Mark Hughes believes Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce should be rated as
one of the contenders to be the next England manager.
Hughes' Blackburn side travel to City tomorrow aiming to prove a point against
Pearce's side, who have had plenty of plaudits this season but who are only
three points ahead of the until recently much-maligned Rovers.
Both sides are among of group of teams nurturing ambitions of Europe - a
contrast from this time last season when Blackburn were bottom of the table and
only started to turn things around with a 1-1 draw at the City of Manchester
Stadium.
That also heralded a slump in City's fortunes that continued until Pearce
replaced Kevin Keegan.
Hughes said: "Stuart has come in and has grabbed the opportunity. Initially
when he was given the job maybe he was thought of as a stop-gap until possibly a
bigger name came along, but he has made an impact and in the end they couldn't
take the job away from him.
"He has continued in the same vein and has had a real impact on the football
club.
"When the England job becomes available I would imagine there will be a
number of managers put forward and I'm sure if he continues to work well and
have success he will be one of those names in that group.
"But that could be a couple of years away and perhaps he would prefer to stay
for another few years at his club before going into international management."
Hughes will not call on his two Australian players Lucas Neill and Brett
Emerton for tomorrow's Barclays Premiership match.
He believes the pair need time to recover from their trip to Uruguay and
Australia last week when they secured qualification for the World Cup.
Hughes added: "I made the decision quite early with regard to Lucas and
Brett. I just feel that with the games they've been involved in and all the
travelling they have done it is too much to expect them to perform in a
high-profile Premier League game.
"It would open them up to the possibility of injury, so it is a chance for
someone else to come in and make an impact.
"The international break came at a unfortunate time for us. We have been
playing exceptionally well, and after the result against Charlton you want the
games to come thick and fast.
"The important thing now is to get everybody back and fit and to go into the
game at City with the approach and attitude we had against Charlton."
Ryan Nelsen is expected to return at centre-back after injury, as are Robbie
Savage and Michael Gray.
Zurab Khizanishvili could move over from centre-back to Neill's right-back
spot and Steven Reid come in for Emerton in midfield.
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