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.
[1] 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.
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 (where he scored against Swindon Town).
[6] The 2019–20 season saw Hayes & Yeading FC go on a superb FA Cup run by reaching the first round proper, only to lose 2–0 at home to Karl Robinson's League One Oxford United in a live BT televised game at the SKYEX Community Stadium.