Lee Hughes

Lee Hughes needs no introduction for Harriers fans.

He joined the Harriers after being released by WBA as a junior in 1990, (bad judgment by the Albion) and during his time at Kidderminster he scored a total of sixty two goals. This bought him to the attention of many league clubs but Lee decided to re-join WBA for a fee of £200,000 rising to eventually £350,000 after appearances.

At the start of the 2001/02 season Lee signed for Coventry City, who had just been relegated from the Premiership, for £5,000,001. This gave the Harriers a £695,000 cut because of a lucrative sign on fee. His time at Highfield Road was not a happy one though and he went back to The Hawthorns in August 2002 for half the amount that City paid for him.

In November 2003 came the news that Lee had been involved in a fatal car accident. It appears that he had hit the back of another car near his home in Meriden and left the scene of the crash. When he finally went to a police station three days later he was arrested. The case came to court in July and August 2004 and Lee was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and leaving the scene of the crime. He was sentenced to six years in prison and his contract with WBA was cancelled.

A terrible end to probably the most famous Harriers player ever but let’s not forget the terrible, and stupid, crime that he committed.

Following his release from prison in August 2007 he signed for Oldham Athletic (League 1) at the age of thirty one. It was a controversial move by both Oldham and Lee Hughes and both parties were lambasted by the press and by the family of the man that died in the crash. Many people thought that serving only half of his intended sentence was wrong but I can think of thousands of criminals that have received the same kind of leniency.

Lee has now apologised for what happened but for some people it will never be enough.

After leaving Oldham he then joined Notts County before teaming up with Port Vale and then dropping into the Conference with Forest Green Rovers. He finally re-joined the Harriers at the end of January 2015 but left us after one season due to our on-going financial problems.

He joined Worcester City but they also hit money troubles and that forced Lee to leave for AFC Telford. He returned to City a year later and became their assistant manager alongside John Snape.

Lee finally hung his boots up in April 2022 playing for Stourport Swifts.