Fulham defender Aaron Hughes says the club's transformation has come from the arrival of manager Roy Hodgson last year.

"I think I speak for a lot of the players here when I say the signs were there from when Roy came in last January," he told Fultime magazine. "Straight away we became a lot more organised, more compact and slowly but surely we were began to make more and more progress.

"Okay, the results may not have gone our way, but everything else was starting to take shape. Obviously it was touch-and-go and a lot of people had written us off. But we had a character and belief about our game and that showed through in the end. If I am honest, what we achieved last season wasn't too much of a surprise. We knew what the gaffer wanted and how he expected us to play and we knew that we were capable of making that happen."

The Northern Ireland international also said: "Everybody can see the impact he has had on this Club - it's been massive.

"Prior to taking charge of Fulham he had been working abroad for a long time and I think a lot of people had forgot just how good a manager he was.

"Not only does he manage but he's also out on the training pitch for every session. He's a true football man, who likes to get the ball down and play. A lot of people have sat up and taken notice of Fulham this season and that has come from the top. For any young coach or player looking at making the move into coaching they should look to Roy as a model of how you should approach the game.

"I'm almost 30, and I've been in the game a while now. But he's still teaching me new things and I feel like I'm constantly learning. In the 18 months that I have worked with him, I think I have improved more than any other 18-month period in my whole career."