Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963 in Ruabon, Wrexham, Wales), nicknamed Sparky , is a former Welsh international football player and currently manager of Manchester City. As an international footballer, he made 72 appearances and scored 16 goals.
During his playing career he was most noted for two spells at Manchester United, but he also played for Barcelona and Bayern Munich, as well as the English clubs Chelsea, Southampton, Everton and finally Blackburn Rovers, before retiring in 2002.
He won a host of medals during his playing career, including two Premier League title medals, four FA Cups, three League Cups and two European Cup Winners' Cups. He also collected an FA Cup runners-up medal and a League Cup runners-up medal.
His reign as Wales manager was his first managerial post; he was appointed in 1999 and remained in the role until 2004. He failed to qualify for a World Cup or European Championship during his five years in charge, although he came close to securing European Championship qualification in 2004.
Playing career
Manchester United (1980–1986)
Hughes joined Manchester United on leaving school in the summer of 1980 but did not make his first team debut for three years — in a 1–1 draw away to Oxford United in the FA Cup, in the 1983–84 season. Like many other United legends, "Sparky" quickly became a favourite by scoring on his debut.
When Hughes made his United debut, the club's striker partnership consisted of 27-year-old Irishman Frank Stapleton and 18-year-old Ulsterman Norman Whiteside. It was arguably the finest striker partnership in English football after the Ian Rush-Kenny Dalglish partnership that was in the process of securing a third successive league title for Liverpool, and breaking up the partnership would not be an easy challenge for Hughes. But Hughes quickly broke into the first team, partnering Frank Stapleton in attack while Norman Whiteside was switched to midfield to partner Ray Wilkins and stand in for the injury prone Remi Moses. The departure of Wilkins to AC Milan at the end of the season saw manager Ron Atkinson decide to use Whiteside as a first choice midfielder, enabling Hughes to keep his place in the first team, and he was rewarded handsomely as he scored 25 goals in 55 games in all competitions as United achieved an FA Cup final victory over Everton. They also finished fourth in the league.
He managed a further 20 goals in the 1985-86 season, where they led until February having won their first 10 league games of the season, before a dismal second half of the season saw them slip into fourth place in the final table. That season saw him score 17 goals in the Football League First Division - it would remain the highest goals tally in a season throughout his career.
Barcelona and Bayern Munich (1986–1988)
In the summer of 1986, Hughes was surprisingly sold to Barcelona for £2 million. The transfer had been agreed just after the turn of 1986 but not made public until the end of the season.
Manager Terry Venables was hoping for him to be a successful strike partner for Gary Lineker, who he had signed from United's rivals Everton, but Hughes was a disappointment in his only season at Barcelona and was subsequently loaned out to German club Bayern Munich for the 1987–88 season, where he regained his form.
Hughes was one of many British players who departed to the continent during the mid to late 1980s, as higher wages — coupled with the opportunity of playing in European competitions after English clubs were barred as a result of the Heysel disaster in 1985 - tempted them abroad.
Back to Manchester United (1988–1995)
In May 1988, Hughes returned to Manchester United, now managed by Alex Ferguson, for a then club record of £1.8 million. As he had done in his first spell at Old Trafford, Hughes proved to be a dynamic goalscorer and was a key player for the club over the next seven years.
He was voted PFA Player of the Year in 1988-89, his first season back in England, though United disappointed in the league and finished 11th after an erratic season which had seen them go 10 league games without a win in the autumn but then go on a strong run after the turn of the new year to lift them to third place, only for a late season collapse to drag them down to mid table.
A year later, he scored twice as United drew 3-3 with Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final, before a Lee Martin goal in the replay gave United their first major trophy in five years. He was United's top goalscorer that season, scoring 15 goals in all competitions (13 of them in the league).
The following season, Hughes scored both goals against old club Barcelona as United lifted the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Once again, he was their top scorer, this time with 21 goals in all competitions. He was the joint top scorer in the league alongside Steve Bruce on 13 goals. They also reached the Football League Cup final that year, but United suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to a Sheffield Wednesday side managed by Ron Atkinson, who had been Hughes's manager in his first spell at Old Trafford. He was also voted PFA Player of the Year again this season.
In 1991-92, Hughes suffered the disappointment of missing out on a league title medal as United were pipped to the title by Leeds United, but had some compensation in the form of a League Cup winner's medal. A year after that, he finally collected an English league title medal as United won the first-ever Premier League title. Hughes collected yet more silverware in 1994 as United won the league title as well as the FA Cup, with Hughes scoring in the final. He also scored Manchester United's consolation goal in their 3-1 defeat in the 1994 League Cup Final at the hands of Aston Villa at Wembley in that season. In doing this, he became only the second player (after Norman Whiteside in 1983) to score in the finals of both the domestic cups in the same season. This has since been achieved a third time by Didier Drogba in 2007. Hughes came close to winning both the Premier League and FA Cup again in 1995, but a failure to beat West Ham on the final day of the season and the inability to score an equaliser against Everton in the FA Cup final a year later condemned United to their first trophyless season in six years.
In April 1994, he scored a spectacular equaliser in the final minute of extra time in the FA Cup semi-final against Oldham Athletic, a goal which has been described by many as one of the finest ever scored by any Manchester United player.
1994–95 was Hughes's last season at United as he agreed to join Chelsea in a surprise £1.5 million deal. There had been speculation about his future at United since January that year, as the arrival of Andy Cole had put his future in the first team under doubt, though he was given a lifeline in the first team after Eric Cantona received an 8-month ban for assaulting a spectator against Crystal Palace. There was also talk that Cantona would be on his way out of Old Trafford, as Internazionale were interested in signing him, but when Cantona signed a new three-year contract Hughes knew that Cantona was likely to be straight back in the side after his suspension finished on 30 September 1995, and knew that his best chance of first-team football would be away from Old Trafford.
Between Cole's arrival and the Cantona incident, Hughes had suffered a knee injury as he courageously scored United's goal in a 1-1 draw at Newcastle United in the Premier League. It was feared that he would be out until the following season as knee ligament damage was suspected, but the injury turned out to be less serious than originally feared and he was back in action by the end of the following month. His injury also put paid to talk of a £2.5million move to Everton that was being mooted in the aftermath of Cole's arrival.
Chelsea (1995–1998)
He left Old Trafford for the second and final time in June 1995 when he was sold to Chelsea for £1.5 million, in a summer that also saw the departures of players such as Paul Ince (to Internazionale) and Andrei Kanchelskis (to Everton). However, United still managed to achieve more success without Hughes, with the team winning the double for the second time in the subsequent season. Ironically, Hughes scored for Chelsea in both of their Premier League fixtures against Manchester United in 1995-96; a 4-1 win for United at Stamford Bridge in October and a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in early December. He was on the losing side as United beat Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final that season, less than two years after he had scored one of United's goals in their FA Cup final triumph over Chelsea.
Hughes was one of the key players in Chelsea's resurgence as a top club in the late 1990s, forming an unlikely strike partnership with Gianfranco Zola and helping to freeze out Gianluca Vialli (who became the club's player-manager in February 1998). He put in match-winning performances against Liverpool and Wimbledon in the FA Cup in 1997, and Vicenza in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup a year later, playing a big part in their glory in both of these competitions. In winning the FA Cup, he became the only player in the 20th century to win the trophy four times. He ended his Chelsea career with 39 goals from 123 games and was transferred to Southampton for £650,000 in July 1998.
Southampton (1998–2000)
He was signed for Southampton for £650,000 by manager Dave Jones as an alternative to injury-plagued David Hirst, who retired within 18 months of Hughes's arrival. Unfortunately, the goals
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