MARK Hughes cannot wait to get his teeth into his first taste of League Two football.

The new City boss has never managed or played at the bottom level in his impressive career.

Hughes will take his first training session tomorrow ahead of the Mansfield game and cannot wait to get going after three years out of the game.

“It's a different challenge at a level I've not worked before - but I'm of the view that my skills are transferable,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.

“Maybe I won’t have the resources that I possibly had at some of the clubs I’ve worked at but that doesn’t faze me at all.

“The support I’ve had up to this point has been great and moving forward I’m sure I’ll get all the resources that I need to make us successful.

"It's a league that's demanding physically, it asks questions of players and managers alike – at times people will tell you it's a bit of a slog and you've got to get through the hard work.

"That's a given. It didn't faze me as a player and it doesn't faze me as a manager.

“I work exceptionally hard to try and be successful and I’ll try to instil that into the players as well.

"I've obviously been in the game a long time and have got a good insight into what works and what doesn't.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how they react to what I’ve got to say.”

Hughes has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal until the summer of 2024. There is expected to be news on an assistant next week.

He has been out of the game since December 2018 when he was sacked by Southampton – the last of six Premier League clubs the Welshman has managed.

"I always felt I needed to take a break after my last position at Southampton. Probably the timetable was skewed because of Covid for my return.

“I’ve looked at certain opportunities but they weren’t right just because of the timing of them.

“This feels right and it gives me the opportunity to look at the squad from now until the end of the season.”

“The intention is to have a real go to try and get in the play-offs if we can.

“It will be difficult, fair to say, but that’s what we’ll try and do this season. At least if we don’t make that, we’ll gain momentum moving into next year.”