Hughes Hopes For Funds
Posted on June 2, 2014
Stoke city manager Mark Hughes has stated that he is hoping that funds will be available for his disposal in the summer. Stoke just completed a remarkable campaign during which time they have managed to stay in the top half of the table. This was always going to be difficult season for the club given that they were without manager Tony Pulis, who had been at the club for several years. Hence, this was seen as a transitional period, but Hughes has managed to implement some methods from the past to help the club retain their philosophy.
Hughes was primarily brought in to improve the style of play at the club. He has largely tried to implement this by the arrival of players like Stephen Ireland. However, he has also not been looking to make the changes too quickly, which would have been disastrous. After a season in which they almost reached the Europa league places, Stoke will now be looking to build in the coming seasons. The first step towards doing so will be handing Mark Hughes a sizeable transfer kitty in the summer. The former Manchester city manager, though, does not know the size of the funds at his disposal.
Stoke have been linked with permanent moves for players like Oussama Assaidi.
“I haven’t really been given (a total in) pounds, shillings and pence, but if I go to the owners with a good case for certain players then they will try to back me, I’m sure. It’s not a case of them trying to move the goalposts. I knew exactly when I got the job here what the ball park figure was. We had more variation in our play and we four different scorers (v Fulham), so it shows we’ve got a threat in different areas, are not one dimensional and can mix it up,” said Hughes.