If Mark Hughes was hoping for any favours from his old boss Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United he’ll have to think again.
The under-fire Welshman takes his embattled Queens Park Rangers side to Old Trafford this weekend with calls for his dismissal still ringing loudly in his ears.
Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Southampton extended QPR’s winless start to the season to 12 league games, this despite the club embarking on a costly summer recruitment drive.
Despite fans calling for Hughes to be sacked, QPR owner Tony Fernandes has vowed to stick by the 49-year-old – at least until this weekend’s clash with United.
Already facing the daunting prospect of a United stung by their shock defeat to Norwich, QPR’s task has been made doubly harder by the news Ferguson has omitted a host of first-team regulars for his side’s Champions League trip to Galatasary on Wednesday.
United travel to Istanbul – otherwise known as ‘hell’ – 19 years after their first excursion to Turkey in their debut season in the Champions League.
But they do so without key men including Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Antonio Valencia, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra, who have all been given the night off.
David De Gea and veteran duo Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs also miss the trip as Ferguson has instead opted for youthful squad featuring the likes of Scott Wootton and Nick Powell.
United have already secured top spot in Group H after four wins from four, and so Ferguson is taking the opportunity to blood one or two youngsters in the intimidating atmosphere of the Aslantepe ArenA.
United were greeted with banners reading ‘welcome to hell’ when they made their first visit to the Turkish capital in November 1993 – a night which saw hundreds of United fans arrested and a mass brawl ensue after a 0-0 draw.
Former defender Gary Pallister was a member of that squad who made the trip and even now he cannot quite believe what he witnessed all those years ago.
“It was very intimidating I have never experienced anything like it in my life,” the 47-year-old said. “They let the supporters in at the airport at Istanbul when our plane landed and we were greeted with all the ‘Welcome to Hell’ banners – it was unnerving to say the very least.
“I remember we were staying in this beautiful place on the Bosphorus. I was the last off the bus carrying my kit and was maybe 30 yards behind the rest of the lads as they were going to check in.
“One of the bell boys was standing by the door and I smiled at him and he ran his finger across his throat. I carried on walking thinking we are not safe in the hotel.
“The whole stay was about intimidation: we had the coach windows put through and Peter (Schmeichel) had phone calls put through to his room late at night.”
Things did not improve for the side when they got to the stadium the following day for the match.
“I failed a fitness test just before the game and I was sitting in the stands with Mark Hughes and even there we didn’t feel completely safe,” the ex-Red Devils centre-back added.
“We went out on to the pitch two hours before kick-off and the noise from the stands was like the game was already going on – they were all jumping up and down, shouting and singing.
“That was a great, incredible atmosphere. It was just the shenanigans that surrounded it that made it so unpleasant.”
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