MARK Hughes insists his successor at Blackburn Rovers will be inheriting a club in 'great shape'.

After almost four years in the Ewood Park hot-seat, Hughes signalled the end of an era yesterday when he was formally unveiled as the new manager of Manchester City.

However, the 44-year-old Welshman, who has signed a three-year contract with City, says he will always look back with great personal pride on the job he did at Rovers.

And he believes whoever the club bring in to replace him has a firm foundation on which to build for the future.

The former Ewood chief, who took charge of Rovers in 2004, at a time when they were second from bottom in the Premier League, said: "I leave the club in great shape.

"They've just had another top 10 finish, they've got a great group of players, and I'm very proud of the work that I did there, so I will always look back on my time with great fondness.

"I hope people remember my time there with good thoughts.

"Everyone knew how I approached the job; I gave it everything and all of my energies were focused on making Blackburn successful, and making sure that they were solid, not only on the field but off it as well.

"Whoever comes in will be walking into a fantastic situation that's geared for sustained success, albeit at some point they may be frustrated if they feel they need to move to a different level.

"But I would always recommend Blackburn Rovers to anybody because of the people that are still there."

An inspired appointment by chairman John Williams, Hughes arrived to take up the Ewood hot-seat with no previous experience of club management, although he had cut his teeth in the international arena with Wales.

However, within weeks of taking up the post, the former Manchester United and Chelsea ace quickly began to make his presence felt, and Rovers eventually achieved their survival target with five games to spare at the end of his first season.

Having laid some solid foundations, Hughes then embarked on the task of transforming Rovers into an established Premier League force, and three successive top 10 finishes followed, not to mention three Cup semi-finals, and two sojourns in Europe.

By anyone's standards, it's an impressive record, particularly as Hughes' net spend was around £11million, at a time when the rest of the league was breaking all transfer records.

"I don't leave Blackburn with any regrets. I'm very proud of what I achieved with the club," said Hughes.

"I arrived four years ago and we were second bottom of the Premier League, and in grave danger of going out of the league.

"It was a huge effort by everyone to turn the club around, and enable it to be successful in the top half of the Premier League.

"We reached three semi-finals, we got into Europe, and finished in the top six, and the amount of work we had to put in to achieve those goals was immense."

Although Hughes enjoyed almost four great years at Rovers, the lack of cash available for transfers started to gnaw away at him last season and, after missing out on a place in Europe on a dramatic final day at Birmingham, he came to the conclusion that he had perhaps taken the club as far as he could.

"That's the decision I made," said the Welshman, who was disconsolate after that defeat at St Andrew's.

"I want to be competing at the top end, I want to be going up against the top four teams, and having a reasonable chance of overcoming them over a long Premier League season.

"On any given day, I knew my Blackburn side could beat any of the top four sides, and we proved that.

"But it's a case now that I'm looking to use the resources that hopefully will be made available to me to challenge right at the top of the table.

"The ambition of this club (Manchester City) is to challenge at the top table of football, not only in this country but in Europe as well, and that is my aim too.

"As a player, I was able to play in the top teams and be involved in winning trophies, and, as a manager, that's part of the reason why I came here, because I want the chance, and the resources, to compete at the top level.

"And if we can get the right players in the right positions, then I think that is more than realistic."