I guess it comes down to how they used whatever resources at their disposal. Did they deliver in excess of what they should have or par? Did they overachieve or underachieve?
Hughes has improved all the sides he has managed and left them in a better state than he found them. Whether that's been on minimal resources (Blackburn/Fulham) or mental Man Citeh finance. Admittedly he doesn't yet have a few Mickey Mouse Scottish cups on his CV or a hallowed LC. But I'll wager that he'll finish his management career with at least a few more medals added to the ones he secured as player. For a club such as ours, if you wait until such times as they've actually achieved, they are either out of reach or you're getting them on the way down, when they've already peaked. The key -if at all possible- is to catch them on the way up.
McLeish took over a yo yo club and was there at a time when they've had more finance available than they've ever had previously. They've easily outspent the majority of the teams in the lower half of the Prem. And yet they've still ended up relegated. Whilst playing dismal football to boot.
