Stephen David Hughes (born 14 November 1982) is a Scottish former professional

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 ...

. Hughes played as 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 ...

for

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, Leicester City,

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

, Norwich City, Milton Keynes Dons,

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and East Fife. Hughes made one appearance for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, playing in the last 20 minutes of a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 2009.

Club career

Rangers

Hughes started his career with Scottish Premier League club

at the age of 16. 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 Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

out of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in a cup upset.

Motherwell

On 4 June 2007, Hughes was placed on the transfer list by then Leicester manager Martin Allen, with Hearts and

reportedly offering £50,000 for the player. On 17 August, Hearts had successfully negotiated terms with Hughes. The transfer, however, was delayed, and on 31 August, Hughes joined Motherwell for an undisclosed fee. Hughes played for Motherwell in the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons.

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. 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. 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. He left Norwich by mutual consent in August 2011.

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

until 3 January 2012 after a successful trial. 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 St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

the following week. 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.

Aberdeen

After a short trial, Hughes signed for

on 27 January 2012. He was released from his contract on 7 June 2013.

East Fife

On 10 October 2013, Hughes signed for

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was e ...

side East Fife. 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 The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

club

in January 2014. His Dundee career was short lived where he played only the first 45 minutes away to

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

where after a poor performance was substituted at half time. He never again played for Dundee.

East Fife (loan)

After making one appearance for

, Hughes rejoined East Fife on loan after being told he was not part of the new manager Paul Hartley's plans.

International career

Hughes's debut call-up to the Scotland national team was to play

in October 2009. Hughes appeared as a second-half substitute, replacing Charlie Adam in the 67th minute.

Honours

Rangers(Rangers player) Hughes, Stephen
FitbaStats. Retrieved 22 March 2022 *

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

: 2002–03, 2004–05 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 2001–02

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Stephen 1982 births Living people Footballers from Motherwell Scottish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's B international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Rangers F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players