Source: Team_Talk
Hughes feels 'ready' for Hibs test
Hughes was unveiled on Wednesday as the manager of the club he supported as a boy and went on to captain towards the end of the 1990s.
During his six years in charge of Falkirk, the 44-year-old's achievements included winning the First Division title, establishing the side in the Scottish Premier League and reaching last month's Homecoming Scottish Cup final.
All that failed to prevent his position coming under threat earlier this year when members of fan group the Bairns Trust wrote an open letter to then-chairman Campbell Christie demanding the manager's removal.
Falkirk were adrift at the foot of the SPL at the time but Hughes masterminded a successful survival bid, thereby transforming the club's season into one of the best in their history.
Hughes knows there may be moments during his three-year contract at Hibs when he will be put through the wringer again but he reckons he has proven he can take the heat.
He said: "There'll be times when I'll have to put my tin hat on and have to have skin as thick as a rhino. That's part and parcel of the job.
"That's why that last year at Falkirk was a great experience for me, because there was plenty of flak flying about.
"But we came through it and that was possibly the final hurdle I had to cross for me to show everybody that I can handle that side of it as well."
That may explain why Hughes refused to make bold predictions
about how far he can take Hibs during his tenure.
"It would be foolish of me to put that sort of pressure on myself and on players," he said. "Those expectations can be very, very dangerous.
"What we'll do is just work away and see where it takes us."
Expectations will depend on Hughes' ability to cling on to star men Steven Fletcher and Rob Jones as well as the quality of players he is able to lure to the club.
Hughes, though, insisted he would not hold it against any player who had a valid reason for wanting to opt out of his Easter Road revolution.
He said: "I'm not a guy who says, 'You're not doing this' or 'You're not going there', and you have to be like that," he said.
"That's the kind of style I have as a man manager; I'm in it with my players.
"Saying that, I'm not one to shy away from confrontation or anything like that, and I run a tight ship - that's the way it should be.
"They'll enjoy working with me and they'll be plenty of humour, plenty of fun and they'll love the training."
Hughes has repeatedly laughed off suggestions he and Hibs chairman Rod Petrie did not get on, but he revealed he does have a score to settle with striker Colin Nish.
Hughes said: "The players will enjoy working with me... apart from big Nishy, because every time he played against Falkirk, he always scored against us.
"So he'd better watch himself in the seven-a-side!"
