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 an integral part of the West Bromwich Albion to get a record fee of 200,000, the highest ever paid to a non-league player. His career continued its upward stream until the car accident which he was included in and held accountable in the 2003-2004 season.
It can be asserted that it was this crash that changed Hughes life. A passenger, Douglas Graham, in the Renault that his Mercedes hit, died from the crash and the driver of the Renault was seriously injured. Since Hughes had been drinking that night, he fled from the accident scene to prevent 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 complete Albions First Division campaign and subsequently be a part of the Premier League. He went on to becoming the clubs leading goal scorer with 13 goals.
The verdict of the crash was delivered in August 2004 where Hughes was found responsible for 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 seemed like the beginning of his downslide when his contract with West Bromwich Albion was terminated and the appeal to get 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 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 two year contract upon his release in August 2007 with them at 1,800 every week, the total 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 the highest goal scorer for that club, scoring 8 goals.
It’s been for the upswing for Hughes since then. He joined the Championship Club Blackpool on loan making his first goal against Charlton Athletic. He was then signed a 2 year contract 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 the demons in the past. He still seeks to redeem himself by doing community and charity work with anticipation that his work in some 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