Hughes began his career with his local side, Chelsea, and started well, scoring on his debut against Derby County with an impressive solo effort which was featured on the BBC’s goal of the month competition. Thereafter, however, his career was stalled by injuries, successive managers' squad rotation policies and the signing of other midfielders like Roberto Di Matteo, Gustavo Poyet and Didier Deschamps. Chelsea won the 1996–97 FA Cup; Hughes was left out of the squad for the final but played in the previous rounds including an impressive performance in the 4-1 win over Portsmouth in the quarter-final. Portsmouth. The following year Chelsea won the European Cup Winners Cup and although Hughes played in the earlier rounds of the competition he made the squad but did not make the bench for the final in Stockholm. Over the next three years he featured in 24 more games for the club, and had successful loan spells with Stockport County, Crewe Alexandra and Norwich City. Hughes was recruited by Southampton, then managed by his old Chelsea manager Glenn Hoddle, on a free transferin the summer of 2000, but due to a lengthy groin injury and subsequent change of manager, left a year later. Hughes' next club was Luton Town, where he remained until May 2006, making 88 appearances and scoring seven goals for the club helping them gain promotion from League 2 and become champions of League 1.
Coaching and management career
In 2012, Hughes was appointed joint manager at Kings Langley alongside Ritchie Hanlon. The pair led Kings Langley to three consecutive promotions in 2014, 2015 and 2016. They finished 2nd in Spartan South Midlands Division One in 2014, and then winning the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division title in 2015. The third consecutive promotion saw Kings Langley FC become champions of the Southern Central Division and took the club to the Southern Premier Divisionfor the first time in its history. Hughes, alongside Hanlon, moved to Hayes & Yeading United in November 2016. Hughes became the sole manager following Hanlon's departure in 2017. Hughes took Hayes & Yeading FC to a 3rd place finish in the Isthmian League South Central Division in 2018 but lost 1-0 to Cambridge City in the play offs. The following year saw his team break a number of club records to secure the Isthmian League South Central Title in 2019. An impressive +93 goal difference and a remarkable 129 goals scored ensured Hayes & Yeading FC would play Step 3 football in the Southern Premier the following season. That following season saw Hayes & Yeading FC go on a superb FA Cup run by reaching the 1st round proper, only to lose 2-0 at home to Karl Robinson's League OneOxford Utd in a live BBC televised game at the SKYEX Arena. The Southern Premier League season ended prematurely due to the CoVid19 pandemic with Hughes‘ team sitting in 3rd place.
