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Mark Hughes continued his attempt to restore an air of normality at Manchester City yesterday by restating his intention to remain in his job as manager, while insisting that City's problems will not affect his efforts to strengthen the squad before the August 31 transfer deadline.

Hughes's future had been thrown into doubt after a fractious weekend, when he had to intervene to prevent the sales of Vedran Corluka, the defender, to Tottenham Hotspur and Stephen Ireland, the midfield player, to Sunderland. The sense of crisis at City was accentuated by the decision by Thaksin Shinawatra, the club's owner, to seek exile in Britain to avoid fraud and corruption charges in Thailand, where about £800 million of his assets remain frozen.

With City facing the first leg of a Uefa Cup second qualifying round tie against FC Midtjylland, of Denmark, at home this evening, Hughes is anxious to reassert control of football matters and, having offered his players reassurance about his position at a team meeting, he is adamant that Corluka and Ireland will not be leaving.

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“I had a meeting with the players the other day and, basically, we need to make the group aware that I'm in charge and will make decisions that affect the players,” Hughes said. “If players leave or if they go, that decision will be mine and mine solely. That's where we are and I think everybody understands that that is the situation. We will be better for it and we can now move forward.

“It has been a difficult week in many respects, but it has happened very early in my tenure and from this point onwards we can move on and work much better. There have been misunderstandings, but it's true to say that, in any organisation, if you make big changes, on occasions messages will be misinterpreted and mistakes will be made.”

Hughes is determined to sign a forward, a decision that was reinforced by the knee injury suffered by Darius Vassell in the friendly against AC Milan on Saturday that will keep the former England player out for ten weeks. “People may have been concerned that I wouldn't have the funds to bring in players, but that's not the case,” Hughes, who is confident that Michael Johnson, the midfield player, will sign a new contract, said. “We are actively pursuing players as we speak.”