From what I heard (on here) we could have signed him for the wage he was on before but we offered him less. I dunno if this was the case but if we could have simply renewed his existing deal but chose not to; we were complete fools, who are we to turn down a 18 goal season striker? He'd have had a field day playing off Abbott.
That said, it was only a rumour. If we had to match Notts County's deal then giving him a new contract was a non starter.
Any hate towards Hughes (as I have seen posted here) is completely unjustified, he did his job for two seasons, scored the goals, contributed in a memorable win against Everton. His form fell at the of the second half of his last season but which player's didn't? All over the park, by the end we were complete crap, last season.
I hope if he's plays against us next season we don't abuse him. In terms of ability we got a striker we probably wouldn't have normally had a look in of getting, except for his circumstances and he did his part in knocking in 18 goals for us.