Hughes defends City spending

New Fulham boss Mark Hughes has defended his spending record at Manchester City, insisting he had no say over the transfer fees paid for players.

Mega-rich City splashed out more than £200million during Hughes' 18 months as manager before he was sacked in December. But the 46-year-old insists he had no direct input into the figures and revealed what many suspect about the inner-workings at Eastlands when it comes to buying players.

"Actually, the amounts paid weren't really directly influenced by me, I would suggest," said Hughes.

"On some occasions at City, in fairness, players were presented to me which I didn't really have a direct input in.

"But you get a phone call and somebody says, 'would you like Robinho?'

"As a manager you say, 'well, yeah - I would'.

"But whether or not the situation like that was correct in terms of timing and the development of the club at that stage, that's open to debate."