JOSE Enrique ranks Chris Hughton as the best manager he has played under at Newcastle - classing him as a cut above Kevin Keegan, Alan Shearer and the man who brought him to Tyneside Sam Allardyce.
Allardyce paid £6.3m to sign Spanish defender Enrique from Villarreal in the summer of 2007, and the 24-year-old has outlasted Big Sam, Keegan, Shearer, Joe Kinnear and caretaker-boss Nigel Pearson at St James’s Park.
Enrique’s consistent form made him a key figure in Newcastle’s Championship title-winning campaign last season, as Hughton steered the Magpies back into the Premier League at the first attempt. Enrique rates low-profile coach-turned-manager Hughton as the best boss he has worked under, ahead of those big-names who came and went before, and insists the former Republic of Ireland will prove his worth in the top flight next season.
“He said: “Chris Hughton is the best manager I have worked under since I have been here. There have been some very famous names, but it is not always about that.
“As a player Alan Shearer was unbelievable here. Of course, he was only here for seven weeks or so and you cannot really decide how good someone is in that short period of time. I cannot say
anything against him. No-one really knows what kind of manager Alan Shearer is because he spent just seven weeks with us.
“Chris has had one season and has grown into the job. People who say he will not be as good a manager in the Premier League are being unfair. Why not?
“The club want him to stay, he is very keen to stay and the players want to work with Chris next season.
“Everyone was so happy when he was given the manager’s job on a permanent basis because it was so well deserved and he is the man to take charge of this club in the Premier League.”
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