I always wanted Richard Hughes to do well at Liverpool. There was probably a bit of Scottish bias in that from me, given he was born in Glasgow and played for Scotland, but I also liked the route he had taken through football. He had played the game, worked his way into recruitment and eventually became technical director at Bournemouth before Liverpool came calling in 2024.
His background was quite interesting as well. Although born in Glasgow, Hughes grew up in Italy and spent time in Atalanta’s youth system before later joining Arsenal. He went on to play most of his senior football with Bournemouth and Portsmouth, and even scored the winner against Liverpool in an FA Cup tie back in 2004. He only won five caps for Scotland, but he had been around the game for a long time before moving into the recruitment side of football after retiring.
