Liam Michael Hughes (born 10 August 1992) is an English

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 lea ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or striker for club

Worksop Town Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The team play in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History Previous clubs The club claims it w ...

. He previously played for

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and for

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

, as well as for several

non-league Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

teams.

Club career

Born in

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

, Hughes joined

's youth setup from

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

in 2007, aged 15. Initially a defender, he was converted to a more attacking role during his time at the Academy, and made his first-team debut on 9 November 2010, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–1 draw at home to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

. On 4 April 2011 Hughes signed a two-year professional deal with Cambridge United, but struggled to appear regularly as a starter. On 21 November 2012 he was loaned to

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team i ...

for a month, and after scoring six goals in five matches he returned to Cambridge. Hughes signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract with the club on 30 January 2014. He was a member of the starting eleven for the 2014 FA Trophy Final as Cambridge beat Gosport Borough 4–0, and his headed goal opened the scoring in that season's play-off final in which Cambridge beat

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

2–1 to gain promotion to the

. He played his first Football League match on 16 August, starting in a 2–1 loss away to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. His contract with Cambridge United was cancelled by mutual consent on 30 January 2016, and Hughes signed for

of the

two days later. In June 2016 he joined Barrow. He moved on to

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

in November 2017, before signing for Billericay Town in February 2018. On 16 May 2018 he joined

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

. He left by mutual consent on 7 March 2019 and signed for

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

the same day. Hughes left Gainsborough in July 2019 and signed for Stratford Town, once again linking up with Darlington manager Tommy Wright. He left Stratford in October and signed for

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

; he made his debut on 12 October in a 3–2 defeat at home to

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

. In February 2020, he joined Frickley Athletic on dual registration. Hughes signed for

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

ahead of the 2020–21 season, and spent two years with the club, less a month on loan at

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

while the Northern Premier League was under lockdown in early 2021. He then moved on to

for the 2022-23 season. In Hughes' first season at the club he finished as top scorer with 42 goals in 45 appearances, helping Worksop win the NPL East Division title. He was named in both the East Division and Media-voted Teams of the Season and won the East Division Player of the Season and the Supporters' Player of the Season.

Personal life

In an interview with

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, Hughes revealed his struggles with drug addictions, self-harm and an attempted suicide during his career. Hughes was attacked and robbed of £350 on 25 December 2018, the day before he played for Darlington and scored in a 5–1 win over

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

. Hughes is a father to three daughters from a previous relationship, and will marry his new partner in July 2024.

Career statistics

Honours

Cambridge United *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

: 2013–14 Worksop Town *

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

East Division:

2022-23 The symbol , known in Unicode as hyphen-minus, is the form of hyphen most commonly used in digital documents. On most keyboards, it is the only character that resembles a minus sign or a dash, so it is also used for these. The name ''hyphen-min ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Cambridge United F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Liam 1992 births Living people Footballers from Rotherham English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Scunthorpe United F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Corby Town F.C. players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Billericay Town F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Stratford Town F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Frickley Athletic F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Worksop Town F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Isthmian League players Northern Premier League players Southern Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen