The new Blues boss never lost to City in nine league and cup meetings during his time in charge at Ewood Park, and he guided them to consecutive UEFA Cup qualifications as well as two FA Cup semi finals.
Despite the fact that he will not be meeting up with the squad until the start of pre-season training early next month, Hughes already knows what he wants from his players.
“We need to be competitive,” he asserts, “this is an extremely difficult league to take part in and it’s certainly not easy to compete from the start of the season right until the end.
“It’s a hard task, but what I have always felt is that to give yourself the best opportunity to be successful you have to be physically capable to do the job that’s asked of you.
“That means a lot of work on the training ground, and a lot of work in the gym so we have to ensure we have that base of fitness that enables you to perform at the highest level, which is what we have to do in the Premier League.”
