There seems to be an attitude with some fans like Hughes was hard done-by, doing a good job and should've been allowed to stay on forevermore. He had a bigger budget than Butcher and had the club at a far higher stock, yet signed some absolute cloggers. We were always going to have an inferior team that season, yet he spent the budget (which be constantly bemoaned as being too small) on people like Dani Lopez and Liam Hughes, which were probably two of the worst players I've ever seen play for us (says a lot when Nat Wedderburn wasn't even close being his worst signing that season!). The football being played that season was also tedious, boring and actually pretty ineffective.
There's been tales of him going AWOL after the United saga and if true (and I believe they are) would be very unprofessional on his part. Things had gone stale and despite the great season the year before, it was time for a change. The issue was not Hughes leaving - it was how he was replaced.