Hughes knows rivals would love Man City to slip

Mark Hughes believes Manchester City’s Premier League rivals are hoping his 100 million spending spree backfires.

City, who open the new campaign at Blackburn on Saturday, have become the talk of English football since Hughes, backed by his club’s Abu Dhabi-based owners, made a series of high-profile signings including Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Gareth Barry.

Hughes doesn’t plan to stop spending yet, with Everton defender Joleon Lescott still on his wanted list, and he knows most of the other top-flight teams, envious of City’s wealth, will he watching to see if he makes a mess of City’s plans to break into the top four this season.

Everyone has an opinion on the Eastlands revolution, including Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, whose scathing reaction to City’s spending has been taken as a sign of trepidation about their increased threat to United’s dominance.

“There is a lot of interest in us. There are a lot of people who want us to succeed and just as many who want us to fail,” Hughes said.

“People who maybe have a negative slant on what we are trying to do sometimes have the loudest voices and are given more platforms.

“I think there are just as many people excited and wondering what we are going to do, whether we have the means to do it and whether we are going to shake up the status quo.

“We have to live with that and deal with that. It is about making sure we are the best prepared team in the Premier League. That is what we are striving to do.”