"Mark Hughes ready for the challenge laid out by Manchester City's new owners
Tim Rich
Midway through last season, Steve Bruce, who found himself working for a mere multi-millionaire at Wigan, argued that no young British manager was likely to be placed in charge of a truly big Premier League club again. Yesterday, a 44-year-old from Ruabon, Wrexham – a man Sir Alex Ferguson was convinced would never make a manager – sat in his surprisingly modest office and contemplated being in charge of the wealthiest football club in the world.
"I've had pressure all my career both as a player and a manager," Mark Hughes said. "To differing degrees, in fairness, but there is pressure to win games irrespective of what club you are at and what resources you have. Obviously, the degree of expectation changes but that doesn't faze me at all."
On the frantic first day of September, the final day of the transfer window, Hughes confessed he had a blurred idea of precisely who his new owners from Abu Dhabi were looking to sign. "They wanted to make a statement," he said. "It was the first day of Ramadan and they wanted to make a real impact, not just on the people of Manchester but on the world. They wanted to get someone in who would make people sit up and take notice.
"We tried to get bids on the table to make people think very seriously if they were prepared to let these players go. In the end, we got a great player through the door in Robinho. They have big plans for the club and they are not going to hang about. They want us to get there as quickly as possible and we will try to make that happen – that is my job."
Hughes predicted that the January transfer window would be "an exciting time for everyone here", and when reminded of Pele's remark that in Robinho they had bought a mentally fragile footballer, he smiled. "If Pele understood what we are trying to do and where we are trying to go, and he were still a player, he would have thought of joining us as well," he said.
Yet Hughes added that City would only be going for players "whom we think we can get". So there is unlikely to be a £135 million offer for Cristiano Ronaldo or an outrageous bid for Kaka in three months' time. Ruud van Nistelrooy, who sources at Real Madrid claimed City were keener to sign than Robinho, said yesterday that he preferred to remain at the Bernabeu.
Hughes expects Manchester City to take big steps but they will be measured ones. In Shaun Wright-Phillips, Micah Richards, Michael Johnson and Vincent Kompany, he has a core of good young footballers around whom to add the galactico window-dressing.
"I have always been a great believer that you need players who have a real feeling, an empathy for the club. If you have that right throughout the club then that can sustain you," Hughes said. "We now have the means to go out and buy top, top players but we are not going to forsake the work the academy does."
However, billionaire owners bring their own demands. Just ask Kevin Keegan. Hughes, however, backs himself to endure.
"There was always frustration at Blackburn because I had built a team where I knew there were weaknesses but didn't have the resources to address them," he said. "There are weaknesses at Manchester City, but now I am in a position to address them any time I want."
"Now City can be bigger than the Big Four, warns Hughes
In the next few days Mark Hughes intends to visit Abu Dhabi to meet Manchester City's new billionaire owners and, if everything we have learned about Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim and his friends is true, he will be flying on a private jet, a presidential convoy of blacked-out limousines will be waiting at the airport and his hotel suite will be the kind of six-star luxury where even the Jacuzzi taps are chiselled from gold.
It is a far cry from the skinflint world that Manchester City used to know. Yet this is the way it is going to be at a club that can now be described, without fear of contradiction, as the richest on the planet - a club, lest it be forgotten, where it was not long ago that players had to put up without hot water in the dressing rooms and Niall Quinn remembers asking for basic necessities, such as a pair of new boots, being "like drawing blood from a stone".
For City, it has been the first step into a brave new world and, for Hughes, the craziest week of his professional life. "Agents never used to call me when I was at Blackburn because they knew we did not have the funds," he said. "Now, all of a sudden, I'm every-agent-in-the-land's new best friend."
Hughes was in good humour, holding court from behind his desk at City's training ground, and if there was one thing that came across it was that he was determined to embrace the new regime rather than worrying about the fact ultra-rich businessmen are not usually known for their patience.
"I've had pressure all my career, as a player and a manager," he said. "There's always pressure to win games, irrespective of what club you're at and what resources you have, so that doesn't change. Obviously the degree of expectation changes, but that doesn't really faze me. In fact, it doesn't faze me at all.
"I've been working in the Premier League for four years, it's the hardest league in the world and, in fairness, I did an exceptional job at my last club. I know I'm good at what I do and that's not me just blowing smoke up my own arse.
"The difference is that there was always frustration at Blackburn because there were weaknesses that I couldn't address due to not having the financial resources. There are weaknesses in my current team, too, but I'm in a position now to address them any time I want."
All of which was very apparent on transfer deadline day when it is difficult to look at the list of players City tried to sign - Dimitar Berbatov, Ruud van Nistelrooy, David Villa, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar are only four of the ones who are known about - without inhaling deeply.
"The owners wanted to make a statement and we tried to make the kind of bids to make people think very seriously about letting players go," said Hughes. "We didn't just pick names out of the sky. These were players we thought there was a real possibility we could get. It was a really important day for the owners, they wanted to come in and make a real impact, not only on the people of Manchester but the entire football world. They wanted to get someone in that would make people sit up and take notice and, in the end, they did exactly that and got a great player through the door."
In three days of business, more than 2,000 City supporters have already had Robinho's name emblazoned on their replica shirts. Pele, however, has questioned whether Robinho "needs serious counselling" to want to play for City. "Maybe Pele is not in full possession of the facts about what we are trying to do here," Hughes countered. "If he did understand, and he was still a player, maybe he would have thought about joining us as well."
City, according to Al Fahim, will bid £135m for Cristiano Ronaldo in the January transfer window, as well as offering £50m-plus for Fernando Torres of Liverpool and Cesc Fábregas of Arsenal. Hughes has misgivings whether the top English clubs will want do business with City - "some will be more receptive than others," he says - but he believes Robinho's arrival makes the club a "more attractive proposition" to potential signings.
Berbatov turned down City because he was "in a different stage in his career, in his late 20s, and wants to play in the Champions League very quickly". But eventually Hughes sees City being "bigger than the Big Four" and he smiled when he was asked whether he had spoken to Sir Alex Ferguson since trying to sign Berbatov from under Manchester United's nose? "No," he replied. "It was the other way round, wasn't it?"
Three days after his life and English football were turned upside down, Mark Hughes stated his confidence yesterday that Manchester City can infiltrate the Barclays Premier League's “big four”, but urged the club's prospective new owners to trust his judgment in the transfer market rather than adopt a scattergun approach.
Hughes is adjusting to the new reality of life at City, a club transformed into possibly the richest in the world by the imminent £200million takeover by the royal family of Abu Dhabi. The planned takeover, along with the British record £34.2million deal to sign Robinho from Real Madrid on Monday, has sent tremors through the sport, but Hughes, the manager, believes that he can help the al-Nahyan family to fulfil their grandiose ambitions for the club, provided that they allow him a say on transfer policy.
In a week when Alan Curbishley and Kevin Keegan have left their positions at West Ham United and Newcastle United respectively because of frustration at being unable to control transfer policy, Hughes would be forgiven for regarding City's newfound wealth as a double-edged sword. The members of the Abu Dhabi group had barely got their feet under the table in the City boardroom on Monday when they fired off bids for not only Robinho but also Ruud van Nistelrooy, David Villa and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, to name but three, while Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim, who is fronting the bid, has since talked of making Manchester United a £135million offer for Cristiano Ronaldo in January and trying to sign Cesc Fàbregas from Arsenal and Fernando Torres from Liverpool.
Hughes knows that he will not be in sole control of transfer policy, as he was in his previous job at Blackburn Rovers, but he hopes and expects to be able to work with the al-Nahyan family towards a common goal. “In days gone by managers worked in a different way to the way they work now,” Hughes said. “If you understand that and you understand where the business side overlaps with the football side and you understand the owners' point of view - and equally they have to understand where you're coming from and respect you - you can avoid disruption and dispute. You have to work together. Everyone wants the same goal, from the business side to the football side to the fans. The goal is success.
Royal billions are just a start for City
“We will target players. But you can only play 11 players at any given time. We need to look at the balance of the squad because we have to have the right players in the right positions to be a strong team that will compete.”
The pressures on City were underlined yesterday when Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, suggested that they should be in contention to win the Premier League title this season and Ryan Giggs, Hughes's former Manchester United and Wales team-mate, said that it would “take decades” for City to emerge from the shadow of their neighbours. Hughes accepts that the prospective new owners are fiercely ambitious, but he feels that he is strong enough to cope.
“The new owners have got big plans and they are not going to hang about,” Hughes said. “They want to get there as quickly as possible and we will try to make that happen. I know money doesn't guarantee you success. Look at Chelsea. Yes, they have won the Premier League, but they have not won the Champions League. It's a big ask.
“But it is not something we will shy away from. I have had pressure throughout my career and that really doesn't faze me. The potential is here to be a huge club. If that, in the future, means being bigger than the teams in the top four at the minute, then so be it. At the moment we are a long way from the level of top four, but it will not stop us from being ambitious - and that means winning trophies.”
Hughes says that it is his 'understanding that I recommend players and they see if they can get them'
The whiteboard in Mark Hughes' office looks like the possession of a fantasy league manager. Among the neatly typed stickers which adorn it, listing the players with whom Hughes thought he would be entering the season, are last-minute names scribbled in blue marker-pen: "Wright-Phillips", "Robinho". Hughes knows the events of the past four days have bordered on the ridiculous and is in touch with reality enough to see through the sheer madness of all this.
Any thoughts on Pele's assertion that Robinho was misguided in choosing City over Chelsea? "If he understood where we are trying to get maybe when he was a player he'd have thought about joining us as well." Any talk with Sir Alex Ferguson about City's attempt to pinch Dimitar Berbatov from United? "It's the other way around, isn't it?"
The row over Robinho's decision to choose Manchester City over Chelsea continued last night as the Chelsea manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, accused the player's advisers of being "more interested in the best business deal" by persuading him to become Britain's highest-paid footballer on £160,000 a week at Eastlands. "He's a very good player. I only wish him the best," Scolari said.
Yes, Hughes says, City really did bid for six or seven players on Monday – all at once. David Villa, Mario Gomez, reportedly Ruud van Nistelrooy and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar could also have made it on to the Hughes whiteboard. That is a serious number of strikers. "We didn't just pick names out of the sky and think we'll go for them," Hughes said. "There was speculation surrounding those players up to the close of the window."
Faxed offers flooding out of Abu Dhabi on Monday, while Hughes sought refuge in a charity golf day, made it look like new proprietors Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim and Abu Dhabi's Al-Nahayan royal family were picking a dream team – though Hughes suggested it was otherwise.
Was he asked by the Arabs for help in drawing up a list? "It was something like that." Hughes adds that it is his "understanding – and it has to be – that I recommend players and they see if they can get them," but there is a sense, in the wry smile as he predicts that, "I'm sure January will be an exciting time for everyone again", that he is prepared to give reign to the owners' desires.
"We were on the last day of the window and they wanted to make a statement," he said of Monday's events. "It was a really important day for them, the first day of Ramadan, and they wanted to come in and make a real impact, not only on the people of Manchester, but on the world itself, and they've certainly done that."
He also accepts that the old autonomy managers enjoyed has gone. "[You have to] understand where the business side overlaps with the football side, understand the owners' point of view," he said.
Torygraph
"Mark Hughes ready for the challenge laid out by Manchester City's new owners
Tim Rich
Midway through last season, Steve Bruce, who found himself working for a mere multi-millionaire at Wigan, argued that no young British manager was likely to be placed in charge of a truly big Premier League club again. Yesterday, a 44-year-old from Ruabon, Wrexham – a man Sir Alex Ferguson was convinced would never make a manager – sat in his surprisingly modest office and contemplated being in charge of the wealthiest football club in the world.
"I've had pressure all my career both as a player and a manager," Mark Hughes said. "To differing degrees, in fairness, but there is pressure to win games irrespective of what club you are at and what resources you have. Obviously, the degree of expectation changes but that doesn't faze me at all."
On the frantic first day of September, the final day of the transfer window, Hughes confessed he had a blurred idea of precisely who his new owners from Abu Dhabi were looking to sign. "They wanted to make a statement," he said. "It was the first day of Ramadan and they wanted to make a real impact, not just on the people of Manchester but on the world. They wanted to get someone in who would make people sit up and take notice.
"We tried to get bids on the table to make people think very seriously if they were prepared to let these players go. In the end, we got a great player through the door in Robinho. They have big plans for the club and they are not going to hang about. They want us to get there as quickly as possible and we will try to make that happen – that is my job."
Hughes predicted that the January transfer window would be "an exciting time for everyone here", and when reminded of Pele's remark that in Robinho they had bought a mentally fragile footballer, he smiled. "If Pele understood what we are trying to do and where we are trying to go, and he were still a player, he would have thought of joining us as well," he said.
Yet Hughes added that City would only be going for players "whom we think we can get". So there is unlikely to be a £135 million offer for Cristiano Ronaldo or an outrageous bid for Kaka in three months' time. Ruud van Nistelrooy, who sources at Real Madrid claimed City were keener to sign than Robinho, said yesterday that he preferred to remain at the Bernabeu.
Hughes expects Manchester City to take big steps but they will be measured ones. In Shaun Wright-Phillips, Micah Richards, Michael Johnson and Vincent Kompany, he has a core of good young footballers around whom to add the galactico window-dressing.
"I have always been a great believer that you need players who have a real feeling, an empathy for the club. If you have that right throughout the club then that can sustain you," Hughes said. "We now have the means to go out and buy top, top players but we are not going to forsake the work the academy does."
However, billionaire owners bring their own demands. Just ask Kevin Keegan. Hughes, however, backs himself to endure.
"There was always frustration at Blackburn because I had built a team where I knew there were weaknesses but didn't have the resources to address them," he said. "There are weaknesses at Manchester City, but now I am in a position to address them any time I want."
............................................................................................
and the Grauniad
"Now City can be bigger than the Big Four, warns Hughes
In the next few days Mark Hughes intends to visit Abu Dhabi to meet Manchester City's new billionaire owners and, if everything we have learned about Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim and his friends is true, he will be flying on a private jet, a presidential convoy of blacked-out limousines will be waiting at the airport and his hotel suite will be the kind of six-star luxury where even the Jacuzzi taps are chiselled from gold.
It is a far cry from the skinflint world that Manchester City used to know. Yet this is the way it is going to be at a club that can now be described, without fear of contradiction, as the richest on the planet - a club, lest it be forgotten, where it was not long ago that players had to put up without hot water in the dressing rooms and Niall Quinn remembers asking for basic necessities, such as a pair of new boots, being "like drawing blood from a stone".
For City, it has been the first step into a brave new world and, for Hughes, the craziest week of his professional life. "Agents never used to call me when I was at Blackburn because they knew we did not have the funds," he said. "Now, all of a sudden, I'm every-agent-in-the-land's new best friend."
Hughes was in good humour, holding court from behind his desk at City's training ground, and if there was one thing that came across it was that he was determined to embrace the new regime rather than worrying about the fact ultra-rich businessmen are not usually known for their patience.
"I've had pressure all my career, as a player and a manager," he said. "There's always pressure to win games, irrespective of what club you're at and what resources you have, so that doesn't change. Obviously the degree of expectation changes, but that doesn't really faze me. In fact, it doesn't faze me at all.
"I've been working in the Premier League for four years, it's the hardest league in the world and, in fairness, I did an exceptional job at my last club. I know I'm good at what I do and that's not me just blowing smoke up my own arse.
"The difference is that there was always frustration at Blackburn because there were weaknesses that I couldn't address due to not having the financial resources. There are weaknesses in my current team, too, but I'm in a position now to address them any time I want."
All of which was very apparent on transfer deadline day when it is difficult to look at the list of players City tried to sign - Dimitar Berbatov, Ruud van Nistelrooy, David Villa, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar are only four of the ones who are known about - without inhaling deeply.
"The owners wanted to make a statement and we tried to make the kind of bids to make people think very seriously about letting players go," said Hughes. "We didn't just pick names out of the sky. These were players we thought there was a real possibility we could get. It was a really important day for the owners, they wanted to come in and make a real impact, not only on the people of Manchester but the entire football world. They wanted to get someone in that would make people sit up and take notice and, in the end, they did exactly that and got a great player through the door."
In three days of business, more than 2,000 City supporters have already had Robinho's name emblazoned on their replica shirts. Pele, however, has questioned whether Robinho "needs serious counselling" to want to play for City. "Maybe Pele is not in full possession of the facts about what we are trying to do here," Hughes countered. "If he did understand, and he was still a player, maybe he would have thought about joining us as well."
City, according to Al Fahim, will bid £135m for Cristiano Ronaldo in the January transfer window, as well as offering £50m-plus for Fernando Torres of Liverpool and Cesc Fábregas of Arsenal. Hughes has misgivings whether the top English clubs will want do business with City - "some will be more receptive than others," he says - but he believes Robinho's arrival makes the club a "more attractive proposition" to potential signings.
Berbatov turned down City because he was "in a different stage in his career, in his late 20s, and wants to play in the Champions League very quickly". But eventually Hughes sees City being "bigger than the Big Four" and he smiled when he was asked whether he had spoken to Sir Alex Ferguson since trying to sign Berbatov from under Manchester United's nose? "No," he replied. "It was the other way round, wasn't it?"
.......................................................................................
Daily Murdoch
"Mark Hughes asks City buyers to back his vision
Oliver Kay
Three days after his life and English football were turned upside down, Mark Hughes stated his confidence yesterday that Manchester City can infiltrate the Barclays Premier League's “big four”, but urged the club's prospective new owners to trust his judgment in the transfer market rather than adopt a scattergun approach.
Hughes is adjusting to the new reality of life at City, a club transformed into possibly the richest in the world by the imminent £200million takeover by the royal family of Abu Dhabi. The planned takeover, along with the British record £34.2million deal to sign Robinho from Real Madrid on Monday, has sent tremors through the sport, but Hughes, the manager, believes that he can help the al-Nahyan family to fulfil their grandiose ambitions for the club, provided that they allow him a say on transfer policy.
In a week when Alan Curbishley and Kevin Keegan have left their positions at West Ham United and Newcastle United respectively because of frustration at being unable to control transfer policy, Hughes would be forgiven for regarding City's newfound wealth as a double-edged sword. The members of the Abu Dhabi group had barely got their feet under the table in the City boardroom on Monday when they fired off bids for not only Robinho but also Ruud van Nistelrooy, David Villa and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, to name but three, while Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim, who is fronting the bid, has since talked of making Manchester United a £135million offer for Cristiano Ronaldo in January and trying to sign Cesc Fàbregas from Arsenal and Fernando Torres from Liverpool.
Hughes knows that he will not be in sole control of transfer policy, as he was in his previous job at Blackburn Rovers, but he hopes and expects to be able to work with the al-Nahyan family towards a common goal. “In days gone by managers worked in a different way to the way they work now,” Hughes said. “If you understand that and you understand where the business side overlaps with the football side and you understand the owners' point of view - and equally they have to understand where you're coming from and respect you - you can avoid disruption and dispute. You have to work together. Everyone wants the same goal, from the business side to the football side to the fans. The goal is success.
Royal billions are just a start for City
“We will target players. But you can only play 11 players at any given time. We need to look at the balance of the squad because we have to have the right players in the right positions to be a strong team that will compete.”
The pressures on City were underlined yesterday when Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, suggested that they should be in contention to win the Premier League title this season and Ryan Giggs, Hughes's former Manchester United and Wales team-mate, said that it would “take decades” for City to emerge from the shadow of their neighbours. Hughes accepts that the prospective new owners are fiercely ambitious, but he feels that he is strong enough to cope.
“The new owners have got big plans and they are not going to hang about,” Hughes said. “They want to get there as quickly as possible and we will try to make that happen. I know money doesn't guarantee you success. Look at Chelsea. Yes, they have won the Premier League, but they have not won the Champions League. It's a big ask.
“But it is not something we will shy away from. I have had pressure throughout my career and that really doesn't faze me. The potential is here to be a huge club. If that, in the future, means being bigger than the teams in the top four at the minute, then so be it. At the moment we are a long way from the level of top four, but it will not stop us from being ambitious - and that means winning trophies.”
..............................................................................
Indy
Just wait for January, says Hughes
By Ian Herbert
Friday, 5 September 2008
Hughes says that it is his 'understanding that I recommend players and they see if they can get them'
The whiteboard in Mark Hughes' office looks like the possession of a fantasy league manager. Among the neatly typed stickers which adorn it, listing the players with whom Hughes thought he would be entering the season, are last-minute names scribbled in blue marker-pen: "Wright-Phillips", "Robinho". Hughes knows the events of the past four days have bordered on the ridiculous and is in touch with reality enough to see through the sheer madness of all this.
Any thoughts on Pele's assertion that Robinho was misguided in choosing City over Chelsea? "If he understood where we are trying to get maybe when he was a player he'd have thought about joining us as well." Any talk with Sir Alex Ferguson about City's attempt to pinch Dimitar Berbatov from United? "It's the other way around, isn't it?"
The row over Robinho's decision to choose Manchester City over Chelsea continued last night as the Chelsea manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, accused the player's advisers of being "more interested in the best business deal" by persuading him to become Britain's highest-paid footballer on £160,000 a week at Eastlands. "He's a very good player. I only wish him the best," Scolari said.
Yes, Hughes says, City really did bid for six or seven players on Monday – all at once. David Villa, Mario Gomez, reportedly Ruud van Nistelrooy and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar could also have made it on to the Hughes whiteboard. That is a serious number of strikers. "We didn't just pick names out of the sky and think we'll go for them," Hughes said. "There was speculation surrounding those players up to the close of the window."
Faxed offers flooding out of Abu Dhabi on Monday, while Hughes sought refuge in a charity golf day, made it look like new proprietors Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim and Abu Dhabi's Al-Nahayan royal family were picking a dream team – though Hughes suggested it was otherwise.
Was he asked by the Arabs for help in drawing up a list? "It was something like that." Hughes adds that it is his "understanding – and it has to be – that I recommend players and they see if they can get them," but there is a sense, in the wry smile as he predicts that, "I'm sure January will be an exciting time for everyone again", that he is prepared to give reign to the owners' desires.
"We were on the last day of the window and they wanted to make a statement," he said of Monday's events. "It was a really important day for them, the first day of Ramadan, and they wanted to come in and make a real impact, not only on the people of Manchester, but on the world itself, and they've certainly done that."
He also accepts that the old autonomy managers enjoyed has gone. "[You have to] understand where the business side overlaps with the football side, understand the owners' point of view," he said.
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