Leslie Mark Hughes was born on 1 November 1963 and is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City.
60 Facts About Mark Hughes
2.
Mark Hughes had two spells at Manchester United, and played for Barcelona and Bayern Munich, as well as the English clubs Chelsea, Southampton, Everton and finally Blackburn Rovers.
3.
Mark Hughes made 72 appearances for Wales scoring 16 goals.
4.
Mark Hughes won a host of winners' medals during his playing career, including two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and two UEFA Cup Winners' Cups.
5.
Mark Hughes collected an FA Cup runners-up medal and a League Cup runners-up medal.
6.
Mark Hughes was appointed manager of Wales in 1999 and remained in the role until 2004.
7.
Mark Hughes failed to qualify for a World Cup or European Championship during his five years in charge, although his reign coincided with a marked improvement in results.
8.
Mark Hughes was appointed manager of Stoke City on 30 May 2013.
9.
Mark Hughes was appointed manager of Southampton on 14 March 2018, signing a contract until the end of the season, with Southampton one point above his former club Stoke in 17th place at the time of his appointment.
10.
When Mark Hughes made his United debut, the club's forward partnership consisted of 27-year-old Irishman Frank Stapleton and 18-year-old Norman Whiteside from Northern Ireland, and breaking up that partnership would not be an easy challenge for Mark Hughes.
11.
The departure of Wilkins to Milan at the end of the season saw manager Ron Atkinson decide to stick to using Whiteside in the centre of midfield, enabling Mark Hughes to keep his place in the first team ahead of new signing Alan Brazil, and he was rewarded handsomely as he scored 25 goals in 55 matches across all competitions as United achieved an FA Cup final victory over Everton.
12.
Manager Terry Venables signed Mark Hughes at the same time that he signed Gary Lineker from Everton to form a new strike partnership at the Camp Nou, but Mark Hughes was a disappointment in his only season at Barcelona, whereas Lineker did well in three seasons there.
13.
Alex Ferguson had been keen on re-signing Mark Hughes for United soon after becoming manager in November 1986, but Mark Hughes would have been liable for taxation on money earned playing overseas if he had returned to England before April 1988.
14.
Mark Hughes was voted PFA Player of the Year, the first Manchester United player to be credited with that award, in its 16th season.
15.
Mark Hughes was United's joint top scorer that season, along with Brian McClair, on 16 goals.
16.
Mark Hughes was United's top goalscorer that season, scoring 15 goals in all competitions; 13 of his goals had come in the league, where United finished a disappointing 13th.
17.
Mark Hughes was voted PFA Player of the Year again this season.
18.
Mark Hughes found the net 11 times in the league and 14 times in all competitions.
19.
Ferguson insisted that Mark Hughes was not for sale, and he remained a regular choice in the first team, playing alongside Cantona while McClair was mostly selected in central midfield from then on.
20.
In May 1993, Mark Hughes finally collected an English league title medal as United won the first-ever Premier League title; Mark Hughes was United's top scorer with 15 goals in the league and a further goal in the League Cup.
21.
Mark Hughes collected yet more silverware in 1994 as United won the league title as well as the FA Cup, with Mark Hughes scoring in the final.
22.
Four days later Mark Hughes suffered a knee injury early in a match against Newcastle, colliding with opposition goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek as he scored a goal.
23.
Mark Hughes now found himself with his first team place still looking secure, at least in the short term, and in partnership with Andy Cole.
24.
Mark Hughes came close to winning both the Premier League and FA Cup again in 1995, but a failure to beat West Ham United on the final day of the season and the inability to score an equaliser against Everton in the FA Cup final a week later condemned United to their first trophyless season in six years.
25.
Mark Hughes had scored eight goals that season and 12 in all competitions.
26.
Mark Hughes was one of the key players in Chelsea's resurgence as a top club in the late 1990s, forming a potent strike partnership with Gianfranco Zola and helping to freeze out Gianluca Vialli.
27.
Mark Hughes put in match-winning performances against Liverpool and Wimbledon in the FA Cup in 1997, and Vicenza in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup a year later, playing a big part in Chelsea's glory in both of these competitions.
28.
The goals failed to flow and Mark Hughes was pushed back into midfield, where his experience helped Southampton maintain their Premier League status.
29.
Mark Hughes had disciplinary problems throughout his career, and in his first season at The Dell he received 14 yellow cards, a total which has not been exceeded in the Premier League as of 2022.
30.
When Glenn Hoddle arrived as Southampton's manager in January 2000, Mark Hughes did not fit into his plans and he left for Everton in March 2000.
31.
Mark Hughes played 16 times over the course of seven months for Everton, scoring his only goal against Watford.
32.
Mark Hughes played a key role in getting Blackburn promoted from Division One in 2001.
33.
Mark Hughes lifted the League Cup with Blackburn in February 2002, before finally hanging up his boots in July 2002 a few months short of his 39th birthday.
34.
Mark Hughes scored just 17 minutes into his Wales debut, scoring the winning goal against England on 2 May 1984.
35.
Mark Hughes went on to play 72 times for his country, scoring 16 times.
36.
Mark Hughes was appointed as head coach of the Wales national team in 1999, while still playing elite club football for a few more seasons.
37.
Mark Hughes quit the Welsh national side in September 2004 to take charge of Blackburn in the FA Premier League, the last club he had played for.
38.
On 4 May 2006, Hughes and assistant Mark Bowen signed new three-year contracts to remain at Blackburn until the summer of 2009.
39.
Mark Hughes then set about creating a formidable side at Ewood Park.
40.
Mark Hughes entered the transfer market, bringing in players such as Benni McCarthy, David Bentley, Ryan Nelsen, Stephen Warnock, Roque Santa Cruz, and Christopher Samba.
41.
Mark Hughes has already identified some of the players and backroom staff that he wants to see here at City, and we will begin the process of recruiting them immediately.
42.
Mark Hughes was very active in the January 2009 transfer window, signing Wayne Bridge from Chelsea, Craig Bellamy from West Ham and Shay Given from Newcastle, as well as Nigel de Jong from Hamburger SV.
43.
That last victory was one of only two wins in 11 successive Premier League matches, and Mark Hughes left City before their League Cup two-legged semi-final against Manchester United; he was sacked on 19 December 2009 and replaced by Roberto Mancini.
44.
On 29 July 2010, Mark Hughes became the new manager of Fulham, following the departure of Roy Hodgson to Liverpool.
45.
Mark Hughes agreed a two-year contract with the London side and was officially unveiled to the media on 3 August 2010, before his first match as manager on 7 August against Werder Bremen.
46.
Mark Hughes resigned as manager of Fulham on 2 June 2011, having spent less than 11 months at the club.
47.
In September 2013, Mark Hughes said he made a mistake in leaving Fulham when he did.
48.
On 10 January 2012, Mark Hughes agreed terms with Queens Park Rangers and signed a two-and-a-half-year contract as their new manager, replacing the recently sacked Neil Warnock.
49.
In January 2012, Mark Hughes brought in two defenders in Nedum Onuoha and Taye Taiwo and two strikers in Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora.
50.
Mark Hughes then signed Jose Bosingwa, Julio Cesar and Esteban Granero but saw no improvement in results, going 12 matches without victory.
51.
Mark Hughes was appointed manager of Stoke City on 30 May 2013, signing a three-year contract after taking over from fellow Welshman Tony Pulis.
52.
On 2 September 2013, transfer deadline day, Hughes brought in Austrian forward Marko Arnautovic from Werder Bremen and Stephen Ireland on loan from Aston Villa.
53.
The one piece of transfer activity Mark Hughes did was to swap Kenwyne Jones for Peter Odemwingie in a player-exchange deal with Cardiff City.
54.
In January 2015, Mark Hughes began talks with the Stoke board of directors about extending his contract with the club.
55.
Mark Hughes signed a new contract with Stoke in March 2015 to keep him contracted until the summer of 2019.
56.
On 25 May 2018, after a season that saw the Saints retain their Premier League status, the club announced that Mark Hughes had signed a new three-year contract.
57.
Mark Hughes was replaced by former RB Leipzig boss Ralph Hasenhuttl.
58.
On 24 February 2022, Mark Hughes was appointed manager of Bradford City on a deal until the summer of 2024.
59.
Mark Hughes was nominated for the League Two Manager of the Month award for September 2022 after Bradford went unbeaten in four matches.
60.
Mark Hughes has two sons, Alex and Curtis, and a daughter, Xenna, who plays hockey for Wales.