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Michael Eamon Hughes (born 2 August 1971) is a Northern Irish footballer who plays for St Neots Town as player-coach. He is a midfielder.

[edit] Club career

Hughes' career began with 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 successful years on loan to West Ham United.

[edit] West Ham United

In July 1996, Hughes made the move to West Ham permanent. In the process, he became the first player to change clubs for free on a Bosman ruling. The following season Joe Kinnear took Hughes to Wimbledon in a £1.6million deal.

[edit] Wimbledon

Hughes became embroiled in a contract dispute between Birmingham City 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 Palace (who shared Selhurst Park with Wimbledon at the time) and was compensated by Birmingham.

[edit] 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 (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 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."^[1]

[edit] Coventry City

On 6 July 2007, Hughes joined his former manager Iain Dowie at Coventry City, signing a one-year contract.^[2]

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.

[edit] St Neots Town

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

[edit] International career

Hughes has won 71 international caps with the Northern Ireland national team, scoring five times.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Michael Hughes career stats at Soccerbase