On his first official press conference as new Fulham boss, Mark Hughes lambasted his former employers, Manchester City, and aired out his frustrations about his short tenure at Eastlands.
Hughes was sacked last December and replaced by Roberto Mancini, who still failed to get City into the Champions League and had to settle for Europa League football. Hughes was asked whether he would have got City into the Champions League and he said, “Yes I would. I agreed to the targets at the beginning of the season, which was to get to sixth position. I agreed to that because I thought we could over-achieve. I thought fifth, possibly fourth was very, very achievable.“.
Hughes also ripped into the higher authority at Eastlands, saying he was keen to get back into direct management after some of his managerial powers were stripped off him at Man City. “On some occasions at City players were presented to me which I didn’t really have a direct input on. But if you get a call and someone says ‘Would you like Robinho?’ then, as a manager, I have to say ‘Yes I would’. Whether a situation like that was correct in terms of timing, that’s open to debate“.
Hughes has definitely lit the fire with his former employers and it will be interesting to hear what City officials have to say on the matter. For now, Hughes is keen to concentrate on his new side and his priorities must be to bring in a new striker, he openly admits. Bobby Zamora only scored 8 goals last season and was the top scorer. Hughes will also look to fend off the interest of Arsenal and maintain star ‘keeper Mark Schwarzer.
