The previous former Manchester United player who managed Manchester City was a big success. Steve Coppell resigned in 1996 after only 33 days in charge, knocking 11 days off Brian Clough's record at Leeds United.

We were in whatever the second division was called at the time (probably the first division) and Coppell emerged from his sojourn looking as if he had been asked to build the bridge on the River Kwai single-handed using only Georgi Kinkladze as raw materials. Within six weeks he had obtained a doctor's sicknote and been sent back to manage Crystal Palace until he recovered.

It is possible that Thaksin Shinawatra's capture of Mark Hughes is part of a fiendishly clever plot to employ all the United players who have made us miserable over the years and reduce them to the same skeletal frame with which Coppell emerged blinking into the Manchester rain.

Hughes presents a far tougher challenge. After all, in derby matches the crowd in the Kippax unaffectionately referred to him as “Fat Arse” and reducing him to the shape of an X-ray will take more than merely substituting Thai food for Lancashire hotpot in the staff canteen.

He is a respected manager, though, and the appointment may at least stop the haemorrhaging of good players. The e-mail inboxes and phone lines of City supporters have been filled with references to the possibility of Richard Dunne, Micah Richards, Joe Hart, Michael Johnson and Stephen Ireland leaving. At least if Hughes is the manager they will not go without receiving the sort of kicking he gave defenders for 20 years.

Hughes's fearsome reputation was a significant factor in allowing Gianfranco Zola to grace Stamford Bridge for many years. If he performs a similar role at City and allows the fruit of the academy vine to blossom, we will have much to thank him for. But unless he wins the title and the Nobel Prize for Literature by the end of next season, he will be deemed a failure and, frankly, he has a better chance of landing the latter than the former.

So after Hughes, who? Steve Bruce? Darren Ferguson? Surely not Bryan Robson. We can only hope that when Ferguson Sr is put out to stud with his horses that the Glazers will replace him with Steve Daley.

*Colin Shindler is the author of Manchester United Ruined My Life