Stephen Hughes (footballer, born 1982)

Last updated

Stephen Hughes
Stephen Hughes - scottish.jpg
Hughes playing for Motherwell
Personal information
Full name Stephen David Hughes [1]
Date of birth (1982-11-14) 14 November 1982 (age 40)
Place of birth Motherwell, Scotland
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1999–2005 Rangers 64 (7)
2005–2007 Leicester City 91 (7)
2007–2009 Motherwell 66 (2)
2009–2011 Norwich City 30 (3)
2011Milton Keynes Dons (loan) 6 (0)
2011–2012 Motherwell 4 (0)
2012–2013 Aberdeen 28 (0)
2013–2014 East Fife 9 (1)
2014 Dundee 1 (0)
2014East Fife (loan) 10 (1)
Total309(21)
International career
2001–2003 Scotland U21 [2] 12 (2)
2002–2009 Scotland B [3] 2 (1)
2009 Scotland 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stephen David Hughes [4] (born 14 November 1982) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Hughes played as a midfielder for Rangers, Leicester City, Motherwell, Norwich City, Milton Keynes Dons, Aberdeen, Dundee and East Fife. Hughes made one appearance for Scotland, playing in the last 20 minutes of a friendly match against Japan in 2009.

Contents

Club career

Rangers

Hughes started his career with Scottish Premier League club Rangers at the age of 16. [5] He went on to make 90 appearances for the Ibrox club and scored seven goals in the process.

Leicester City

Hughes joined Leicester City in January 2005 for £100,000 and signed a three-and-a-half-year deal. In January 2006, he scored a memorable goal which helped knock Tottenham Hotspur out of the FA Cup in a cup upset. [6]

Motherwell

On 4 June 2007, Hughes was placed on the transfer list by then Leicester manager Martin Allen, with Hearts and Motherwell reportedly offering £50,000 for the player. [7] [8] On 17 August, Hearts had successfully negotiated terms with Hughes. The transfer, however, was delayed, [9] and on 31 August, Hughes joined Motherwell for an undisclosed fee. [10] Hughes played for Motherwell in the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons. [5]

Norwich City

Scottish newspapers on 22 July 2009 suggested that Hughes had joined Norwich City as a free agent on a three-year contract. This was confirmed later the same day. [11] He played his first match for the Canaries in their final pre-season friendly against Wigan on 1 August 2009 playing for 59 minutes before being substituted. He scored his first goal for Norwich in a 2–0 win over Hartlepool on 29 August 2009. [12] Hughes impressed fans with his performances in his first season with the club. However, Hughes sustained an knee injury, which required an operation on 21 October and ruled him out for two months. Hughes returned to Norwich after a loan spell at MK Dons to gain fitness after his operation. [5] He left Norwich by mutual consent in August 2011. [13]

Return to Motherwell

After leaving Norwich, Hughes became a free agent, but failed to find a club in the first few months. On 16 November 2011, Hughes re-joined Motherwell until 3 January 2012 after a successful trial. [5] Hughes started the match against Hibernian on 2 December 2011, but this match was abandoned at half-time due to a floodlight fire, and was therefore a void match, so his second debut for the club came as a substitute in a 3–0 win away to St Johnstone the following week. [14] Hughes left the club at the end of his deal, after the club decided not to offer him an extension. He made four appearances in his second spell at Fir Park. [15]

Aberdeen

After a short trial, Hughes signed for Aberdeen on 27 January 2012. [16] He was released from his contract on 7 June 2013.

East Fife

On 10 October 2013, Hughes signed for Scottish League One side East Fife. [17] Hughes made 9 league appearances for East Fife, scoring one goal.

Dundee

Having completed a short-term contract with East Fife, Hughes signed for Scottish Championship club Dundee in January 2014. [18] His Dundee career was short lived where he played only the first 45 minutes away to Falkirk where after a poor performance was substituted at half time. He never again played for Dundee.

East Fife (loan)

After making one appearance for Dundee, Hughes rejoined East Fife on loan after being told he was not part of the new managerPaul Hartley's plans. [19]

International career

Hughes's debut call-up to the Scotland national team was to play Japan in October 2009. Hughes appeared as a second-half substitute, replacing Charlie Adam in the 67th minute.[ citation needed ]

Honours

Rangers [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavin Rae</span> Scottish footballer and manager

Gavin Paul Rae is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was recently the head coach of National Premier Leagues NSW club Hakoah Sydney City East FC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Malcolm</span> Scottish footballer

Robert Malcolm is a Scottish former football player and coach.

Stephen Crawford is a Scottish professional football coach and former player.

Ian William Murray is a Scottish football player and coach, who is the manager of Scottish Championship club Raith Rovers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee McCulloch</span> Scottish footballer (born 1978)

Lee Henry McCulloch is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who was most recently the assistant manager at Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robbie Neilson</span> Scottish professional football manager and former player

Robbie Neilson is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Naismith</span> Scottish association football player

Steven John Naismith is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is currently the technical director of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006–07 in Scottish football</span>

The 2006–07 season was the 110th season of competitive football in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Adam</span> Scottish association football player

Charles Graham Adam is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the loan manager of Burnley.

Alan Gow is a Scottish former footballer. As a player he played as either a striker or an attacking midfielder. He is currently under-18s manager of Airdrieonians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Watson (footballer)</span> Scottish footballer

Keith Edward Watson is a Scottish footballer, who plays as a defender for Raith Rovers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graham Dorrans</span> Scottish footballer

Graham Dorrans is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Johnstone Burgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Swanson</span> Scottish footballer

Daniel Joseph Swanson is a retired Scottish footballer who played as an attacking midfielder

The 2008–09 season covers the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009 and is the club's one hundredth season, having been founded as Dundee Hibernian in 1909.

Ross Forbes is a Scottish footballer, currently playing as a midfielder for Scottish League Two club Clyde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Fox</span> Scottish footballer

Scott Fox is a Scottish professional goalkeeper who is a free agent. He has previously played for Celtic, East Fife, Queen of the South (twice), Dundee, Ross County, Partick Thistle, Greenock Morton, Motherwell and Cove Rangers. Fox was selected by Scotland National Football Team manager Gordon Strachan to be part of the national squad to face Norway in 2013.

Season 2010–11 for Hibernian was their 12th consecutive season of play in the Scottish Premier League. It was the first season played in the redeveloped Easter Road stadium, with its capacity increased to over 20,000 for the first time since it became an all-seater stadium in the early 1990s. The SPL season began on 15 August 2010 with a 3–2 win at Motherwell. Hibs competed in the UEFA Europa League, losing 6–2 on aggregate to Slovenian club NK Maribor. They also lost at the first stage of competition in the Scottish League Cup, losing 3–1 at Kilmarnock. Those cup defeats and a poor start to the league season led to manager John Hughes leaving by mutual consent in early October. Colin Calderwood was appointed as the new manager, but struggled to make any sort of impression, as they were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Ayr United and fell into a relegation battle. A winning streak after the January transfer window meant any danger was quickly averted, but the team still finished in the bottom six.

Stewart Murdoch is professional footballer playing as a midfielder or defender for East Fife. Murdoch came through the youth academy at Falkirk, and over a six-year period played 88 games in all competitions for The Bairns, in which the majority of these came in the Scottish First Division. He also spent time on loan in the Scottish Second Division playing for Berwick Rangers in season 2007–08 and for East Fife in seasons 2009–10 and 2010–11.

David Turnbull is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Celtic and the Scotland national team. He began his career at Motherwell, and has won both of the major Young Player of the Year awards.

Archie Alexander Meekison is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Falkirk, on loan from Scottish Premiership club Dundee United.

References

  1. "Stephen Hughes". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  2. "[Scotland U21 player] Stephen Hughes". fitbastats.com. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  3. "[Scotland B player] Stephen Hughes". fitbastats.com. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  4. Scottish Football League (October 2004). The Bell's Scottish Football Review 2004/05. CRE8. ISBN   0-9548556-0-4.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Motherwell re-sign midfielder Stephen Hughes". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  6. "Leicester 3-2 Tottenham". BBC Sport. BBC. 8 January 2006.
  7. Trio Transfer Listed Archived 6 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Hearts targeting Hughes". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 May 2007.
  9. "Hearts' capture of Hughes delayed". BBC Sport. BBC. 17 August 2007.
  10. "Hughes and Grabban move to Well". BBC Sport. BBC. 31 August 2007.
  11. "City sign Hughes". Norwich City F.C. 22 July 2009.
  12. "Hartlepool 0 - 2 Norwich". BBC Sport. BBC. 29 August 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  13. "Midfielder has contract terminated". Norwich City F.C. 31 August 2011. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  14. "St Johnstone 0-3 Motherwell". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  15. "Midfielder Stephen Hughes ends short Motherwell stay". BBC Sport. BBC. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  16. "Hughes Clinches Deal at Aberdeen". BBC Sport. 27 January 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  17. "East Fife move for Hughes". spfl.co.uk. 10 October 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  18. "Dundee complete deal for midfielder Stephen Hughes". BBC Sport. BBC. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  19. "Stephen Hughes returns to East Fife after just one game for Dundee". STV Sport. STV. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  20. (Rangers player) Hughes, Stephen, FitbaStats. Retrieved 22 March 2022