Michael Eamon Hughes (born 2 August 1971) is a Northern Irish football manager, 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 ...

, who is a majority shareholder and co-owner of

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

side

Carrick Rangers Carrick Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1939, hails from Carrickfergus, County Antrim and plays its home matches at Taylors Avenue which is known as ...

. As a player, he was an

attacking 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 played top flight football for Manchester City,

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, Wimbledon and

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, including numerous 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 Fo ...

. He also played in Ligue 1 for Strasbourg and in the Football League for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

, having initially began his career in Northern Ireland with

. He finished his career with non-league side St Neots Town. He was capped 71 times by

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, scoring five times. Since retirement, Hughes has returned to Carrick Rangers as first team manager, he has also worked as the clubs chief executive and currently co-owns the club.

Club career

Hughes' career began with

, before moving to Manchester City as a trainee. In August 1992, he moved to RC Strasbourg for a fee of £450,000. During his four years at Strasbourg, Hughes spent two years on loan to

. It was during the first of these two loan spells that Hughes would have a say in the outcome of the

1994–95 FA Premier League The 1994–95 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the Premier League, the top division of professional football in England. Overview Transfers Just before the start of the s ...

season. West Ham United were playing at home to Manchester United on the last day of the season. Manchester United's rivals for the title were

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, who lost against

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on the same day. That meant that had Manchester United beaten West Ham United, they would win the league. However Hughes put West Ham United ahead in the first half and despite a second half equaliser from

Brian McClair Brian John McClair (born 8 December 1963) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a forward from 1980 to 1998, notable for his near 11-year spell at Manchester United where he won 14 trophies includ ...

, West Ham United held out to hand the title to Blackburn Rovers.

West Ham United

In July 1996, Hughes made the move to West Ham United permanent. In the process, he became the first British player to change clubs for free on a Bosman ruling. The following season

Joe Kinnear Joseph Patrick Kinnear (born 27 December 1946) is an Irish former football manager and player. Kinnear played as a defender, spending the majority of his career—ten seasons—with Tottenham Hotspur. With Tottenham he won the FA Cup, the EFL ...

took Hughes to Wimbledon in a £1.6 million deal.

Wimbledon

Hughes became embroiled in a contract dispute between

and Wimbledon in 2002. In March 2002, Hughes played three matches for Birmingham on loan, but was injured before the club won promotion to the Premier League and a permanent switch fell through. Wimbledon then refused to take him back. The ensuing dispute over who held his registration continued for over a year and Hughes' career had to be put on hold. In October 2003, Hughes signed for

(who shared Selhurst Park with Wimbledon at the time) and an out-of-court settlement was reached with Birmingham.

Crystal Palace

At Palace, he quickly became a fans' favourite, and, for the 2004–05 season, Hughes was appointed team captain. Following relegation, he was replaced in the role by defender

Fitz Hall Fitz Benjamin Hall (born 20 December 1980) is an English former professional footballer and current football agent. He played as a defender in his professional career, and as a striker in amateur football. Club career Early career Hall began h ...

(a decision, by the Palace management, which proved unpopular). However, after a run of good form, Hughes was re-appointed team captain, in January 2006. He later lost the captaincy again, this time to Carl Fletcher. He was released by Palace in May 2007.

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politi ...

commented on Hughes' Palace future claiming that: "Michael Hughes has basically been released, but his is slightly different because I'm really saying that something could also develop later on."

Coventry City

On 6 July 2007, Hughes joined his former manager

Iain Dowie Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...

, signing a one-year contract. On 22 May 2008, Michael Hughes was released by Coventry City following the expiry of his contract, having made 18 first team appearances during the 2007–08 season. Hughes fell out of favour with new Coventry manager Chris Coleman who eventually decided not to renew his contract.

St Neots Town

In March 2009, Michael joined St Neots Town as player-coach, working alongside former international teammate Steve Lomas.

International career

Hughes won 71 international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

with the Northern Ireland national team, scoring five times.

Managerial career

Hughes was appointed caretaker manager of

after the sacking of Stephen Small. On 23 September 2013, Hughes stepped down as manager and was replaced by Gary Haveron. Hughes retained his position as the club's chief executive and majority shareholder.

International goals

''Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first. ''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Michael 1971 births Living people People from Larne Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Northern Ireland under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Manchester City F.C. players RC Strasbourg Alsace players West Ham United F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players St Neots Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Ligue 1 players Expatriate footballers in France British football chairmen and investors Carrick Rangers F.C. players Sportspeople from County Antrim Expatriate association footballers from Northern Ireland Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in France