mancityblues.com

Are we getting serious in the marketplace, or are things getting serious for us?

Hughes; "We have put bids on the table and some have been rejected at the level we have pitched them,"

That's understandable I suppose, Hughes keeps saying we won't be held to ransom and in any negotiation you go in with your lowest bid. As long as they are going back with a higher bid and not having doors slammed in their faces!

""I have highlighted players that I think will help and then that is taken over by Garry Cook and Paul Aldridge and they conclude the deals. Managers always want a turnover of players because new faces give everyone a lift."

A few points here, Cooke said Hughes will be the one conducting negotiations, and that they will not be dealing with agents. That aside, Aldridge and Cook are wheeling and dealing in a market they don't fully understand - not a recipe for instant success. But let's not be hasty, the window is only just opened, and January is half way through most selling club's season and clubs are understandably reluctant to let good players go. It's fair to say, however, they HAVE had the past five months to get things started!

Hughes; "The targets and the areas we feel we need to strengthen still stand true after what happened at the weekend in the FA Cup. We have not swayed from that plan of acquisition which has been explained to the powers that be,"

True, we all agree where the problem areas are, though we may disagree on whether it is the quality of the individual players or an autocratic and dictatorial Hughes that is the root cause. That will become clearer in the second half of the season, not too late one would hope.

Hughes; "It is not an easy process, everyone knows that, or one that can be concluded quickly, though you always try and be as swift as possible. Clubs don't want their best players to leave. Getting Wayne Bridge in so quickly laid down a bit of a marker and there have not been many other deals done as a whole so far. It takes time to speak to clubs, to get permission to speak to players and their agents; so it is a long, drawn out process and much as we might want to get things done rapidly it is not always possible."

Okay, so we now concede we need to talk to agents, which tells us the club have been a little naive. Take heart though, that naivete brought in Robinho!

HUGHES AND HIS MAN CITY BLUES

We look and sound like a club in crisis, and there is no denying our league position is not what we expected. Naturally we look to the manager for his help and guidance. His interview in the Manchester Evening News continues thus;

"We have been looking for consistency all season and it is something we have found hard to get. When we do get it right we are very good and can cause problems to anybody - we have shown that. What we need is a level of performance that is constant and when we get that then we can build results and confidence will be raised with every game we play. At the moment we are little bit up and down and that is difficult."

The reasons why we are "a LITTLE bit up and down" have led to page after page of argument and speculation on the forums, blogs and newspapers. Our league position is exactly what we deserve as with each game we lurch from the sublime to the ridiculous. We attack in one and can't defend, then defend well in the next but can't score.

"As a manager you are also looking for continuity of selection which hasn't always been available to me either because of injuries. Bojinov was doing really well in pre-season and we were very hopeful that he would have a real impact this year but he has been unavailable and Michael Johnson has played very few games Our strength and depth is not as strong as it needs to be and that is what we are trying to address at the moment."

Sorry Mark, that happens to every club, every winter. Don't look for those excuses.

Clearly Hughes needs time to build a squad in his image, although there is a very vocal anti-Hughes lobby in the forums. Hughes is a very determined individual, to the point of stubbornness and all the best managers have that. He is ambitious and hungry and sees Man City as his chance to shine. I was personally very happy with his appointment after we were turned down by Scolari and the other star names. Hughes is not a star, and wouldn't care to be tagged as one. His first few months in charge have been less than satisfactory. Nobody will know that more than Hughes himself, but his almost pig-headed confidence in his abilities is beginning to rub off on me. I wish he would do this, and I wish he would do that, and I wish he would bring on suchabody earlier, and I wish he wouldn't keep picking that big fellow, but I believe it would be a mistake to underestimate him. A big mistake.

I love it when the critics write us off, they've done it for years. When we are laughed at after a bad weekend, well, nothing new there is there? My red cousin says he can't understand why anybody would want to be a city fan, he really can't believe it. I love that too, because I know we will have the last laugh.

Whether Hughes will succeed remains to be seen, but I for one wouldn't back against him