If the essence of the OP is true, it makes me quite sad in a way. It means the assurances we have received in the past were false. What do we make of the statements by Cook and Mubarak over the last couple of days? What is Hughes supposed to do? The players are going to play for a bloke the "board" are / were trying to replace? I don't see if they really were trying to get Mourinho they can complain if any fans have no confidence in Hughes, as obviously they don't...well, not as much as they would like us to believe.