Hughes: Difficult week

Related links

Teams

• Manchester City

Players

• Stephen Ireland
• Vedran Corluka

Also see

• Man City fixtures
• Man City stats
• Man City forum

Mark Hughes has once again reiterated the fact that he, and he alone, is in charge at Manchester City.

The recently-arrived coach has faced a chaotic few weeks in the Eastlands hot-seat, with the club rarely out of the headlines.

Rumours persist that Vedran Corluka and Stephen Ireland remain transfer targets for Tottenham and Sunderland respectively, while there are growing concerns regarding club owner Thaksin Shinawatra's financial situation.

In a bid to resolve the issues which are threatening to undermine City's preparations for the start of the new season, Hughes called his squad together for clear-the-air talks earlier in the week.

Message

"I had a meeting with the players the other day. We need to make the group aware that I'm in charge and will make the decisions that affect the players," he said.

"If players leave, that decision will be mine and mine solely. Everybody now understands that's the situation.

"In certain situations, if there are a number of people involved, the message can sometimes get misinterpreted and the right message does not always get through to the right people.

"It's been a difficult week in many respects, but it's happened very early in my tenure and from this point onwards we can move on and work much better."

Tested

Hughes went on to dismiss any suggestion that Corluka and Ireland will be allowed to leave the club in the near future.

"They very much have a future here," he added.

"There has been a lot of speculation, but I have made my views very clear to everybody that those two players won't be leaving.

"I'm clear that we are going in the right direction.

"It's a big club, that's why I came here. I want to be tested and shown to be able to understand what goes on at a big club and move it forward."