Would Manchester City be right to back Hughes’ call?

Football FanCast columnist Lewis Doe believes Manchester City boss, Mark Hughes, is quite right in his
prediction that trophies will take some time to appear at Eastlands.

Mark Hughes must have thought Christmas had come early when he learnt of the
massive financial backing that arrived at Manchester City last summer. 

What comes with massive financial investment is a huge amount of pressure,
placed on both the manager and the infrastructure of the club. This creates a
period of adjustment, the sort of spell Chelsea went through under Claudio
Ranieri, before owner Roman Abramovich axed him. 

Hughes estimates that City will have to wait at least two more years before
they challenge for any of the major trophies in England or Europe. He is being
realistic. It is impossible to expect immediate success just because of the
success of investment.  

Regardless of the money being spent, Hughes needs time to bring in more high
calibre signings that will take City to another level, something that so far
seems to have evaded them. Hughes said in the Daily Telegraph: "The
assumption is made that we should be there and challenging now – the owners
have said that they don't anticipate us being ready to challenge for another
couple of seasons." 

"We are not too far away. We just need
a couple of strong signings to address conspicuous issues in the team. Maybe
the acquisition of different types of players to the ones we already have will
leave us in better shape." 

The argument by City supporters will be that Hughes isn't up to the
challenge and with rumours circulating around the next manager, with one Jose
Mourinho being mentioned; it could be a matter of time before the owners give
in to the chants from the stands.  

However, genuine City fans will appreciate the points Hughes makes. It would
be very difficult for anyone to be in charge of City at the moment and orchestrate
immediate success. 

The fans can't see Hughes' comments as a cop out for the simple reason that
he makes a good point. Until the club can build up some momentum and get
results consistently, then they can start thinking about giving a contract to
Lionel Messi. 

Fans would argue though that any manager in such a prominent position should
be jumping up and down at the opportunity to sign the best players in the world
and challenge for every trophy going. The fact is that these best players won't
go to City until Mark Hughes has been allowed time to build something special,
just ask Kaka, who was offered a quarter of a million per week to play
there. 

Hughes is gifted to be in the position
he is and the fans have to realise that patience for success is vital. All any
City fan has to do, to see if waiting a year or two for trophies works is look
at their city rivals Manchester United.