Debut: 2-0 win vs Port Vale (League Cup tie, as sub), October 26th 1983
League Record: 336 games (+9 as sub), 120 goals
Sold to: Chelsea (£1,500,000), June 1995
The first, but not last, player we'll come across who had two spells at United, Mark Hughes was nicknamed 'Sparky' by Ron Atkinson for his style of play - he wasn't the kind of player to go missing on the big occasion, as six goals in various cup finals for us tells you.
Coming to us as a schoolboy in the late 1970s, Hughes initially started as a midfield player and if he'd stayed there, he might not have developed into much. However, someone had the idea to push him up front where he made so much progress, that Atkinson decided to go with him rather than another young striker in the reserves - some Geordie lad called Peter Beardsley.
Getting his début in 1983/84, he played a few more games, scoring a few goals. He did well enough so that by the start of the 1984/85 season, Hughes finally established himself as a first team regular, helped by new signing Alan Brazil failing to settle at United. At the end of that season, he had won the PFA Young Player of the Year award to go alongside his FA Cup winners medal. He played a big part in the final, his defence-splitting pass setting up the winning goal.
He carried over his form to the next season, which turned out to work against us. Barcelona were sniffing around and offering him big, big money. Their English manager, Terry Venables, was looking to replace Steve Archibald and Hughes looked like the man to do so: the lure of European football may have been a factor too, given English clubs had just then been banned.
United had never been known as big payers on the wage front and couldn't match the offer - his sale was concluded quickly and kept secret from the public for some time. The only clue was Hughes' rapid drop in form and any hopes for silverware went with it. It was a transfer with no positives for United: we lost our best striker and the money we got for him was invested in players who just didn't work out. Atkinson later claimed he wanted Cyrille Regis instead of Terry Gibson, but the former failed a medical. A shame, as I was a huge fan of Regis and his kind of aggressive front-running (he was built like a Sherman tank) may have been just what was needed at the time.
It wasn't to work for Hughes either. His physical style didn't meet with the approval of the officials in Spain and he failed to settle into the kind of form that Gary Lineker, snapped up after his Golden Boot-winning World Cup campaign, found easier to come by. Following a disastrous début season, he was shipped out on loan to Bayern Munich, where he had a better time of it, but Barca was still happy to sell him back to us when Fergie came knocking.
His return was one of the very few highlights in a season of mediocrity. He scored some stunning goals, a couple at Spurs and Everton showcasing his extraordinary skill of volleying the ball - developed, according to the man himself because he wasn't so great at heading. Such was his talent at this, it's hard to believe there's been many before or since who could equal him at it.
At the end of a season in which we finished 11th, Hughes at least had some personal glory when he was voted the 1989 PFA Player of the Year, an accolade he'd repeat in 1991.
Though never likely to top the scoring charts (counting all competitions, he only hit more than 20 goals a season three times), Sparky maintained a more than decent return and had a good habit of scoring when it matters - often in spectacular fashion. His crucial second goal in the 1991 European Cup Winners Cup final was absurd in the narrowness of the angle from which he hit his shot: even commentator Brian Moore believed he had gone far too wide before he drove it into the net. A poster of this goal took pride of place on my wall.
Three years later, in the FA Cup semi final against Oldham, things were looking bad. One nil down with a minute to play, it was looking desperate as we threw everything forward. Suddenly, a bad clearance came down on the edge of the box. Sparky stretched his leg and volleyed the ball past the keeper. I think their manager, Joe Royle, lamented that it was his team's misfortune that the ball fell to the one player in the world capable of putting the chance away. It was a crucial goal beyond the game, giving us a burst of confidence at a vital time.
In this last season (94/95), he was starting to look like he was showing his age (31) and with younger strikers signed and breaking through from the youth team, he was allowed to move down to That London and sign to Chelsea. It turned out to be a smart move for him, as he picked up winner's medals in the FA Cup, European Cup Winners Cup and League Cup in his three years there.
While he was there, I remember well a FA Cup tie against Liverpool, in which his team were two down at half time. Chelsea brought on Sparky, who proceeded to run riot, scoring the first goal in a 4-2 comeback.
After Chelsea, his playing career wound down with spells at Southampton, Everton and Blackburn, though with the last of those he was still good enough to be part of their 2001 promotion back to the Premiership and play in their 2-1 victory over Spurs in the next year's League Cup final, shortly after which he put away his boots to concentrate on his new job coaching the Welsh national team.
He later moved on to manage Blackburn Rovers, where he seemed to be doing a good job before he went off and took charge at, of all teams, Manchester City. It was a move never likely to endear him to Reds, and few tears were shed when he failed to get the results demanded by their (then new) oil-rich owners. Indeed, it's a prejudice I can't shake myself - it really shouldn't have, but I couldn't help but feel he grew a tad bitter in his time there. Since then, he's had mixed results back in the capital with Fulham and Queen's Park Rangers.
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