Under-pressure Manchester City manager Mark Hughes (pic) insists he will still be at the helm come the January transfer window to take advantage of the club’s financial might. City’s takeover by the Abu Dhabi United consortium earlier this season left them as one of the world’s wealthiest clubs — a point they proved with the British record £32mil capture of Brazil star Robinho on the Sept 1 transfer deadline day.
But Sunday’s 2-1 defeat away to basement club West Bromwich Albion dropped City into the English Premier League relegation zone after a run which had seen them take just five points from their last nine matches.
However former Wales and Blackburn Rovers manager Hughes stressed he’d be given assurances by chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and owner Sheikh Mansour that he would still be in charge at Eastlands next month.
And Hughes said that while he wanted to build for the long-term, City’s immediate plight would see him try to sign new players in January.
“I think everyone understands there are certain areas of the squad which need strengthening and we will look to address those in the window,” he said.
“We need to make sure we are positive, get the right players in that will have an immediate impact and, if we can do that, very quickly we will move forward.
“I think there is a big project and a big plan here for the club moving forward and people understand that.
“We are not going to be able to change the culture and the mindset and the philosophy right through the club overnight,” said Hughes, who saw his former Manchester United team-mate and Rovers successor Paul Ince sacked last week after just 17 league games in charge.
Hughes admitted the increasingly high-profile of City, caused by the takeover, may have been hard to handle for some of his Eastlands squad.
“We have to be able to understand that the focus that is placed on Manchester City at this time is huge and probably bigger than it has ever been in Manchester City’s history,” he said.
“Some people will be able to deal with that and other people will struggle with that focus.
“If, in the future, we are able to make sure good players come to club, it becomes a positive focus. At the moment it is a negative focus because we are in the bottom three which we didn’t anticipate.”
Sila like page Blog Liga Malaysia di Facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment