Hughes defends City spending record

04 August 2010 08:29
Mark Hughes has defended his spending record at Manchester City, insisting he had no say over the transfer fees paid for players.[LNB] Mega-rich City splashed out more than £200million during Hughes' 18 months as manager before he was sacked in December.[LNB]Hughes, who was officially unveiled as Fulham boss on Tuesday after signing a two-year contract, can understand those who judge his time at Eastlands based on transfer fees paid.[LNB]But the 46-year-old insists he had no direct input into the figures and revealed what many suspect about the inner-workings at Eastlands when it comes to buying players.[LNB]He said: "Actually, the amounts paid weren't really directly influenced by me, I would suggest.[LNB]"On some occasions at City, in fairness, players were presented to me which I didn't really have a direct input in.[LNB]"But you get a phone call and somebody says, 'would you like Robinho?'[LNB]"As a manager you say, 'well, yeah - I would'.[LNB]"But whether or not the situation like that was correct in terms of timing and the development of the club at that stage, that's open to debate."[LNB]Indeed, Hughes claims they were ill-prepared for the sudden influx of Sheikh Mansour's billions when they were taken over almost two years ago.[LNB]City were transformed overnight from virtual paupers under Thaksin Shinawatra's ownership to one of the richest clubs in the world when Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group investment vehicle bought them in September 2008.[LNB]Hughes has lifted the lid on the transition between the reigns of Shinawatra and Mansour.[LNB]He said: "People forget, there was a huge amount of turmoil and change when the huge money came in - and that causes problems of its own.[LNB]"Prior to that, we were looking to deals because there was no money whatsoever towards the end of Thaksin Shinawatra's reign.[LNB]"We were trying to do deals where we were selling the likes of (Vedran) Corluka for £12million to get somebody else in for £6million.[LNB]"That's what we had to do and obviously it was difficult times.[LNB]"Once the money from the Middle East came in then, all of a sudden, expectation rose very, very quickly and it was difficult to match those expectations short-term because, in all honesty, the playing staff and the infrastructure and the quality of people around the club wasn't as it should be.[LNB]"And it was quite a shock for me initially when I went into Man City, to be perfectly honest."[LNB]Hughes was sacked just before Christmas, 15 months after Mansour's takeover.[LNB]He has piled the pressure on successor Roberto Mancini by claiming the latter had no excuse for failing to challenge for the Premier League this season.[LNB]Hughes also declared he would have secured Champions League football last term - something his successor failed to do - and insisted nobody could have done as good a job as he did during his 18 months in charge.[LNB]He insists he is not bitter about his demise but has no doubt he would have achieved the target set by the Manchester club's owners had he been given the chance.

Source: Team_Talk