After they had sacked Sven-Goran Eriksson at the end of the 2007-08 season, Manchester City soon signalled their intent to bring Welshman Mark Hughes to the club after he had guided Blackburn Rovers to a seventh-place finish in the Premier League.
It took just just 24 hours for a compensation package to be agreed between the two teams before Hughes was officially confirmed as City's new boss the following day as he took on the task of trying to improve their fortunes under Thaksin Shinawatra.
There were expected to be a number of incomings at the City of Manchester City Stadium but ahead of Hughes's first competitive fixture against EB Streymur in the opening qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, the only transfer that had been completed was that of Brazilian striker Jo, who had arrived from CSKA Moscow for £18m.
The highly-regarded forward made his debut in the Faroe Islands as a strong starting lineup was selected by Hughes, with regular first-team players Micah Richards, Richard Dunne and Martin Petrov beginning the game in front of a paltry 3,000 crowd.
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The Hughes reign got off to the perfect start as his new side took the lead after just nine minutes when Petrov, who had impressed during his first 12 months in the North-West, collected Darius Vassell's pass before firing home from 12 yards.
It soon became apparent that City weren't going to be troubled by the minnows, who were attempting to qualify for their second UEFA Cup having made the first round the previous year, but the Premier League outfit took control of the tie when they doubled their advantage after 28 minutes.
Dietmar Hamann had endured three years without a goal, but after a Petrov corner was only partially cleared to the edge of the penalty area, the German struck a fine volley into the top corner of the net.
After being on the end of a dominant 45 minutes from City, Streymur improved after the break to ensure that Joe Hart didn't have an uneventful evening, but they barely looked like breaching the England international's defences.
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Despite City being on the offensive for much of the match, new signing Jo could manage just one effort on goal, a header that drifted wide of the post, before he was replaced by Ched Evans with 17 minutes remaining.
The success in Torshavn sparked a run of 16 matches that saw Manchester City progress all of the way through to the last eight, but their participation came to an end when a disappointing first-leg display in Hamburg contributed to them losing out 4-3 on aggregate.
Despite their exit before the semi-final stage, it had proved to be a significant season for City as Hughes acquired the signatures of Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta before the end of the transfer window, while the club were taken over by Abu Dhabi United Group.
The new owners gave Hughes over 12 months to try to establish City as a top-four side in the top flight, but after an unspectacular start to the 2008-09 campaign, they opted to replace the Welshman with Roberto Mancini.
Darren Plant
