David Robert Hughes (born 30 December 1972) is a Welsh football manager and former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. As a player, he was a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who notably spent six seasons in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

with

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He also had spells with non-league sides

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

and Sutton United. He briefly managed Eastleigh in a player/manager capacity whilst with the club.

Playing career

Southampton

Hughes was born in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

and, after playing youth football with Weymouth, joined Southampton in March 1991, initially as a trainee. He signed a professional contract in August 1991, but did not make his first-team debut until 5 February 1994 (in a 2–1 defeat away to Oldham Athletic) shortly after the appointment of Alan Ball as Saints' manager. He was never a regular member of the first team squad and appeared more often as a substitute than a starter. In his nine years at The Dell he suffered an incredible catalogue of injuries including broken legs (twice), fractured ribs and back problems which required surgery. When fit, he was an industrious midfielder who could both burst into the box and clear up in defence. He was a rare goal-scorer, but scored twice in consecutive matches, firstly away to Queens Park Rangers on 28 December 1994 with an acrobatic scissors-kick, and again at home to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

three days later with a right-foot shot, both games ending 2–2. His career at Southampton finally ended after a knee injury picked up in the August 2000 pre-season at

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

. In his six playing seasons at the Saints, Hughes made a total of 64 appearances, scoring three goals. He also played at Youth level for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and at Under-21 level for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Eastleigh

After leaving professional football, he went into the building trade and in 2002 he joined

as player/assistant manager. When Hughes joined, Eastleigh were in the Wessex League but in Hughes' first season they won the title to earn promotion to the Southern League. After one season in the Southern League, Eastleigh transferred to the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

for the 2004–05 season, from where they were promoted to the

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

in 2005. On 9 July 2007, Hughes was promoted to team manager at Eastleigh, following

Jason Dodd Jason Robert Dodd (born 2 November 1970) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a full-back who notably spent sixteen-years playing for Southampton where the majority of those came in the Premier L ...

's resignation. He relinquished this post following the appointment of

Ian Baird Ian James Baird (born 1 April 1964) is an English former professional footballer whose most notable spells were as a Leeds United player. During his first period at the club he spent a season as captain. He won a player of the year award in hi ...

in October 2007, operating instead as the player/assistant manager. In October 2008, Hughes resigned from his position at Eastleigh, who were in serious financial difficulties. During his time with the Stoneham Lane club he made over 250 appearances, scoring 38 goals.

Sutton United

Hughes was snapped up by former Eastleigh manager Paul Doswell, now manager at Sutton United. He made his debut as substitute in the F.A. Cup 1st Round tie at home to Notts County, and was booked. Hughes totalled 28 league appearances and 5 in the cup, and scored 5 goals in the 2008–09 season for Sutton.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, David 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from St Albans Welsh footballers Wales under-21 international footballers Premier League players Southampton F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. managers English footballers English people of Welsh descent English football managers Welsh football managers Association football midfielders Footballers from Hertfordshire