Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is confident of keeping his job beyond the end of this season despite his team going out of the Uefa Cup to Martin Jol’s Hamburg last night.

Hughes’ men won 2-1 on the night, but this wasn’t enough to go through and they lost 4-3 on aggregate. It was a disappointing night for all involved at Eastlands as the team fell just short of progression.

This exit from Europe comes on the back of some very poor form in the Premier League where Man City have only won two of their last eight games. Inevitably, this has led to speculation about Hughes’ future at the club.

However, speaking about a meeting with the club’s chairman, Hughes says that everything is ‘fine’ and that he is ‘still here’. Overall, the former Wales boss seems confident that the relevant people will how some faith in him.

After all, the former Wales boss believes that the team are only at ‘the beginning of a long journey’ and that sufficient progress has been made with this year’s performance in the Uefa Cup.

Hughes thinks that the display against Hamburg last night ‘made a statement’ about the type of effort his team will be putting in on a more regular basis in the future. Hughes says that his team showed the fans that there is something positive happening at Eastlands.

Whatever the Man City boss says though, the team are set to end the season without a trophy after heavy investment from the board. Sitting in 11th in the Premier League, a place in Europe for next season also looks like a distant hope.

Regardless of this, Hughes remains determined to achieve great things at the club and this means that he will want to be in the job for the long term. It seems a safe football bet  that a decent finish in the league would be very welcome though. Just to make sure he gets another go at things next time.

Next up for Man City is a home game against West Brom, so there is an opportunity there to bounce back with three Premier League points.

By Thomas Rooney

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