Aaron Hughes

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Aaron Hughes
Aaron Hughes 2012.jpg
Aaron Hughes (2012)
Personnel
Surname Aaron William Hughes
birthday November 8, 1979
place of birth Cookstown ,  Northern Ireland
size 183 cm
position Defense
Juniors
Years station
Portadown Boys
Lisburn Youth
Coagh United
1995-1997 Newcastle United
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1997-2005 Newcastle United 205 (4)
2005-2007 Aston Villa 54 (0)
2007-2014 Fulham FC 195 (1)
2014 Queens Park Rangers 11 (0)
2014-2015 Brighton & Hove Albion 10 (0)
2015-2016 Melbourne City FC 6 (1)
2016 Kerala Blasters FC 11 (1)
2017-2019 Heart of Midlothian 32 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
Northern Ireland U-16 2 (0)
Northern Ireland U-18 5 (1)
1998 Northern Ireland B 2 (0)
1998-2018 Northern Ireland 112 (1)
1 Only league games are given.

Aaron William Hughes (born November 8, 1979 in Cookstown ) is a former Northern Irish football player . The long-time captain of the Northern Irish national team , who, in addition to his preferred position in central defense, was also used as a full-back or in midfield, was known for his extremely fair style of play, with which he rarely received a yellow and to date no red card. After his sporting breakthrough in the late 1990s at Newcastle United , where he played over 200 league games by the summer of 2005, he played after a two-year stint at Aston Villa from July 2007 in London for Fulham FC and Queens Park Rangers . From 2014 he was under contract with Brighton & Hove Albion . With Melbourne City FC in Australia since 2015 . The biggest success for Hughes in 2010 was reaching the final in the Europa League .

Professional career

In the club

Newcastle United (1997-2005)

Hughes played for the Portadown Boys since the age of twelve, drove to training every week in the "branch" of the Manchester United Youth Academy ("School of Excellence") in Belfast and then went to the Lisburn Youth Club and later Coagh United active. He was finally discovered at the so-called Milk Cup when he competed with the team of a Christian youth organization (Boys' Brigade) against Newcastle United .

At the age of 15, Hughes was henceforth part of the junior division of the "Magpies" and before the start of the 1997/98 season he was in a tournament in Ireland for the first time in the senior team. His competitive debut turned into a "baptism of fire" when he was substituted on November 26, 1997 against FC Barcelona (0: 1) at Camp Nou and by the end of the season he had a total of eight appearances, four of which he was in the starting line-up . His flexibility was noticeable early on, which enabled him to play a good game as a full-back in the league cup against the experienced England international Steve McManaman from Liverpool despite his obvious preference for the central defender position . Gradually, he worked his way into the first team with self-confident and mature-looking performances after he had started the 1998/99 season initially in the reserve team and the U-19 selection. Between November 1998 and January 1999, he defended his place in the senior team, then found himself back on the bench before he unexpectedly had to replace the injured Steve Howey in the victorious FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur (2-0) .

Although he had meanwhile risen to become a regular in the Northern Irish national team, the fight for a regular place in Newcastle turned out to be much more complicated. Hughes recommended himself in the UEFA Cup in November 1999 when he neutralized Francesco Totti in front of the back four and a few days later as a left-back in the match against Tottenham, in which he was named best player ("Man of the Match"). After a brief return to the bench, Alessandro Pistone's injury eventually resulted in Hughes being promoted to regular on the left. With his first league goal against Sheffield Wednesday (8-0), he was also the club's youngest Premier League goalscorer to date. Only in the course of the 2000/01 season, when Hughes finally established himself, he switched to his preferred position in the defensive center, showed his strengths in the ability to "read a game" and to initiate quick counterattacks after defensive actions and finally signed a new five-year contract.

In the course of the 2001/02 season he acted after initial games in the defense center and further "special surveillance", such as against Thomas Häßler in the UI Cup against TSV 1860 Munich , mostly as a right-back and was just as reliable as on the left. Only when Andy Griffin forced himself on the right side in September 2002, he left the post again, from then on mostly played again on the left and occasionally occupied the central area in and in front of the defense center. In October 2003, he regained Griffin's regular seat on the right; In addition - as in previous years and later - his exceptionally fair style of play for a defender was noticeable, as he only received one yellow card in 47 competitive games. The 2004/05 season was Hughes' last season at Newcastle and was disappointing. Although he still had his permanent place in the team now trained by Graeme Souness and demonstrated his flexibility, the round ended disappointingly in 14th place and the Northern Irish had to undergo a groin operation in April 2005. Souness planned to build a new team ultimately without Hughes, who then moved to Aston Villa in late May 2005 for £ 1.5 million .

Aston Villa (2005-2007)

In the "Villans" coached by David O'Leary , Hughes was immediately part of the team and was mostly used as a right full-back. However, he did not find happiness in Birmingham for a long time. Since Aston Villa only finished 16th in the 2005/06 season , O'Leary had to leave again and his prospects gradually deteriorated under successor Martin O'Neill . In addition to injury problems, the main reasons were that loan player Phil Bardsley had challenged him for his place in the team. After only two years, he left the club prematurely for Fulham , which paid a transfer fee of one million pounds.

Fulham FC (since 2007)

At Fulham FC it was an advantage for Hughes that he was looked after by his then national coach Lawrie Sanchez , who in turn knew his merits very well. After an injury had delayed his debut until mid-September 2007, Hughes formed the central defense with the tall Norwegian Brede Hangeland at the Cottagers; also made him Sanchez behind Brian McBride directly to the substitute captain. After a difficult season with a close relegation and coaching change to Roy Hodgson , Hughes played with Hangeland an exceptionally good 2008/09 season. The defense only conceded 34 goals and helped the club to a surprising sixth place, which led to qualification for the Europa League . There he reached the final against Atlético Madrid just under a year later (1: 2 a.s.), where he played a total of 56 competitive games that year - only two of them as a right full-back. In December 2009, he also extended his contract until the end of the 2012/13 season. Shortly before, defense partner Hangeland had already signed a long-term contract.

Melbourne City FC (since 2015)

In July 2015, he moved to Australia on a free transfer to play in the A-League for Melbourne City FC . It was not until the 6th match day that he made his first appearance, but was replaced at half time. At the turn of the year he played for the first time 90 minutes against Sydney FC and also scored a goal, but after three more games he fell out of the squad again and was no longer considered. He only returned to the bench in the final series, but Hughes was not used in both Melbourne games.

Northern Irish national football team

In the same year in which Hughes played two internationals for the Northern Ireland B national team, he made his debut for the A team on March 25, 1997. Before the end of the 1997/98 season, he played a total of three international matches against Slovakia (1-0), Switzerland (1-0) and by substitution in Spain (1: 4), although he only played a handful of competitive games had contested the first team of Newcastle United. In the following years he continuously fought his way into the team and was a full-back in four out of ten qualifying games for the Euro 2000 - in addition, in August 1999 a duel with the world champions French national soccer team (0: 1) was added.

Hughes took office for the first time on April 17, 2002 against Spain (0-5) and has been permanently entrusted with this function since 2003. In contrast to the interchanges in the clubs, Hughes has since been mostly in central defense, with Chris Baird, a colleague from Fulham, who acts with him on the defensive, who also replaces him as captain in an emergency. Although Hughes never qualified for the finals of a World or European Championship in his national team career, which has spanned over a decade, he led the team between 2005 and 2007 against England (1-0), Spain (3-2) and Sweden (2-1 ) to respect successes in competitive games. On August 10, 2011, he scored his first goal for the Northern Irish senior team in his 77th international match against the Faroe Islands (4-0).

In qualifying for the 2016 European Championship , it was used in four games and contributed to Northern Ireland qualifying for a major football tournament for the first time in 30 years and for the first time ever for a European Championship finals. On May 18, 2016 he was appointed by team manager Michael O'Neill to the provisional squad with 28 players for the European Championship finals, although he had not played a league game since January 25, 2016. He was then also nominated for the final EM squad.

On June 4th, 30 years after the retirement of goalkeeping legend Pat Jennings, he was the second Northern Irish international and the first Northern Irish outfield player to make his 100th international match in the EM preparatory game against Slovakia .

At the European Championships he only sat on the bench in the 1-0 game against Poland, from the second game against Ukraine he moved up to the top team and played three tournament games over the full season. The team reached the round of 16, which were lost to Wales.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lisburn Youth Club Homepage ( Memento from April 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ "Aaron Hughes" (Northern Ireland Milk Cup)
  3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 978-1-85291-588-9 , pp. 143 .
  4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 978-1-85291-607-7 , pp. 149 .
  5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 978-1-85291-626-8 , pp. 159 .
  6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-946531-34-9 , pp. 148 .
  7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1-85291-648-0 , pp. 202 .
  8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-85291-651-0 , pp. 209 .
  9. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2004/2005 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2004, ISBN 978-1-85291-660-2 , pp. 199 .
  10. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-85291-662-6 , pp. 198 .
  11. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2006-07 . Mainstream Publishing, 2006, ISBN 978-1-84596-111-4 , pp. 199 .
  12. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2007-08 . Mainstream Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-246-3 , pp. 198 f .
  13. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008-09 . Mainstream Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8 , pp. 213 .
  14. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009-10 . Mainstream Publishing, 2009, ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0 , pp. 202 .
  15. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010-11 . Mainstream Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0 , pp. 206 .
  16. ^ "Northern Ireland's Aaron Hughes agrees new Fulham deal" (BBC Sport)
  17. ↑ "N Ireland 4-0 Faroe Islands" (BBC Sport)
  18. ↑ irishfa.com: "Northern Ireland squad to play Belarus"
  19. ↑ bbc.com: "Euro 2016: NI boss O'Neill names final 23-man squad"
  20. ↑ irishfa.com: "Aaron Hughes 100 Not Out"
personal data
SURNAME Hughes, Aaron
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hughes, Aaron William (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Northern Irish soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH Cookstown , Northern Ireland