Darren Hughes (English footballer)

Darren John Hughes (born 6 October 1965) is an English former footballer. A left-back noted for his pace, he made 388 league and cup appearances for six clubs over a fourteen-year career in the English Football League.

This article is about the English soccer player. For the Monaghan player, see Darren Hughes (Gaelic footballer).

Darren Hughes
Personal information
Full name Darren John Hughes[1]
Date of birth (1965-10-06) 6 October 1965[1]
Place of birth Prescot, England[1]
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s) Left-back; midfielder
Youth career
1979–1983 Everton
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1983–1985 Everton 3 (0)
1985–1986 Shrewsbury Town 37 (1)
1986–1987 Brighton & Hove Albion 26 (2)
1987–1994 Port Vale 184 (4)
1995 Northampton Town 21 (0)
1995–1997 Exeter City 62 (1)
1997–1998 Morecambe
1998–???? Newcastle Town
Total 333 (8)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Starting his senior career at Everton in 1983, he was unable to make the grade at the First Division champions, despite helping the youth team to lift the FA Youth Cup, and so was allowed to leave for Shrewsbury Town in June 1985. After one season with the "Shrews" he signed with Brighton & Hove Albion for a £35,000 fee in September 1986. In September 1987 he signed with Port Vale, where he spent seven years and made 184 league appearances. He helped the "Valiants" to win promotion out of the Third Division in 1989. He then spent January to November 1995 at Northampton Town, before transferring to Exeter City. After two seasons at Exeter he moved into non-League football with Morecambe and Newcastle Town.

Career

Everton

Hughes started his career at Everton, having first been scouted at the age of 11 and signed on schoolboy terms at age 14.[3] He played in the FA Youth Cup final defeat to Norwich City in 1983, and the victory over Stoke City in the following year's final – he scored the winning goal against Stoke from well outside the penalty area.[4] He signed his first professional contract in October 1983.[5] As John Bailey's understudy, he made his first team debut on 27 December 1983, in a 3–0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.[6] Hughes later developed a hernia and did not play again for six months.[3] He played in the final two First Division games of the title winning 1984–85 season: a 4–1 loss to Coventry City at Highfield Road and a 2–0 defeat to Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. Manager Howard Kendall allowed him to join Shrewsbury Town on a free transfer in June 1985.[7]

Shrewsbury Town

He helped Chic Bates's "Shrews" to post a 17th-place finish in the Second Division in the 1985–86 season. Bates played him as a forward on the last day of the campaign and Hughes scored from a free kick in a victory that relegated Middlesbrough.[3]

Brighton & Hove Albion

Hughes left Gay Meadow on a £30,000 transfer to league rivals Brighton & Hove Albion in September 1986, two weeks after playing a game between the two clubs.[8] He said he had been happy at Shrewsbury, but felt that Brighton were a bigger club.[8] He made his debut at the Goldstone Ground in a 3–0 defeat to Birmingham City in the Full Members' Cup on 1 October, and made his league debut for the club in a 1–0 home win over Stoke City three days later.[8] However, the midfielder could not prevent the "Seagulls" from suffering relegation in last place in the 1986–87 season. Manager Alan Mullery was sacked in January and Hughes retained his first-team place under new boss Barry Lloyd, though results did not improve.[8] Lloyd wanted to reduce his wages from £400 to £80-a-week and so Hughes agreed to leave the club.[3]

Port Vale

Hughes joined John Rudge's Port Vale on loan in September 1987, before signing permanently for a £5,000 fee later that month.[1] He claimed a goal against former employers Brighton in a 2–0 win at Vale Park on 28 September, and went on to make 53 appearances for the "Valiants" in the 1987–88 campaign.[1] He was converted from central midfield to become the club's regular left-back.[9] He played 56 games in the 1988–89 season, including both legs of the Third Division play-off final victory over Bristol Rovers.[1] He then played 46 matches in the 1989–90 season, as Vale settled into the Second Division.[1] Teammate and club legend Phil Sproson named him as the club's best left-back of the 1980s.[10] However, he could only play 18 games in the 1990–91 season, as he suffered a hernia injury and underwent two operations to fix it; during his absence Nigerian loanee Reuben Agboola took his place.[1] Hughes returned to fitness by April 1991.[1] He made 49 appearances in the 1991–92 relegation season, and scored past Newcastle United in a 2–2 draw at St James' Park.[1]

Hughes was diagnosed with a ruptured thigh muscle in July 1992 and again battled through two surgical procedures to correct it during the 1992–93 season; this caused him to miss the play-off final and Football League Trophy final.[1] Medical scans later revealed a serious knee problem and he blamed medical negligence on the part of the club for failing to treat the injury properly, saying that his knee had been injected with cortisone in a failed attempt to try and mask the problem and force through a transfer to Oldham Athletic.[11] Still injured at the start of the 1993–94 season, he found, to his dismay, that he was released by the club in February 1994.[1] He took the club to an industrial tribunal citing unfair dismissal, the result of which was a six-week trial in August 1994 to prove his 'fitness and ability'.[1] He quit the club in November 1994 after being dissatisfied there, and moved on to Northampton Town in January 1995.[1]

Later career

He helped Ian Atkins's "Cobblers" to a 17th-place finish in the Third Division in 1994–95, before he left Sixfields to switch to Exeter City in November 1995.[5] He made 62 Third Division appearances, as Peter Fox's "Grecians" struggled at the foot of the English Football League in 1995–96 and 1996–97. He then departed St James Park for Morecambe.[5] He played ten games as he helped Jim Harvey's "Shrimpers" to a fifth-place finish in the Conference National in 1997–98. He left the Globe Arena and later played for Newcastle Town in the North West Counties League.[5]

Style of play

Hughes was a pacey left-back, though injuries prevented him from reaching his full potential.[12] He spent his early career as a midfielder.[9] He was nicknamed Yosser Hughes, after the character of the same name from television series Boys from the Blackstuff.[3]

Later life

After retiring as a player, Hughes worked as a financial advisor, as a roofer, started a painting company, spent time living in Australia, before finally returning to the UK to run a construction business.[11][13]

Career statistics

Source:[14]

Club Season Division League FA Cup Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Everton 1983–84 First Division 10000010
1984–85 First Division 20000020
Total 30000030
Shrewsbury Town 1985–86 Second Division 3111050371
1986–87 Second Division 60003090
Total 3711080461
Brighton & Hove Albion 1986–87 Second Division 2622010292
Port Vale 1987–88 Third Division 4317030531
1988–89 Third Division 4403090560
1989–90 Second Division 3810305461
1990–91 Second Division 1700010180
1991–92 Second Division 4221060492
Total 18441402402224
Northampton Town 1994–95 Third Division 1300000130
1995–96 Third Division 80001090
Total 2100010220
Exeter City 1995–96 Third Division 2601000270
1996–97 Third Division 3611030401
Total 6212030671
Career total 33381903703888

Honours

Everton

Port Vale

References
  1. Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 145. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
  2. Darren Hughes at Soccerbase
  3. "Darren Hughes Interview Part 1". The Vale Park Beano. 127.
  4. "Youth Cup final belters, trendy referees and unpunished punches". The Sentinel. 29 November 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  5. "The Grecian Archive – Hughes, Darren". grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  6. "Darren Hughes | evertonfpf.org". evertonfpf.org. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  7. "Hughes, Darren". grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  8. "Elite career eluded Darren Hughes after cup-winning start with Everton". In parallel lines. 27 December 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  9. Fielding, Rob (19 July 2020). "Five of the best: players converted to other positions by John Rudge". onevalefan.co.uk. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  10. Kent, Jeff (December 1991). Port Vale Tales: A Collection of Stories, Anecdotes And Memories. Witan Books. p. 298. ISBN 0-9508981-6-3.
  11. "Darren Hughes Interview Part 2". The Vale Park Beano. 128.
  12. Earle, Robbie (12 January 2012). "Here's my promotion-winning Vale team". The Sentinel. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  13. "Where Are They Now? | Footballers | Darren Hughes". where-are-they-now.co.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  14. Darren Hughes at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  15. Kent, Jeff (1989). Port Vale Promotion Chronicle 1988-1989: Back to Where We Once Belonged!. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9508981-3-9.
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