Bryan Hughes

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Personal information
Bryan Hughes
Date of birth	June 19, 1976 (age 30)
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Height	1.78 m
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Charlton Athletic
Number	20
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994-1997 1997-2004 2004	Wrexham Birmingham City Charlton Athletic	97 (14) 247 (34) 50 (4)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 July, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Bryan Hughes (born June 19, 1976 in Liverpool) is an English football player who currently plays for Charlton Athletic. He initially made his name at Wrexham before moving to Birmingham City, for whom he scored 35 goals before the team even accessed the top flight.

Unable to sign a new deal with Birmingham in July 2004, he moved to Charlton Athletic, signing a three year contract. He made his debut against Bolton Wanderers as a substitute for Matt Holland.

In his first season in SE7 former Birmingham City player Bryan Hughes showed why he has such a great pedigree in cup competitions.

And that continued in 2005/06 when he became the man who caused Jose Mourinho to lose his first match at Stamford Bridge - whatever the Chelsea boss said after the final whistle.

Included in the side for the third round of the Carling Cup, Hughes calmly fired home the winning penalty in a dramatic shootout to dump the holders out of the competition, only to later hear that Mourinho had claimed it was technically a draw after 120 minutes.

When Danny Murphy moved to Tottenham Hotspur in January it was Hughes who largely benefited and the midfielder was one of the club's most consistent, yet underrated, performers of the season.

He actually played in all but five games of the Premiership campaign, passing 50 games for the club, and was on the scoresheet five times.

Despite a brave bundled home goal against Blackburn Rovers in November, starting XI appearances came in fits and starts in the opening half of the season, however, and it wasn't until the visit of Arsenal on Boxing Day that Hughes established himself as former manager Alan Curbishley made sweeping changes.

The ex-Birmingham City man gained great pleasure from heading the opening goal against his former club in early January and he also set up Darren Bent for a clinching second.

And then it was back to that cup record, when he bagged the clinching third against Brentford in round five, and he also notched a goal in the FA Cup replay at Middlesbrough.

That made it 16 goals in 26 appearances in the world's most famous domestic cup competition, which included another memorable run to the quarter finals with his first club, Wrexham, in 1996/97.

Hughes bagged a brace in a 4-1 win over Rochdale at The Valley in January 2005 - his first strikes for the club, and was on target as the Addicks stuttered past Yeovil Town in the fourth round, but he could not spur the Addicks to progress further and they were knocked out by Leicester City, 2-1.

Indeed, it was his performances in the prestigious competition for Wrexham that had caught the attention of the Blues.

Hughes notched against Colwyn Bay, Scunthorpe United, West Ham United and Birmingham before the Welsh outfit bowed out to Chesterfield - shortly after that defeat Trevor Francis paid £800,000 to take him to St Andrews.

He made a total of 291 appearances for the Blues, scoring 42 goals, and was an essential part of Steve Bruce's side's play-off winning season in 2002 and their first and second seasons in the Premiership, before his switch to South-East London.

A free transfer, Hughes put pen-to-paper on a three-year contract in July 2004 after rejecting a new contract offer from Birmingham.

He started the new top-flight season on the bench at Bolton Wanderers until Matt Holland's fifth-minute injury thrust Hughes into the action, but he made only 10 starts all season.

The versatile midfielder did feature in the final two matches of the campaign, however, and played his part in the dramatic showdown with Crystal Palace, opening the scoring with a shot that went in off the post, as the Eagles were relegated.

On December 30, 2006, Hughes scored the last-minute winning goal against Aston Villa providing new manager Alan Pardew with his first win for the club.

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Charlton Athletic F.C. - Current Squad