Adebayor and
Kolo Touré from Arsenal to his squad, while
Carlos Tevez also joined after his two-year deal with Manchester United expired. In addition, Hughes signed defenders
Joleon Lescott from Everton for a reported £22 million, and
Sylvinho – a former Arsenal and double Champions League winner with
Barcelona – on a free transfer. Hughes started the
2009–10 Premier League campaign with a 2–0 away win at former club Blackburn, followed by a 1–0 win over another former club, Barcelona, in the
Joan Gamper Trophy at a capacity
Camp Nou. City then won 1–0 win over
Wolverhampton Wanderers at
Eastlands, followed by
Crystal Palace in the
League Cup 2–0 and
Portsmouth 1–0 to maintain a 100% clean sheet start to the season. City continued in good form, beating Arsenal 4–2 and West Ham 3–1 either side of
a 4–3 derby day defeat to Manchester United. City would then, however, go on a run of seven-straight draws. Manchester City beat
Scunthorpe United 5–1 and Arsenal 3–0 in the League Cup to reach their first semi-final since 1981. Hughes then led City to their first victory over his former club Chelsea for five years with a 2–1 victory. That last victory was one of only two wins in 11 successive Premier League matches, and Hughes left City before their League Cup two-legged semi-final against Manchester United; he was dismissed on 19 December 2009 and replaced by
Roberto Mancini.
Fulham On 29 July 2010, Hughes became the new manager of Fulham, following the departure of
Roy Hodgson to Liverpool. Hughes agreed a two-year contract with the London side and was officially unveiled to the media on 3 August 2010, before his first match as manager on 7 August against
Werder Bremen. Hughes was joined at Fulham by his backroom team of
Eddie Niedzwiecki,
Mark Bowen and
Kevin Hitchcock. His first league match in charge of the Cottagers came exactly a week later, when they drew 0–0 at
Bolton Wanderers on the opening day of the Premier League season, followed by a resolute display against Manchester United in a 2–2 draw at
Craven Cottage. Draws followed in four of Fulham's next five Premier League matches against
Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers, Everton and West Ham, with a solitary 2–1 home win over Wolves. This meant that at that stage – including the seven-draw streak at Manchester City before his dismissal the season before – all but two (86%) of Hughes's last fifteen Premiership matches had been drawn. The bizarre run, exclusively made up of draws or 2–1 results, continued with 2–1 defeats to
Tottenham Hotspur and
West Bromwich Albion in the second half of October 2010. At the end of the
2010–11 season, Hughes led Fulham to an eighth-placed finish in the league and UEFA Europa League qualification through the Fair Play league. Hughes resigned as manager of Fulham on 2 June 2011, having spent less than 11 months at the club. Following his departure, he said, "As a young, ambitious manager I wish to move on to further my experiences." Fulham owner
Mohamed Al-Fayed hit back at Hughes for questioning the club's ambition, calling him a "strange man" and a "flop" and said he rescued him from becoming a forgotten man after being dismissed by Manchester City. In September 2013, Hughes said he made a mistake in leaving Fulham when he did.
Queens Park Rangers On 10 January 2012, Hughes agreed terms with
Queens Park Rangers and signed a two-and-a-half-year contract as their new manager, replacing the recently dismissed
Neil Warnock. Hughes's first match in charge of QPR came on 15 January 2012, a 1–0 defeat away to Newcastle. Hughes's first win as QPR manager came on 17 January 2012, a 1–0 victory over
Milton Keynes Dons in a
FA Cup third round replay at
Loftus Road. His first Premier League victory was on 21 January 2012, QPR beating
Wigan Athletic 3–1 at home. In January 2012, Hughes brought in two defenders in
Nedum Onuoha and
Taye Taiwo and two strikers in
Djibril Cissé and
Bobby Zamora. Cissé made an immediate impact scoring on his debut against Aston Villa. Defeats against Wolves, Blackburn and Fulham, however, prevented QPR from pulling themselves away from relegation trouble. Victories over Liverpool, Arsenal,
Stoke City,
Swansea City and Tottenham meant that they went into the final match of the season two points ahead of Bolton. They faced Hughes's former club Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium, who needed a win to secure the Premier League title. Despite scoring twice through Cissé and
Jamie Mackie, two added time goals from
Edin Džeko and
Sergio Agüero earned City a dramatic
victory and championship title. Bolton's failure to beat Stoke, however, meant that QPR avoided relegation to the Championship. In the summer of 2012, QPR brought in a large number of high-profile signings with the intent of establishing themselves as a Premier League club. In came
Ryan Nelsen,
Andrew Johnson,
Robert Green,
Samba Diakité,
Fabio,
Park Ji-sung and
Junior Hoilett all before the start of the season. Rangers' new-look squad, however, got off to an awful start as they crashed to a 5–0 home defeat against Swansea on the opening day of the
2012–13 Premier League season. Hughes branded his players performance as "embarrassing". Hughes then signed
José Bosingwa,
Júlio César and
Esteban Granero but saw no improvement in results, going 12 matches without victory. He was dismissed as manager on 23 November 2012 after the team suffered a 3–1 home defeat to Southampton six days earlier and replaced by
Harry Redknapp.
Stoke City 2013–14 Hughes was appointed manager of Stoke City on 30 May 2013, signing a three-year contract after taking over from fellow Welshman
Tony Pulis. Speaking after being announced as Stoke's new manager, Hughes admitted that he had a point to prove following his disappointing spell at QPR. Hughes's first task was to release
Rory Delap,
Mamady Sidibe,
Matthew Upson,
Dean Whitehead,
Carlo Nash and
Matty Lund, at the same time giving
Jermaine Pennant a new contract. He made his first signing on 28 June 2013 in Dutch international left-back
Erik Pieters from
PSV for a fee of €3.6 million (£3 million). Hughes's first match in charge of Stoke on 17 August 2013 ended in a 1–0 defeat at Liverpool. Hughes's first win as Stoke manager came in his next match as Stoke beat Crystal Palace 2–1 at the
Britannia Stadium. This was followed up by a 1–0 win away at West Ham. On 2 September 2013, transfer deadline day, Hughes brought in Austrian forward
Marko Arnautović from Werder Bremen and
Stephen Ireland on loan from Aston Villa. Meanwhile,
Michael Kightly,
Cameron Jerome and
Ryan Shotton all departed the club on long-term loans. Stoke soon lost their early form, however, and went through September and October without a Premier League win, picking up just two points and scoring only three goals. Stoke improved in November and December, going a run of one defeat in seven matches, including a 3–2 win over Chelsea on 7 December 2013. December ended badly for Stoke and Hughes, however, as they were on the receiving end of a 5–1 defeat at Newcastle in which Stoke were reduced to nine men and Hughes himself was sent off. Stoke went through January 2014 in poor form and managed to pick up just a point and a 1–0 defeat at Sunderland on 29 January, leaving the club just above the relegation zone. The one piece of transfer activity Hughes did was to swap
Kenwyne Jones for
Peter Odemwingie in a player-exchange deal with
Cardiff City. The arrival of Odemwingie enabled Hughes to alter his tactics and formation and it immediately paid off with a 2–1 victory over Manchester United. Stoke's form continued to improve and they went through March unbeaten with wins over Arsenal, West Ham, Aston Villa and
Hull City. Stoke proceeded to end the season strongly with wins over Newcastle, Fulham and a 2–1 win against West Brom on the final day of the season, which saw Stoke finish in ninth position, their best finish since
1974–75.
2014–15 For the
2014–15 season, Hughes signed Sunderland full-back
Phil Bardsley, Fulham midfielder
Steve Sidwell and Senegalese striker
Mame Biram Diouf on free transfers. Also arriving for small fees were Slovak defender
Dionatan Teixeira and Barcelona forward
Bojan, while wingers
Victor Moses and
Oussama Assaidi joined on season-long loans. Departing were
Matthew Etherington,
Michael Kightly, Cameron Jerome and Ryan Shotton. Stoke had a mixed start to the 2014–15 season, losing 1–0 to Aston Villa on the opening day, drawing 1–1 with ten-men Hull City, yet defeating reigning Premier League champions Manchester City 1–0. Stoke's inconsistency continued through the autumn as Stoke managed just three wins beating Newcastle, Swansea and Tottenham. The club then suffered frustrating home defeats against newly promoted
Burnley and
Leicester City. Stoke found form in December beating Arsenal 3–2, Everton 1–0 and West Brom 2–0. In January 2015, Hughes began talks with the Stoke board of directors about extending his contract with the club. Hughes's only new arrival in January was that of German centre back
Philipp Wollscheid from
Bayer Leverkusen. Stoke suffered a number in injuries to key players in January and February, most notably to Shawcross and Bojan. In February, Stoke suffered back to back 4–1 defeats against Manchester City and then in the FA Cup against Blackburn. Hughes signed a new contract with Stoke in March 2015 to keep him contracted until the summer of 2019. City then went a run of three wins against Aston Villa, Hull and Everton and then three defeats against West Brom, Crystal Palace and Chelsea. Stoke ended the season strongly with victories over Southampton (2–1), Tottenham (3–0) and Liverpool (6–1), ensuring a second consecutive ninth-place finish.
2015–16 Hughes made a number of alterations to his squad in preparation for the
2015–16 campaign. Leaving the club were the long-serving trio of
Asmir Begović,
Robert Huth and
Steven Nzonzi, with Stoke receiving their record transfer fee in the process. With the money available, Hughes broke Stoke's transfer record by paying
Inter Milan £12 million for Swiss winger
Xherdan Shaqiri. Hughes also brought in Spanish striker
Joselu for £5.75 million, Dutch midfielder
Ibrahim Afellay,
Shay Given,
Jakob Haugaard,
Glen Johnson and
Marco van Ginkel. The club had a poor start to the season, failing to win any of their first six fixtures, losing three of them. Stoke recovered well, however, winning their next three matches against
AFC Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Swansea. Stoke's improvement continued through November and December with victories against Premier League champions Chelsea, Southampton, Manchester City and Manchester United; the team's style of football was praised by the national press. Stoke ended 2015 with a dramatic 4–3 win away at Everton, while they also reached the semi-final of the
League Cup after defeating
Luton Town, Fulham, Chelsea and
Sheffield Wednesday en route. Stoke started 2016 poorly, falling to West Brom and then Liverpool in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. The club endured a tough final week of January as they lost 3–0 to both Leicester and Manchester United and were knocked out of the League Cup by Liverpool after losing on penalties, and were also ousted from the FA Cup by Crystal Palace. In the January transfer window, Hughes let
Steve Sidwell leave as well as cutting short Marco van Ginkel's loan, while he broke the club's transfer record he had set in the summer after signing French midfielder
Giannelli Imbula from
Porto for a fee of £18.3 million. Stoke's form improved in February and March as they defeated Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Watford and earned a first Premier League draw at Chelsea. Following a season-ending injury to goalkeeper
Jack Butland while on international duty, however, Stoke lost their defensive organisation: They let a 2–0 lead slip against Swansea to draw 2–2 and then went and conceded four goals in three successive matches, against Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City. Hughes's team were able to end the season on a positive as they beat West Ham 2–1 on the final day of the season, enough to secure a third-straight ninth-place finish.
2016–17 Hughes spent £18 million in July 2016 to bring in Welsh midfielder
Joe Allen and Egyptian winger
Ramadan Sobhi, while defender
Bruno Martins Indi and striker
Wilfried Bony both joined on season-long loans on 31 August 2016 from Porto and Manchester City respectively. Departing the club were Joselu, Philipp Wollscheid and long-serving defender
Marc Wilson, who left for Bournemouth after criticizing Hughes's defensive training on social media. Stoke began the
2016–17 season in poor form, drawing 1–1 away at
Middlesbrough, then losing 4–1 to Manchester City, 1–0 to Everton and 4–0 to Tottenham, and 4–1 to Crystal Palace with chairman
Peter Coates heavily criticising the team's performances. Results improved in October and November and by December Stoke had moved back into a mid-table position. However, Stoke picked up just two points over the Christmas period and Hughes came under strong criticism from supporters after his side lost a 2–0 lead against 10-man Leicester City. In the January transfer window, Hughes brought in long term transfer target
Saido Berahino from West Brom. Performances until the end of the season were underwhelming with six wins from 19, with Stoke securing their Premier League status with two matches remaining. A 1–0 win against Southampton on the final day of the season, meant that Stoke ended the campaign in 13th place, their lowest finish under Hughes. In September 2017, just after full time following a 2–2 draw with Manchester United, manager José Mourinho refused to shake hands with Hughes. Mourinho believed Hughes had told him to "f*ck off" during the game, and that Hughes had requested that a referee send him off for entering Stoke’s technical area. Mourinho declined Hughes's handshake post-match, making it an unusual public managerial snub.
2017–18 Stoke made a poor start to the new season. Hughes came under intense scrutiny by supporters throughout the season, particularly after a 5–0 thumping by Chelsea, where Hughes rested several first team regulars to prepare for a home match against
Newcastle United; Stoke also lost this game, resulting in calls for him to be dismissed. By January, Stoke had won only 5 of 22 games, occupying a place in the relegation zone with 20 points. Stoke's run of poor form included a demoralising 3–0 home defeat to
West Ham United, where former player
Marko Arnautović scored and celebrated in front of the home fans after having been sold in the summer, as well as several heavy defeats to clubs challenging for the top six positions, including a 7–2 away defeat to
Manchester City and a 5–1 defeat to
Tottenham Hotspur. After a 2–1 defeat in the
FA Cup to
League Two side
Coventry City on 6 January 2018, Hughes was dismissed. Stoke had the worst defensive record in the Premier League at the time of his dismissal, having conceded a total of 47 goals, nine more than West Ham who had the second-worst record. This was in spite of several defensive signings being made in the summer of 2017, including the £18 million signing of
Kevin Wimmer from
Tottenham Hotspur, the £7 million permanent signing of
Bruno Martins Indi, and the season-long loan of Chelsea defender
Kurt Zouma. His first game was a 2–0 win at
Wigan Athletic in an FA Cup quarter final. On 25 May 2018, after a season that saw the Saints retain their Premier League status, the club announced that Hughes had signed a new three-year contract. His assistants,
Mark Bowen and
Eddie Niedzwiecki, also signed long-term contracts with the club. Despite a number of positive signings in the summer transfer window, Southampton made a poor start to the
2018–19 season and on 2 December 2018, with the club 18th in the table, Hughes was dismissed. He was replaced by former
RB Leipzig boss
Ralph Hasenhüttl.
Bradford City On 24 February 2022, Hughes was appointed manager of
Bradford City on a deal until the summer of 2024. This was the first time he had managed a club outside the Premier League. Hughes was nominated for the League Two Manager of the Month award for September 2022 after Bradford went unbeaten in four matches. On 4 October 2023, Hughes was dismissed as manager with Bradford sitting 18th in
League Two. It was felt by the Bradford City players that Hughes was trying to shoehorn Premier League tactics into the League Two side, and this ultimately contributed to the lack of success in his second season.
Carlisle United On 6 February 2025, Hughes was appointed head coach of League Two side
Carlisle United. Two days later, he lost his first game in charge, with Carlisle defeated 2–1 at
Grimsby Town. Carlisle were relegated with one game still to play at the end of the
2024–25 season. On 19 May 2025, it was confirmed that he would remain with the club for the
2025–26 season. ==Personal life==