Source: Daily_Mail
Who dares wins: Hughes set to slug it out with his old boss Ferguson
This never used to happen when Alan Ball was in charge. Or Frank Clark, Joe Royle or Kevin Keegan. Even when Sven Goran Eriksson beat Manchester United home and away, he did so while displaying the kind of deference Sir Alex Ferguson has long deserved. [LNB]But that all changed this week when the current boss of Manchester City dared to stand up to the formidable Ferguson. Dared stand up and, in a way Steve Coppell never could have imagined during his all too brief spell at Maine Road, declare himself big enough to take on Ferguson. [LNB] Head to head: Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson may not admit it, but Mark Hughes' City are capable of giving him a real headache this season[LNB]Not since Francis Lee was throwing himself theatrically to the ground to demonstrate to the referee how George Best had just dived have we seen a rivalry like this in Manchester. [LNB]On one side a bristling, snarling Ferguson. On the other a more sinister Mark Hughes. Yesterday Hughes chose to mock Ferguson behind a smile that was fooling nobody. Least of all Ferguson, who knows damn well what a hard, uncompromising individual Hughes can be. [LNB]This never used to happen when Royle would hold one press conference at Platt Lane and Ferguson would follow, a few hours later on any given Friday, at The Cliff. [LNB]They weren't just operating in different leagues in those days but in different galaxies. One club was fighting for the title, the other for survival.[LNB]Now, however, they stand as heavyweights in opposing corners of the same ring. City have class on the field as well as cash in the bank. The kind of cash even Ferguson struggles to comprehend, as he admitted when he reflected on reports of City paying a staggering £47million for Carlos Tevez. [LNB]'It doesn't smack of desperation,' he said. 'It just tells you how much money they have.' [LNB]They were extraordinary on Friday, the two scenes in the two Carrington training grounds that sit just a few hundred yards apart. Two managers who, far from defusing the row that erupted when City put up that provocative poster of Tevez, were ready to go - not in two days but right now. [LNB] The way they were: Hughes and Ferguson during their days as player and manager at Old Trafford[LNB]Ferguson began with something of a history lesson. 'Obviously, there's a lot of focus on this small game,' he said wryly. 'I was asked whether it was the biggest derby game of all time? It's difficult to say. But if you go back to the Sixties when City won the league and United won the European Cup, it must have been an incredible period in Manchester. The great teams they had then. [LNB]'In recent years City have never achieved that kind of success. But now they have bought all the players and there's an expectation which is far higher than they have had for quite some time. So it will be a real feisty game, I've no doubt about that.' [LNB]It was feisty enough yesterday, not least in the United camp where we still find a man who, while not getting any younger, is not getting any less belligerent. [LNB]Nobody appears to have told Ferguson that most people mellow with age and even if someone did, they would probably get a blast of that infamous hair dryer. [LNB]In many ways he remains an inspiration to anyone with a free bus pass as well as the younger generations. At 67, there are no signs of his powers diminishing, no evidence that he has in any way lost his competitive edge. [LNB]He was determined to 'knock Liverpool off their perch' and he will be every bit as determined to put City in their place, too. As he said so emphatically yesterday, over his dead body will City become the dominant force in Manchester football.[LNB]He acknowledged how well City have been playing. 'Four goals is a lot against Arsenal,' he said. But then he welcomed Hughes to his world. The pressure, the expectation, the need to deliver success. Even if Hughes saw it coming, Ferguson knows his words will register. [LNB]'When you spend that kind of money there's an expectation and an expectation matched with ambition and the expectation for it to become a reality,' he said. 'The squad they have is very strong - seven strikers tells you that. [LNB]'But if you talk about top four, for us it's only about being number one. That's our challenge and that won't change whether City or Liverpool, or whoever, are there.[LNB]'Winning is the name of the game, I'm afraid. I'm sure Mark Hughes realises what is entailed in this game. He did a great job at Blackburn, but now they have spent this money, he will have a sense of possible achievement. He's experienced enough to understand all that.' [LNB]Hughes seemed experienced enough to understand everything perfectly, even employing the kind of tactics that Ferguson - and managers like Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho - would recognise. That defence of the indefensible, born out of a blind loyalty that makes their players adore them and everyone else resent them. [LNB]In daring, yet again, to suggest that Emmanuel Adebayor is innocent, in trying to argue that his suspended striker did not rake his studs down the face of Robin van Persie last weekend, Hughes knows he runs the risk of City becoming a little like Chelsea were under Mourinho. Reviled rather than respected. [LNB]'All we're trying to do is make this club better and stronger,' he said. 'If that irritates people and upsets them, we can't do anything about that.' [LNB]If he irritated Ferguson yesterday, he doesn't care about that, either. [LNB]'For a long time City haven't really affected United's thinking,' he said. 'Maybe that's changed now.' [LNB]There is no maybe about it.[LNB] You're not top dog now, Fergie: Mark Hughes in Manchester derby dig at old bossMark Hughes: I came close to quitting before City's Eastlands Sheik-upKolo Toure: I sold papers and cleaned shoes so that I had food to eatJamie Redknapp: The key players in the battle of ManchesterManchester United v MANCHESTER CITY: Carlos Tevez a possibilty for derbyMANCHESTER UNITED v Manchester City: Ferdinand doubtful ahead of crunch derbyManchester City are so cocky: United boss Sir Alex Ferguson tries to spark a derby row with Mark HughesMANCHESTER UNITED FC
