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Hughes Hails Owners' Impact
Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has praised the club's new owners for delivering on their promise of bringing world-class players to Eastlands...
05-Sep-2008 7:33:12 AM
One era ended as another got underway at City on the weekend, as Thaksin Shinawatra sold his stake in the club to Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG).
The backing of the Arab investment firm, led by Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim, has effectively made the Sky Blues the richest club in the world, as ADUG supposedly possess 10 times the wealth of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
Al Fahim and co announced their arrival with the shock £32million signing of Robinho from Real Madrid on the final day of the transfer window.
They chased a host of other big names, including Dimitar Berbatov, David Villa and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and are preparing to bid for the likes of Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo in January.
And Hughes claimed that such targets are far from unrealistic, insisting that the owners are committed to fulfilling their dream of making City the biggest club on the planet.
Statement
"The owners wanted to make a statement and we tried to make the kind of bids to make people think very seriously about letting players go," the Welshman said in The Guardian.
"We didn't just pick names out of the sky. These were players we thought there was a real possibility we could get.
"It was a really important day for the owners, they wanted to come in and make a real impact, not only on the people of Manchester but the entire football world.
"They wanted to get someone in that would make people sit up and take notice and, in the end, they did exactly that and got a great player through the door."
Confusion
Robinho's move to City has caused confusion in some circles, as many are baffled to why the Brazilian superstar would want to leave the Santiago Bernabeu for Eastlands.
Selecao great Pele even went as far as to declare that the 24-year-old "needs serious counselling", but Hughes dismissed the Santos legend's view as ignorant.
"Maybe Pele is not in full possession of the facts about what we are trying to do here," suggested the former Blackburn boss. "If he did understand, and he was still a player, maybe he would have thought about joining us as well."
Kieran Quentin
The backing of the Arab investment firm, led by Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim, has effectively made the Sky Blues the richest club in the world, as ADUG supposedly possess 10 times the wealth of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
Al Fahim and co announced their arrival with the shock £32million signing of Robinho from Real Madrid on the final day of the transfer window.
They chased a host of other big names, including Dimitar Berbatov, David Villa and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and are preparing to bid for the likes of Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo in January.
And Hughes claimed that such targets are far from unrealistic, insisting that the owners are committed to fulfilling their dream of making City the biggest club on the planet.
Statement
"The owners wanted to make a statement and we tried to make the kind of bids to make people think very seriously about letting players go," the Welshman said in The Guardian.
"We didn't just pick names out of the sky. These were players we thought there was a real possibility we could get.
"It was a really important day for the owners, they wanted to come in and make a real impact, not only on the people of Manchester but the entire football world.
"They wanted to get someone in that would make people sit up and take notice and, in the end, they did exactly that and got a great player through the door."
Confusion
Robinho's move to City has caused confusion in some circles, as many are baffled to why the Brazilian superstar would want to leave the Santiago Bernabeu for Eastlands.
Selecao great Pele even went as far as to declare that the 24-year-old "needs serious counselling", but Hughes dismissed the Santos legend's view as ignorant.
"Maybe Pele is not in full possession of the facts about what we are trying to do here," suggested the former Blackburn boss. "If he did understand, and he was still a player, maybe he would have thought about joining us as well."
Kieran Quentin
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