Fulham midfielder Simon Davies admits it's a thrill to be working daily with manager Mark Hughes.
Welsh legend Hughes' goalscoring exploits made him something of a hero to the Davies family, and Simon was clearly delighted to see Hughes arrive at Craven Cottage ahead of the 2010/11 campaign.
"I come from a big Manchester United family, and being Welsh, he [Hughes] was a hero to all of us," Davies told fulhamfc.com. "Growing up as a young Welsh boy, Mark Hughes and Ryan Giggs were superstars. To play under him at the beginning [with Wales] was amazing and obviously when he joined Fulham it was great for me because I've worked with him before. He gains instant respect for what he has achieved in the game.
"The first [Wales] squad he ever announced he picked me when I'd just moved to Tottenham Hotspur. I'd been in the U21 team when he was at the end of his playing days so he was there during a few training sessions. I really only got to know him when he became the Welsh manager.
"With Wales it was his first job and I told the lads [at Fulham] how it was at the time. Training was always very good with Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki, who were the coaches at the time. Straight away they changed Welsh football which was in a dark place at the time. I was lucky enough to be coming into the squad at the time and it was a great couple of years under Sparky [Mark Hughes].
"He [Hughes] lifted the whole hopes of a nation and it was a great time to play for Wales. I told the lads at Fulham positive things before he arrived. He's got a proven track record and he did great things with Blackburn and they were always tough to play against.
"It's not easy when a new manager comes in with a whole new coaching set up. We're adapting to it and I do feel we are getting better. Under Roy we attacked as a team and stayed very compact and we defended as a team in a very compact way. We weren't really a gung-ho team. We were hard to beat and we would nick games - we were a very solid outfit.
"With the new manager, he really wants us to take the game to other people and he feels we've got the ability to do that. We do believe we have the playing staff and structure to have a good season. We've just got to keep working as hard as we can until Christmas and when you reach that point, you usually know how the season is going to pan out."
