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 lea ...

. Hughes played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Rangers,

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, Milton Keynes Dons,

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and East Fife. Hughes made one appearance for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, playing in the last 20 minutes of a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in 2009.

Club career

Rangers

Hughes started his career with Scottish Premier League club Rangers 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

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 simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

out of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

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

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 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 Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–2008 SPL season. ...

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 William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...

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 William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

club

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

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a 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 resident population of 32,422 at the ...

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 Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

: 2002–03, 2004–05 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports 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 ...

: 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 21st-century Scottish sportsmen