Aaron Hughes and the bad luck of being Hyypia’s first Brighton signing
Here’s a question for you. Which former Albion player is his country’s most capped outfielder with a record 112 appearances? The answer is a man who, although he spent a year with Brighton, you could quite easily have forgotten ever pulled on the stripes – Aaron Hughes.
It’s not that Hughes is an unknown. Christ, he had quite the career, making his debut as a 18-year-old for Newcastle United against Barcelona in the Nou Camp; being a part of the Fulham side that miraculously reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2010; his record-setting exploits with Northern Ireland which included leading them to famous home wins over England and Spain.
It’s just that he didn’t really do anything during his spell at the Amex. Hughes started only 10 games and made three further substitute appearances in a Brighton shirt, a forgettable footnote in a 2014-15 season that most of us would be only too happy to pretend never happened.
Hughes’ career had begun at St James’ Park when the Toon Army were under the management of Kenny Dalglish. He was just 18 days past his 18th birthday in November 1997 when Dalglish decided to throw him in at the deep end, introducing him at a half time of a Champions League clash away against a Barcelona side containing the considerable talents of Rivaldo and Pep Guardiola.
The teenage Hughes coped admirably and that was the start of a beautiful love affair with Newcastle. He was a mainstay at the heart of the defence in a Toon side who went onto thrill under Sir Bobby Robson, racking up 275 appearances in seven seasons in the North East.
A two year spell encompassing 64 games at Aston Villa was followed by seven years and 249 matches for Fulham. During his time at Craven Cottage, Hughes helped the Cottagers to their best performances of the modern era.
He was an integral part of Roy Hodgson’s team that finished seventh in the Premier League in the 2008-09 season. Hughes then helped Fulham on their fairy tale European adventure when they were only denied the UEFA Cup in the Hamburg final by an outstanding Atletico Madrid outfit.
Hughes left Fulham for neighbours Queens Park Rangers in January 2014. He played 11 games to help the R’s to promotion via the Championship playoffs at the end of the 2013-14 season, after which he found himself released from Loftus Road and without a club for the first time in his career.
There are several reasons why the Brighton career of Aaron Hughes never took off, and most of them can be attributed to what happened in that summer of 2014.
The first was the appointment of Sami Hyypia. Being a Hyypia signing – and Hughes was the very first – proved to be a millstone around the neck of virtually every player that the clueless Finn brought to the Amex.
In fact, Chris Hughton’s approach to turning the Albion’s campaign around seemed to revolve around not selecting any of the players that Hyypia had signed.
Hughes made just one appearance in the second half the season under Hughton and that was only when the new manager was without Lewis Dunk and Greg Halford for the January visit of Ipswich Town to the Amex.
Brighton won 3-2 that night but not even a rare victory allowed Hughes to keep his place and we never saw him in blue and white again.
Hughes’ second problem was that he was signed in that small six month window where Tony Bloom decided to try and do things on the cheap. The summer of 2014 saw the Albion attempt to cut costs, replacing big money players with less expensive alternatives.
Future Premier League winner Leonardo Ulloa was sold to Leicester City and replaced with Chris O’Grady. Brighton spent months haggling with Wolverhampton Wanderers over the fee Wolves wanted for Stephen Ward, only to see Burnley swoop in during the final weeks of the transfer window to take the left back to Turf Moor. We got lumbered with Joe Bennett instead.
Keith Andrews and David Lopez were replaced by just one signing – and it was Gary Gardner. Will Buckley went out, Adrian Colunga came in.
Aaron Hughes meanwhile was the like-for-like replacement for Brighton 2013-14 Player of the Season winner Matthew Upson. The logic behind the signing was there for all to see; Upson had been signed as an experienced top flight defender who had really helped tighten up the defence alongside Gordon Greer in 18 months at the Amex.
Hughes arrived with a similar profile, although undoubtedly on a much lesser wage than Upson. On paper at least it looked a good signing – so much so that Hyypia’s bland tones nearly exhibited a crack of excitement when he revealed with typical descriptive gusto why he had made Hughes his first capture.
“We wanted to bring another experienced defender, and Aaron fits the bill – having played at Premier League, Champions League and international level.
“I have played against Aaron a few times during my time at Liverpool and also for Finland, and I know his qualities and what he will give us.
“He has a very good footballing pedigree, is an intelligent player, and he has a great mentality and good approach to the game.
“He has that experience I wanted to bring into the squad, which alongside our other senior players, will help our younger players continue to develop and progress in the first-team squad.
“Overall, we still have some work to do in terms of recruitment, and we are all working hard to do that. This is a good start and Aaron is a great addition.”
The third factor was Hyypia’s bizarre tactics. He wanted his full backs to push as far up the pitch as possible, which often left the two centre backs overrun.
Two fit and sprightly defenders would have struggled when asked to play in such a system, and yet Hyypia expected 34-year-old Hughes and 33-year-old Greer, neither of whom had ever been blessed with pace throughout their careers, to carry out the task.
It became very clear very quickly that it simply wasn’t going to work. Quite why Hyypia ever thought it would is baffling.
If Hyppia had intended to play that way, then he should have signed a younger, more mobile defender than Hughes to replace Upson; one with the legs to carry out the task require which essentially involved covering two positions at once when the full backs when walkies up the flanks.
After defeats against Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City in the opening two games, Hyypia decided to inject some youth into the heart of his defence by promoting Dunk to the starting lineup in place of Hughes.
And it’s the future England international’s emergence that is the fourth and biggest reason as to why Hughes’ Brighton career was such a damp squib.
Hughes was unfortunate enough to arrive at the Amex just as Dunk finally blossomed from talented youngster with a lot of potential into a Championship regular.
It often gets forgotten that although Dunk had been in and around the first team scene since 2010, it was only under Hyypia in 2014 that he really established himself in the side.
Prior to that, all Dunk’s run of games were because of injuries and suspensions to others. He only played frequently at the start of the 2011-12 season due to Adam El-Abd and Tommy Elphick’s long term injuries.
In 2012-13, Dunk made just five Championship starts. In 2013-14, that figure dropped to four. Nine league appearances in two years.
When Hughes was signed, it was to partner Greer. Nobody could have predicted that Dunk would choose that summer to finally come of age and Hughes would be surplus to requirements almost immediately.
Read any interview with a former teammate of Hughes and the one word that always seems to crop up is “professionalism”.
The Derry Pele Paddy McCourt once said of his former Brighton and Northern Ireland colleague, “He’s without a doubt the best professional I encountered during my football career.”
“I was fortunate enough to play alongside Aaron Hughes at Brighton and we also spent many years together with Northern Ireland. A true gentleman and brilliant player.”
Hughes more than lived up to that reputation for professionalism during his one-season stay at the Amex. It can’t have been easy for him.
He would have signed knowing that at the age of 35, he didn’t have many years left. At that stage of a player’s career, every minute counts and they want to be playing regularly while they still can.
Hughes though found himself overtaken in the pecking order almost immediately, partly because of a useless manager and a strange system.
By the time Hyypia belatedly abandoned his ludicrous tactics around November, Hughes had little chance of ousting Greer or Dunk from the starting XI.
Greer was captain and Dunk was proving his worth at both ends of the pitch, popping up with vital goals – this being the season he ended up top scorer with seven. Their partnership was one of the few bright spots of the Hyypia era.
Then the manager who Hughes had signed for was relieved of his duties after just four months of the season. In came a new man who didn’t take to him and he only played 90 minutes once in the second half of the campaign.
Despite all that, Hughes remained the consummate pro. He even convinced Northern Ireland teammate Oliver Norwood to sign for Brighton from Reading in the summer of 2016.
“I spoke to Hughesy about his time here,” Norwood said following the completion of his move from the Madjeski Stadium for an undisclosed fee. “He spoke so highly of the club, mentioning the facilities, the stadium and that it’s set up to go to the Premier League.
“He’s a wonderful person that’s achieved so much. I know he didn’t get the game time he would have liked here, but if I have half the career he has, then I’ll be very happy.”
When Aaron Hughes signed for Melbourne City following his release by Brighton in the summer of 2015, most Albion supporters assumed he was heading Down Under for one final, deserved payday in the Australian sun.
That says much about how little we got to learn about him during his time at the Amex. Hughes had no intention of slowing down. Instead, he used the move to reboot his career, spending 12 months with Melbourne.
Such was his form that he even made his international tournament debut for Northern Ireland at the age of 36, captaining his nation to the second round of Euro 2016 in France. Not bad for a bloke who couldn’t even get onto the bench of the fourth-worst side in the Championship a year earlier.
After leaving Melbourne following Euro 2016, Hughes spent six months with Kerala Blasters of the Indian Super League. He finally hung up his boots at the end of the 2018-19 season, playing his last league game in Scotland at the end of a two-and-a-half season spell with Heart of Midlothian.
Rather fittingly, it was in a Northern Irish shirt that Hughes made his final appearance as a professional. He led his country to a 1-0 win away against Belarus in June 2019 before announcing his retirement in an emotional speech to his international teammates following his 112th cap.
That’s the most of any player bar in Northern Ireland history bar goalkeeper Pat Jennings. Hughes had quite the career, everywhere bar Brighton really. Signed by a different manager and played in a different system, perhaps that would have been different.
