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Billy Hughes arrived on loan at the Baseball Ground in August 1977 from
Sunderland. The twenty-eight year old striker, a member of the famous
1973 Roker Park FA Cup winning team, being viewed by the Rams manager
Colin Murphy as a temporary replacement for the suspended Charlie
George. Unfortunately, after County failed to win any of their first
games, the manager was axed in favour of the highly profiled Tommy
Docherty. With the "Doc" determined to rebuild the side, the experienced
Hughes found himself given an extended run as several of the Rams more
expensive purchases were quickly shown the door. Hughes netted his first
goal, a neat header, in a 2-2 draw with Leeds United on September 17th
and within the next seven games had tallied another five, including both
markers in the Rams 2-1 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers on October
4th. County's 1-0 victory over Bristol City on December 17th, their
fifth consecutive unbeaten contest, was, however, Billy's last game for
the club.
After netting eight goals in nineteen league appearances, two
of which were as a sub, the once capped Scottish international was off
loaded to Leicester City for a small fee. Throughout Docherty's
turbulent spell as the Rams manager he was often cricised for not
realising what his best side was. In the case of Hughes it was a solid
enough argument, at the time of his transfer he was the clubs top scorer
and was popular with the supporters for his hard working style. Billy
was devasted at being released and never really recovered any real form
with either Leicester or subsequenty Carlisle United. (Mike Cockayne)
Following his retirement from football, Hughes worked as a licensee in Derby, and later returned to the North East England as clubhouse manager of Stressholme Golf Club in Darlington.
He died on 20th. December 2019 aged 70 after a long illness.
1966–1977 Sunderland 287 (74)
1967 Vancouver Royal Canadians (loan) 7 (0)
1977 Derby County 19 (8)
1977–1979 Leicester City 37 (5)
1979 Carlisle United (loan) 5 (0)
1980 San Jose Earthquakes 1 (0)
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