MARK Hughes will take a young Manchester City team to Abu Dhabi next week to say a footballing thank you to Sheikh Mansour.

The Blues' boss will field a side made up mainly of second-string players, peppered by the odd first-teamer such as Stevie Ireland, in a friendly match against the United Arab Emirates national team on Thursday, November 12.

It will be the first time the owner has seen City in action, and the friendly fixture is intended to cement the growing relationship between the emirate and the club.

And Hughes believes the game may become an annual fixture, if the international calendar allows.

"It's an opportunity for us to take a team to our home from home," said Hughes, whose coaching team will also be staging clinics and whose players will be getting out to meet the people who live in the city.

"We are looking forward to it - with it being international week we will be taking a development squad of the younger players, of whom we are very proud.

"We have a production line from the academy, and want to take the best players to give them experience of playing abroad, so it will be a good exercise.

"We also want to enjoy the kind of welcome which we have always had when we go to Abu Dhabi."

City's owners are keen to expand City's support base in the Middle East, as well as to encourage tourism and stronger links with the UK.

Hughes has been a regular visitor since the takeover, both for business and pleasure, and he will take his side to stay in the world's most expensive hotel, the Emirates Palace - which cost £1.8bn to build and suites cost up to £7,000 a night!

World Cup campaign

Hughes says that his frequent trips have impressed upon him that City are seen as Abu Dhabi's favourite team.

"I sense that people there feel we are their team now, and it's important that our players understand that," said Hughes.

The City boss will send his young charges out to face the United Arab Emirates side in the Zayed Stadium next Thursday night.

The UAE have had a disastrous World Cup campaign, drawing one and losing seven of their group games, but efforts to improve their grassroots football are paying off, with a quarter-final place in the recent Under-20 World Cup in Egypt.

"They had a good showing in the Under-20 World Cup, and I am sure some of those players will be going up against some of our younger players," said Hughes.

"We will do our homework leading into the game and make sure we understand how they want to play.

"We will have enough information, but it's more about making sure our younger players, and senior player like Stevie Ireland who will be over there, help the younger players."

City will play their part in what it is hoped will be a renaissance for UAE football - successful former Academy boss Jim Cassell is heading up a new project to parallel the success of Platt Lane out in the emirates.

The UAE's finest hour came in reaching the 1990 World Cup finals, even though they lost all three of their group games.

Abu Dhabi investment

But the biggest names to have played in the UAE's domestic league have always been imports, usually close to the end of illustrious careers, like Abedi Pele, former Blue George Weah and Phillip Cocu.

They have also invested in importing top foreign coaches, dating back as far as Don Revie in the 1970s, followed by Brazilian pair Carlos Alberto Parreira and Mario Zagallo, ex-United assistant Carlos Queiroz, Fulham boss Roy Hodgson and Dutch maestro Dick Advocaat.

Now they hope that the link with City will also give their domestic game a shot in the arm.

The international break has afforded City the chance to take the five-day break, and Hughes says it could become a regular feature of City's season. "There is no reason it can't be, certainly if this trip goes well," he said. "We will be out in the community, meeting people. We will be making ourselves accessible, but the main focus is to win the game, and train.

"We are representing Manchester City, which is a big honour, and we want to make sure everyone realises how we feel being able to play for such a big club, owned by Sheikh Mansour."

Much has been made of the investment in players under the Sheikh, and chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak's stewardship, but Hughes says that the impact of the new owners goes much deeper.

"We have obviously benefited in terms of the resources, but the key thing is that we have been able to improve not only the team but the club as well," he said.

"We are a lot stronger and more capable of being successful in the future.

"The way Sheikh Mansour and Khaldoon al Mubarak have gone about making the club better is to talk to the fans, understood the heritage of the club, and recognised that was an important factor.

"They have wanted to protect that, and the academy, and have done a great job in a short space of time."

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