City find themselves in the bottom three of the Barclays Premier League going into Christmas after a last-minute goal from Roman Bednar doomed them to a 2-1 reversal at fellow strugglers West Brom.

Hughes' side have now collected just five points from the last nine league games and have failed to win in six matches in all competitions.

But Hughes is adamant he has the backing of Mansour and Al Mubarak ahead of the January transfer window.

The former Wales boss said: "There has been speculation about my future since the new owners came in, so it is not something that is new to me.

"Am I confident I will be given the money myself to spend? That is the intention. That is my view and I've had assurances from Sheikh Mansour and the chairman.

"They have been very positive. They understand where we are in our development. They are pragmatic people.

"They understand things will not happen overnight. Some people expect it to but they understand that won't happen.

"Time is something we all need - myself included - but I know the quality of my staff and we will gain results in the future.

"At the moment we are hurting somewhat because we are in the bottom three of the Premier League which is not something we anticipated."

Hughes saw his side beaten at the death for the second week running, following the 1-0 home setback against Everton.

He said: "We are disappointed to lose two league games in a row in such a way. We did well against West Brom to come from a goal behind and I thought the game was going to peter out.

"But at times recently we have been a bit naive and on occasions don't do the fundamental things correctly - and good players will expose that.

"We are working hard to adjust things and we will adjust them in the transfer window. We will bring in quality players to ensure that the club moves forwards in the future.

"There is no guarantee how many we will bring in but it is clear we do need help. We have to make sure we bring players in who will make an immediate impact."

West Brom boss Tony Mowbray admitted he was ready to substitute Bednar and settle for trying to preserve a single-goal lead given to them by Luke Moore, his first strike for the club.

But captain Jonathan Greening had to be taken off because he was suffering with double vision, City grabbed an equaliser, and Bednar made the most of his reprieve to convert a cross from Gianni Zuiverloon for the winner.

Mowbray said: "It has been a difficult time for us because the players believe we have played well enough to compete in this league and give ourselves a real chance.

"It is important that supporters believe that as well and we all stick together. We could easily have had three points as well against Portsmouth and Blackburn and yet today things went for us a little bit.

"We are delighted for Luke Moore. We all know how difficult a time he has had and hopefully he can kick on from here.

"When we were 1-0 up, I was going to try to protect the lead by playing one up front and the intention was to take off Roman.

"But then Jonathan said he had double vision and was struggling to see so he had to come off instead.

"Maybe that twist of fate, with Roman scoring the winner in the 92nd minute, is what we need."