Richard Hughes (footballer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Richard Daniel Hughes | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Portsmouth | ||
| Number | 22 | ||
Richard Daniel Hughes (born 25 June 1979 in Glasgow) is a Scottish football (soccer) player. He currently plays for English club Portsmouth F.C. as a defensive midfielder, he can also play as a left winger or left back.
Career
Club
Hughes began his career as a youth player at Serie A side Atalanta. After he moved back to the UK he spent a year with Arsenal as a youth player. Hughes then failed to make the transition to the first team and so left the Gunners to join AFC Bournemouth in the summer of 1998 after failing to make an appearance.
The midfielder made his debut in 2-0 victory over Lincoln City F.C., and soon settled into the first team. Hughes impressed enough that Portsmouth signed him for £50,000 in the summer of 2002 as an excellent future prospect.
After making his debut in a 1-1 draw at Sheffield United F.C. he struggled to break into the team on a regular basis and was loaned out to Grimsby Town F.C., where he played 12 games.
Injuries meant he was handed a Premiership chance in December 2003, and he remained an important squad member for the remainder of the 2003/04 campaign. And his first ever Pompey goal came in an FA Cup tie - the winner in a 1-0 victory over Liverpool.
He has been a regular face in the Portsmouth line-up although it was thought he would be leaving in the summer of 2006. On 28 July 2006 he and fellow Portsmouth player Lomana LuaLua pledged their futures at the club, signing three year contracts each.
He writes a weekly column for the Portsmouth News entitled 'Look Hughes Talking'. He also presents "Richard Hughes' Scouting Report" on local radio station 107.4 The Quay on the Friday Night Pompey Preview programme.
On August 15, 2007 against Manchester United, Hughes was headbutted by Manchester forward Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo was quickly red carded for his actions. The game finished 1-1.
Hughes supports Celtic and AC Milan.
International
His performances earned him selection for the Scottish national side, and he won his first cap against Estonia in May 2004. He gained recognition for his performances at Bournemouth with a call-up to represent Scotland at Under-21 level.
Career statistics
[1] Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1998-99||rowspan="4"|Bournemouth||rowspan="4"|Second Division||44||2|||||||||||||||| |- |1999-00||21||2|||||||||||||||| |- |2000-01||44||8|||||||||||||||| |- |2001-02||22||2|||||||||||||||| |- |2002-03||Portsmouth||First Division||6||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2002-03||Grimsby Town||First Division||12||1|||||||||||||||| |- |2003-04||rowspan="6"|Portsmouth||rowspan="6"|Premier League||11||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2004-05||16||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2005-06||26||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2006-07||18||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2007-08||13||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2008-09||2||0|||||||1||0||1||0|||4||0 Template:Football player statistics 3234||15|||||||||||||||| Template:Football player statistics 5234||15|||||||||||||||| |}
References
External links
- Richard Hughes at Soccerbase
- BBC profile