Laurie Hughes

Laurie Hughes
Personnel
Surname	Lawrence Hughes
birthday	March 2, 1924
place of birth	Liverpool ,  England
date of death	September 9, 2011
position	Defender
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
	Tranmere Rovers
1943-1960	Liverpool FC	303 (1)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1950	England B	1 (0)
1950	England	3 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Lawrence "Laurie" Hughes (born March 2, 1924 in Liverpool , † September 9, 2011 ) was an English football player . The central defender, mostly used in the middle position, made his only three appearances for the English senior team at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil . He was also active for many years at Liverpool FC and won the first English championship after the Second World War with this club in 1947 .

Athletic career

The Liverpool-born Laurie Hughes began playing football at the small club Tranmere Rovers and moved to the big Liverpool FC in 1943. Due to the war-related interruption of regular game operations, the young talent, who made a name for himself through his physical robustness in 112 "wartime games" in the center of the defense, only came on January 5, 1946 in a 2-0 win against Chester FC in FA Cup on his debut for the "Reds". In the first regular championship season after the Second World War, Hughes played for the championship right away with his team and ultimately contributed significantly to Liverpool FC's first English championship title in 24 years with 30 appearances in 42 competitive games in 1947.

The next career highlights followed in 1950 when Hughes reached the FA Cup final with his team, but was defeated there by Arsenal at Wembley with 0-2. The subsequent World Cup tournament in Brazil should quickly provide compensation and Hughes, who had not played an international match up until now, was not only part of the squad, but was also in all English games. After a 2-0 opening win against Chile at his premiere on June 25, 1950, a great disappointment followed four days later when he and his team lost 1-0 to the underdogs of the United States . Another 1-0 defeat against Spain meant the premature tournament for England and the last international match in Laurie Hughes' career.

Hughes, who occasionally helped out on the outside but was always defensively oriented and had a good overview of the game, only scored in one competitive game during his career, on December 8, 1951, when he scored in the 88th minute 2-2 against Preston North End saved a point. However, the sporting trend for Liverpool in the 1950s was clearly downward and after Hughes and his team were still able to avoid falling into the second division in the 1952/53 season , relegation to the second division was due a year later as bottom of the table . For the rest of his career, Hughes acted in the second division and was one of the top performers in the 1956/57 season. At the age of 33, he made his last appearance against Charlton Athletic on September 28, 1957, and although he was not considered for the next three years, he waited until May 1960 to decide to resign.

successes

• 1947: English champion

Web links

• Biography from www.lfchistory.net (engl.)
• (Engl.) ( Memento of 4 February 2012 at the Internet Archive ) (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Former Liverpool FC and Tranmere Rovers footballer Laurie Hughes has died aged 87.