Lee Hughes name receives mixed reactions while talking about football. His illustrious career has been followed closely by sky sports news who were following his career from his days being a semi professional in England C National Football team to his latest position being a striker of Notts County. Lee Hughes began realizing his dream when he became an integral part of the West Bromwich Albion to get a record fee of 200,000, the biggest ever paid to a non-league player. His career continued its upward stream until the car accident that he was included in and held responsible in the 2003-2004 season.
It can be asserted that it had been this crash that changed Hughes life. A passenger, Douglas Graham, in the Renault that his Mercedes hit, died from the crash plus the driver of the Renault was seriously injured. Since Hughes was drinking that night, he fled from the accident scene to avoid the breath analyzer test. Though he turned himself to the police the next day and was charged with causing death by drunken driving, he was released on bail which allowed him to complete Albions First Division campaign and subsequently become a part of the Premier League. He proceeded to becoming the clubs leading goal scorer with 13 goals.
The verdict on the crash was delivered in August 2004 where Hughes was found guilty of the death of Douglas Graham a result of drunken driving as well as fleeing from the crime scene and was sentenced to six years of imprisonment and was banned from driving for ten years.
It appeared like the beginning of his downslide when his contract with West Bromwich Albion was terminated and his appeal for a reduced sentence refused. While in prison he found salvation in Islam, the faith that he converted to. Alongside, he also played for the Staffordshire County Senior League as part of the prison football team, Featherstone F.C.
Days before his release news surfaced of Hughes signing an agreement with Oldham Athletic. He did sign a 2 year contract upon his release in August 2007 with them at 1,800 per week, the amount being one tenth of what he earned during his stint with Wes Bromwich Albion. However, by the time the season ended, Hughes has reclaimed his position as the highest goal scorer for that club, scoring 8 goals.
It’s been for the upswing for Hughes since that time. He joined the Championship Club Blackpool on loan making his first goal against Charlton Athletic. He was then signed a two year contract for League Two team for Notts County and scored a hat-trick in the victory over Bradford City with 5-0.
Though Hughes finds himself climbing up the ladder of success, he’s still haunted by the demons in the past. He still seeks to redeem himself by doing community and charity work in anticipation that his work in a way can help prevent another tragedy from happening.
Sky Sports news has the detailed and updated records of all of Lee Hughes games, scores and transfer history