No iPods or agents at Sparky's Manchester City football factory

Hughes swept aside any possibility of a banana skin with the strong side who won the first leg 2-0 in Torshavn a fortnight ago, and City's meticulous new manager will ensure the Faroe Islanders enjoy Barnsley's sights and not much else.

Firm grip: Mark Hughes is keeping a tighter rein on his Manchester City stars

Hughes yesterday continued his work to revive the Eastlands playing staff by concluding a £3million deal for Chelsea's ex-Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim.

The Israeli becomes the boss's second signing of the summer after agreeing a four-year contract and he is likely to be watching his new team-mates tonight from the stands at Oakwell, where this first qualifying round return is being played because the pitch at City's Eastlands stadium was re-laid after a Bon Jovi concert there a month ago.

A place in tomorrow's draw in Nyon is essential to the Hughes blueprint for a memorable debut season in charge, but the first steps have already been taken to forge City into the effective unit who will prosper this winter. 

'Hughes's backroom team have not merely been working their players hard - a strict clampdown on discipline at their Carrington training complex has made sure there are no longer any distractions for the less focused.

Entrance to the football factory, as Hughes describes it, is by appointment only and carefully screened. Mobile phones and iPods are out. If any player doubted there would be changes after Sven Goran Eriksson's relaxed regime, they now know better.

Hughes said: 'There's no longer an open door to everybody. Agents and every Tom, Dick and Harry were allowed into the building, and that's not the case now. Certain structures have to be adhered to, or you end up with anarchy.

'The training ground is very much a working area now. I'm not really one for putting down strict guidelines. But what the players have to understand is that there are certain boundaries which shouldn't be stepped over.

'It's not revolutionary making the training ground our place of work. Maybe that wasn't the case before. Too many people had access to the building, the inner sanctum. It's where we try to hone our skills. It's a football factory.

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'Most people aren't allowed to go to see their mates when they're working in a factory, so why should they be allowed to come to our factory? The players can see the benefit. It's helping us create the atmosphere that we need.'

Hughes is likely to call up Brazilian playmaker Elano - a transfer target for Roma - and Croatia defender Vedrun Corluka against the brave Faroese part-timers, marooned in their mid-season break and trailing to goals by Martin Petrov and Didi Hamann.

The manager said: 'We're two weeks further down the line fitness-wise, so that won't be a concern this time. It's been a wakeup call for a number of players.

'I think what's taken them aback has been the intensity of the work.

'It's not about flogging them to death, it's about enabling them to compete from start to finish of a very long Premier League season. I think they're enjoying the work. They can see that it's a means to an end.'

PROBABLE TEAMS: MANCHESTER CITY (4-4-2): Hart; Corluka, Dunne, Richards, Ball; Ireland, Hamann, Elano, Petrov; Vassell, Evans.

EB/STREYMUR (4-5-1): Torgard; Olsen, Bo, Djurhuus, Niclassen; A Hansen, L Hanssen, Clementsen, Jacobsen, Samuelsen; Foldgast.

TV - ITV4 7.30 (8.0 kick-off).