MARKS Hughes and Bowen do not bear much physical resemblance to Italian Godfathers but they are happy to make City fans an offer they cannot refuse - success!

The all-Welsh origins of Hughes, his No2 Bowen and the first-team coach Eddie Niedzwiecki have already drawn comparisons with those Sicilian fixers and even earned them the 'Tafia' nickname.

Sat in the Legends Lounge at Eastlands, Bowen, who has the physique of a sturdy cruiserweight, is keen and animated when he speaks of close childhood friend and boss Hughes creating a dynasty that will line the dining area's walls with a new set of silverware-winning heroes.

He speaks with the confidence of Sheikh Mansour's billions backing him up but also as someone who has a shared vision and common goal with those he works with most closely.

Hughes, Bowen, Niedzwiecki, and the goalkeeping coach Kevin Hitchcock are indeed a close unit but they are also a driven quartet, none of whom have to rely on the old pals' act for their employment.

History

And they are all aware that having left Blackburn Rovers for City they now have the chance to create history.

"One of the great attractions for us to come here was that we could take over a club that has not had much success in the past 30-odd years and create our own dynasty," said Bowen, whose own playing career took in more than 400 league games for seven different clubs and 41 caps for Wales.

He said: "This is a great opportunity for us to stamp our own blueprint on the club. We are not following any pre-conceived ideas or someone who has been winning lots of trophies. We have come in with a blank sheet of paper.

"Fortunately, we will have the money to spend to make sure we have the possible chance to turn those plans into reality. There was a short while when that looked as though it might be compromised, but not now.

"We have the opportunity to go and look in the best shop windows for the best players. It is important that the new owners have so much faith in Mark and his staff and that he will be left to get on with team matters and it is important that things now settle down very quickly.

"In terms of the expectation and pressure, I think that Mark has amply demonstrated already, on a daily basis, that he is not just able to cope with it but that he thrives on it."

Despite the new position of financial strength, Bowen is circumspect when the subject is cherry-picking the best players in the world and simply chucking them onto the training ground at Carrington.

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He accepts fully Sir Alex Ferguson's recent neighbourly advice that buying 11 superstars does not create a team.

"The hardest job of all will be the careful selection of players and moulding them into a side," stressed the former left-back. "You only have to look at Real Madrid and the `Galactico' period to understand that.

"You cannot just point at the best players in every position in the world and say: `We'll have him', `We'll have him' and `We'll have him'.

"It doesn't work that way because you have to man-manage and motivate them and then turn them into a winning and consistent team.

"We saw Stevie Ireland getting an award last week for the start he has had to the season and I genuinely believe that there were not many better or more effective players in the first two months of the season than Stevie. Yet there may be those who say he is not a world superstar.

"You cannot just look at names on paper and who they are playing for - whether that is in Munich or Madrid - because who is to say that they would come in and do a better job week in, week out than the Stevie and players like him.

"Every football fan can reel off the names of the game's superstars; the trick is finding the players who will complement them.

"We have had success at Blackburn bringing in the right type of players who can make a big impact in the Premier League - even if on a different budget - and we hope to do the same at City.

Challenges

"One of the single biggest challenges is getting the transfer business correct and we are confident that we will do because we have the best people possible out there looking at these players.

"Mark has names on his list already and we will be checking them out extensively over the next few months. The fact that we know what our budget is in the transfer window allows us to target players at the very top and hope that they come but it also allows us to do vital background work.

"I dare say that a lot of our scouts will be asked to be almost like private detectives in the coming weeks and months. We have to go into players' backgrounds to see if they will settle in and fit in. We want to know that they will embrace what we do on the pitch and on the training ground.

"Mark puts a lot of store by what players do in training on a day-to-day basis. If you are asking players to perform at a high level and at a high intensity you don't want to be bringing in those who just want to stand around the training pitch whiling away the hours until they turn up on a Saturday. That would upset the balance as well. We want to know what players are like as people too and whether they fit in. We want to know their likes and dislikes and habits.

"They must all buy into what we do eventually and there is the universal language of football that is why you can see Ireland and Robinho having an animated conversation and understanding one another.

"The best players always want to work the hardest and learn the most and they are the players that you only have to say something to once.

"The key is to make sure that they get something out of every training session that is worthwhile to them and to the team. We all hate wasting training sessions.

"We want to get something positive out of everything we do. Any individuals who just turn up and think that they are attending `just another training session' will be in for a rude shock."

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