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Hughes is preparing for a full tilt at the FA Cup sponsored by E.ON as
City countdown to Saturday’s third round tie against Nottingham Forest.
The
visitors may be near the bottom of the Championship, and have a new
manager in Billy Davies, but having watched City suffer a shock exit in
the season’s other domestic cup competition at Brighton the Manager is
determined to see the Blues into the hat for Sunday’s draw.
“It’s
such a prestigious competition, and the third round is one of the great
dates in the football calendar,” he states. “Because of that, I think
it needs to be shown respect and that is what we will do.
“You
don’t want to go out in the early rounds, and we have already had an
example of that this season. That night we made changes hoping to
protect some players, and you can come unstuck when you do that.”
For
Hughes, with several FA Cup winners’ medals to his name and a
semi-final defeat while manager at Blackburn in the recent memory, this
is a competition that still stirs the blood as he adds:
“The FA
Cup is a competition that seems to have featured a lot in my career,
both as a player and as a manager. It is a competition I have great
respect for, I always try to show it the respect it deserves by going
into every game with as strong a side as you can.
“The mentality
of players is possibly a bit different now. I know that when I was
young, if asked why I wanted to be a footballer the answer was to play
for your country and win the FA Cup. That may well have changed in this
modern era, but it is still a fantastic competition. The thought of
going out at Wembley on that invariably warm day in May at Wembley is
still an attractive one.”
Neither is the thought of a good cup
run adding to league & UEFA Cup commitments in the next few months
putting him off – “I have always felt that cup runs help your league
form. Doing well in a cup competition gives you a boost going into a
league game, you’ll be confident so for me it’s not a hindrance,” he
adds.
**Finally, the Club's Box Office has reminded ALL
cardholders who have bought tickets for the Forest game to bring their
cards along with them**
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