Hughton is a nice man, honourable and honest; even the most extreme Hughton-outers doesn't deny this.
So if he says he was surprised, he was surprised. Can't believe how many people are getting their knickers in a twist trying to 'prove' to the rest of us he wasn't surprised, or shouldn't have...
Staying up IS a stat, and it is a function of us getting more points than three other teams. Any other analysis is something from cloud cuckoo land, probably requiring tin-foil headgear.
I thought CH was here for the long haul, to build his dynasty a la Fergie/Wenger/Shankly etc., so I was surprised when he was sacked. NSC in general was surprised - even the gist of the typical Hughton-outer post was 'Hughton must go - but Bloom won't sack him'. The appearance of a Potter thread...