Mark Hughes has broken his silence on his shock departure from Fulham last season.

Hughes seemed happy at Fulham. Until, that is, he rejected the opportunity to extend his contract and left in June.

It was thought he was doing so because he had another job lined up. Then, when that job did not materialise, the decision to leave Craven Cottage was seen as something of a disaster.

Hughes would like to put the record straight.

"The assumption that I was jumping ship because I had another job to jump into was wrong," he told the Daily Mail.

"That was not the case because it was never there for me. People assumed I was hoping to get the Aston Villa job but that was never the case.

"I simply felt my ambition for where I wanted to take the club was not being matched. Historically, Fulham were a club who were happy to be in the Premier League and that was their ambition. But it was not my ambition for them.

"Conversations I was having about players I wanted to bring in were not going well. I read that as them maybe not wanting to keep Fulham in the top half of the Premier League.

"There was the date of June 1 (when his contract needed to be renewed) and the closer it got, the less inclined I was to sign it because it would have meant me committing further than the one year I had left.

"I had real concerns about the age of certain players and I came to the conclusion that it would be better just to shake hands and walk away. Fulham were probably a bit too honest with me. They were saying, 'We know exactly what you're about, Mark, but really we are just quite happy to stay in the Premier League'."