MARK Hughes has had to develop a thick skin during his time in professional football.

As a player at some of the biggest clubs in the world, the former Manchester United favourite was always there to be shot at and, with football being the cut-throat business it is, there was never a shortage of snipers ready to pull the trigger.

But even the Welshman admits he was stunned by the amount of critcism that was levelled at Blackburn Rovers during his first season as a Premiership manager.

The storm surrounding Rovers' 'overly aggressive' style was first whipped up by Jose Mourinho last February, immediately after Chelsea's explosive visit to Ewood Park.

The Blues had arrived in East Lancashire sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table, but their title credentials were about to be tested to the limit by a Rovers side that was battling tiggerishly to stay in the Premiership.

Everyone to a man in the Blackburn team was fiercely committed in the tackle that night, and, at various points during the evening, the game boiled over in a series of ugly flashpoints, prompting Mourinho to launch a scathing attack on Hughes and his tactics in the aftermath of Chelsea's gutsy 1-0 win.

The Chelsea boss accused Rovers of deliberately trying to intimidate his players, and even suggested that some of his star performers had been singled out for rough treatment.

Hughes later strenuously denied those claims but, by then, the mud had stuck, and Rovers were suddenly labelled the 'bully boys' of the Premier League, a tag that was to stay with them for the rest of the season.

The criticism then reached a crescendo over the weekend of the FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal in April.

What should have been one of the most memorable events in the club's recent history, soon turned into a nightmare as Rovers were slaughtered in the national press for the aggressive way they approached the tie.

Words like 'vile' and 'thuggish' were used to describe Rovers' 'rough house tactics' as the southern-based media jumped aboard a bandwagon that had first been set in motion by Mourinho two months previously.

To this day, Hughes is still mystified by the levels of vitriol that performance induced, and he vigorously denies accusations his players ever overstepped the mark.

"One of the low points of last season was some of the criticism that was labelled at us and we were totally mystified by it," said the Rovers boss.

"The argument we had was we weren't going to lie down for anybody.

"We had to stay in a very difficult league, and a very strong league, and to do that we needed to maximise our strengths, which is exactly what we did.

"We were strong, we were mentally strong when we needed to be, and we were competitive, but I don't think at any stage we overstepped the mark.

"People might bring the stats out and say our position in the Fair Play league doesn't really back up what I've just said, but we'd actually had two players sent off before I arrived at the club.

"Certainly, the reporting of the Cup semi-final was hysterical, as I said at the time, and it wasn't a fair reflection of how the game went.

"It was disappointing to read some of the comments that people said about us and how we approached the game, but you take those things on board, remember who said them, and it makes you even stronger."

In an ideal world, Hughes would have preferred to have got Rovers playing free-flowing football last season, but circumstances dictated otherwise.

When he inherited the mess left behind by Graeme Souness in mid-September, Rovers were second from bottom in the Premiership with just two points from five games and a relegation battle beckoned.

The key to survival, as far as Hughes was concerned, was to make the team hard to beat and he immediately set about shoring up the Premiership's leakiest defence, even if that meant sacrificing some attacking flair.

"Sometimes, needs must," said the Ewood chief.

"We'd all like to play fantastic, open, fluid football but if you did that then you possibly wouldn't win as many games as you would if you were more solid defensively and had a good work ethic.

"I make no apologies for the way we played last season because it was effective.

"Obviously, I would have liked to have scored more goals and got in more positions where we were comfortable in games, but our position in the league didn't help the way we played because we were fighting for our lives.

"In the games where we did get our noses in front, like Norwich and Southampton at home, I think people saw that we could play football as well."

The foundations are now in place for Hughes and Rovers to be more adventurous next season, but Hughes won't radically change his basic philosophy on how the game should be played just to please the critics.

If he feels a particular situation demands a 4-5-1 formation then he won't be afraid to use it.

"I will play teams and formations which, I feel, will give us the best chance to win on any given day," added Hughes.

"The 4-1-4-1 worked well, or the 4-5-1 - call it what you want.

"I actually call it 4-3-3 but it's a system that helps on certain occasions against the better teams because it means you can be nice and solid defensively.

"Against the teams that aren't quite as good, I think it gives you plenty of attacking options because you can get more players forward and attack them from wide and central areas, and you can get people bombing forward from midfield as well.

"So it just depends on who we are up against and who I've got available at any given time."