"Outside Right"
Oldham Athletic take a chance on former jailbird Lee Hughes
Lee Hughes makes a controversial return to football this month at League One Oldham Athletic, wary that he could be the subject of the most intense terrace abuse since David Beckham’s World Cup aberration in 1998.
Now 31, the striker will head to Boundary Park as soon as he is granted parole from the six-year jail term he received for killing a man in a road crash in 2004.
Hughes, who was playing for West Bromwich Albion prior to his conviction, has served three years and returns to football in the third tier having maintained a reasonable level of fitness turning out for his prison side Featherstone FC in the Staffordshire County League. And while there is little doubting the player’s credentials, given his 105 league goals in 210 starts for the Baggies and Coventry, it is a move that has split the Lactics’ support.
“Some fans have said they will not watch Oldham again while there is a criminal playing in the team,” says Geoff Vernon, chairman of Oldham Athletic Supporters Association. “I think he may get a small amount of stick from a minority of people here, but I don’t think it will amount to much if he starts scoring a lot of goals.
“But my own personal view is that he has committed a crime and paid for it and he has to be given a chance to play. We don’t condone what he did and it was awful for the family of the man who was killed and we feel for them. But the guy deserves a second chance.”
Oldham managing director Simon Corney concurs. It may have been a gamble but season-ticket sales have risen since the news was announced. “There are people that have written to us and said they will not be buying season tickets while he plays in our team, and we respect their views. But the majority of fans are behind the deal and season-ticket sales are up by six percent, so that shows people are supporting us.
“It’s a gamble because he hasn’t played for three years and while he’s not on the kind of money he was on at West Brom and Coventry, it’s still a lot for a club of our size.”
The club have already begun working with Hughes behind bars on making sure he is fit enough for League One football.
“We’ve been to see Lee and he’s determined to come back and play football and be successful,” reveals Corney. “He has been playing for the prison team and looks in good shape. We’ve given him a programme to follow and when he comes out we’ll see how he is. He’s got to be strong enough to handle the abuse he’s likely to get and only time with tell on that count.”
Hughes can expect vitriol from opposing fans, but sports psychologist Andy Barton, of The Sporting Mind, says the striker can come through it – with Oldham’s help. “He’ll need the support of the club and the knowledge they are fully backing him,” says Barton.
In the end, though, he’s likely to discover that goals equal redemption.
Jeremy Butler
