Lee Hughes name receives mixed reactions while speaking of football. His illustrious career continues to be 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 a part of the West Bromwich Albion for 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 which he was included in and held responsible during the 2003-2004 season.
It may be said that it was this crash that changed Hughes life. A passenger, Douglas Graham, inside 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 following day and was arrested for causing death by drunken driving, he was released on bail which allowed him to finish Albions First Division campaign and subsequently be 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 also banned from driving for 10 years.
It seemed 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 changed into. Alongside, he also played for the Staffordshire County Senior League as a 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 every week, the amount being one tenth of what he earned throughout his stint with Wes Bromwich Albion. However, by the point the season ended, Hughes has reclaimed his position as being the highest goal scorer for that club, scoring 8 goals.
on the upswing for Hughes since then. He joined the Championship Club Blackpool on loan and made his first goal against Charlton Athletic. He was then signed a two year agreement for League Two team for Notts County and scored a hat-trick in a victory over Bradford City with 5-0.
Though Hughes finds himself climbing to an advaced status of success, he’s still haunted by way of the demons in the past. He still seeks to redeem himself by doing community and charity work with the hope that his work in a way can help prevent another tragedy from happening.
Sky Sports news has got the detailed and updated records of all of Lee Hughes games, scores and transfer history