Tommy Hutchison

Football manager infobox
playername = Tommy Hutchison


fullname = Thomas Hutchison
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1947|9|22|df=y
cityofbirth = Cardenden
countryofbirth = Scotland
dateofdeath =
height =
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Midfielder (retired)
youthyears = -1965
youthclubs = Dundonald Bluebell
years = 1965-1967
1967-1972
1972-1981
1980
1981-1982
1982-1983
1983-1985
1985-1991
1991-1994
clubs = Alloa Athletic
Blackpool
Coventry City
Seattle Sounders (loan)
Manchester City
Bulova
Burnley
Swansea City
Merthyr Tydfil
caps(goals) = 068 0(4)
165 (10)
314 (24)
25 (3)
046 0(4)
00? 0(?)
092 0(4)
178 0(9)
073 0(2)
nationalyears = 1973-1975
nationalteam = Scotland
nationalcaps(goals)= 017 0(1)
manageryears = 1985-1986
managerclubs = Swansea City

Thomas "Tommy" Hutchison (born 22 September 1947 in Cardenden, Fife) is a Scottish former professional footballer.

Beginning his career with Alloa Athletic, he joined Stan Mortensen's Blackpool in February 1968 for just over £10,000. Almost immediately, he took the place of Graham Oates at outside-left, making his debut against Plymouth on March 30.

The Scot was brought in to bolster the Seasiders' flagging promotion drive, and out of the final nine games of the 1967-68 season, they won eight. Promotion was missed on the final day, but 'Hutch' had been impressive throughout. [Calley, Roy (1992). "Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992", p. 98. Breedon Books Sport. ISBN 1-873626-07-X]

When Bob Stokoe took over as manager from Mortensen, he worked on Hutchison's crossing ability, believing it to be his only weak spot.

In 1972, Coventry City offered £140,000 cash plus Billy Rafferty for Hutchison's services. He signed for the Midlands club, and remained at Highfield Road for eight years, playing 355 games and scoring 30 goals.

Hutchison joined Manchester City for a fee of £47,000 in 1980. In May 1981, he scored for both sides in the FA Cup Final, as Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 with Manchester City. He was not the first to do this — Bert Turner had done so in the 1946 final for Charlton and Derby.

Hutchison later played for Bulova of Hong Kong and Seattle Sounders (US) before returning to the UK, joining Burnley in 1983 and moving to Swansea City in 1985, serving as manager for six months after the club went into liquidation. He is in the record books as the oldest player to have played for Swansea, playing against Southend United in March 1991 at the age of 43 years, five months and 19 days.

He left Swansea near the end of the 1990-91 season, and joined Merthyr Tydfil, where he spent another three years before finally retiring from the game in May 1994, at the age of 46, having played more than a thousand first-team games in his career.

International career

Capped 17 times for Scotland, Hutchison appeared at the 1974 World Cup.

He was surprisingly not selected for the 1978 World Cup, at a time when was at the peak of his form playing for top-flight Coventry City. His high-profile team-mate Ian Wallace was also not selected, even though they had proved a formidable strike partnership at the highest level. Many Scotland fans of a certain age have long-rued this decision, as Ally McLeod's team relied almost solely on Kenny Dalglish and Archie Gemmill in forward positions with only limited alternatives on the bench. It is generally considered that both Hutchison and Wallace's selection would have given Scotland a far better chance of progressing to the next round of the competition.

Retirement

On retiring from league football at the age of 43, he joined non-league Merthyr Tydfil. He still lives in south Wales and now works as a football development officer for Bristol City. A poll by the "Coventry Evening Telegraph" voted him the most popular Coventry player of the club's First Division era.

Honours

Blackpool
*Anglo-Italian Cup winner: 1971

Notes

References

* [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player/tommyhutchison.htm Hutchison's profile at Neil Brown's statistics site]
* [http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/player_details.cfm?playerid=113798 Profile at the Scottish FA's website]
*cite book | first=Roy | last=Calley| coauthors= | title=Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992 | publisher=Breedon Books Sport | location= | year=1992 | editor= | id=ISBN 1-873626-07-X

External links

* [http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2007/tommy-hutchison-02-08-2007.shtml Tommy Hutchison visits Highbridge in Somerset]
* [http://www.btinternet.com/~stephen.yarwood/hutchy.htm Tommy Hutchison - View from the Tower]