Phil Hughes

Philip Anthony Hughes (born 19 November 1964) is a Northern Ireland former international footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

He left school in 1981 to sign for Manchester United as an apprentice, keeping goal as they finished FA Youth Cup runners-up in 1982, but leaving the following year without signing a professional contract. A two-year spell at Leeds United followed, after which he spent two years at Bury and four years at Wigan Athletic, before finishing his career in the mid-1990s with Scarborough. He earned three caps for the Northern Ireland national football team between 1986 and 1987, and was included in the 1986 FIFA World Cup team as a back-up goalkeeper. Since his retirement from professional football in 1992, Hughes has worked as a goalkeeping coach for a number of clubs. While playing part-time for Guiseley, he also worked as a policeman.

Club career As a teenager, Hughes played for junior teams at Burnley during the school holidays. Hughes' senior career began when he was signed as an apprentice for the youth team at Manchester United in 1981 after leaving school. In the 1981–82 the youth side reached the final of the FA Youth Cup. Hughes started in goal in both legs of the tie but the team were defeated 6–7 on aggregate by Watford. Despite being a promising young goalkeeper, he failed to obtain a professional contract or make a first team appearance for the club and left in January 1983 to sign for Football League Second Division outfit Leeds United on a free transfer.

Hughes did not play any matches in his first six months at Leeds and during the 1983–84 campaign he appeared in just two first-team games as he remained an understudy to Scotland international goalkeeper David Harvey. He played four league matches and one FA Cup tie the following season before the signature of Mervyn Day spelled the end of Hughes' Leeds United career. After recovering from the injury, he briefly played semi-professional football for Northern Premier League outfit Guiseley. He left Burnley on 10 January 2009 to follow Coyle to Premier League rivals Bolton Wanderers.

In 2012, he left Bolton after the dismissal of Owen Coyle and was replaced by Lee Turner but he wasn't out of the game for long, re-joining former club Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2013 shortly after Coyle was installed as manager of The Latics. 2016 Hughes joined Blackburn Rovers as Head Goalkeeping Coach In 2018, he joined F.C. Halifax Town as the Assistant Manager/Goalkeeping Coach to Manager Jamie Fullarton.