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Pitch Publishing Ltd - Tommy Hutchison

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237 pages

English

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The story of how one small boy's near impossible dream became a reality. Growing up in poverty in the austere 1950s Fife coalfield, Tommy Hutchison had an unshakable belief that one day he would wear the dark blue shirt of Scotland. To an outsider it seemed an improbable ambition. Too weak to cross a ball from the byline to the goal area, the teenage Hutchison was overlooked by his teachers and never made the school football team. Through sheer determination, an indomitable spirit and hour upon hour of lonely practice, the adolescent Tommy was finally noticed by his local team, and his journey to Hampden and World Cup glory began. Tommy's football genius ultimately took him all over the world to play with and against some of the greatest footballers of the 1970s and 80s in a career spanning four amazing decades. Hutch, Hard Work and Belief is the funny yet inspiring story of how the seemingly unattainable can be achieved by unwavering, resolute self-belief.

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Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	17 octobre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781801503501
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2022
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Tommy Hutchison and Kevin Shannon, 2022
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright.
Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781801501910
eBook ISBN 9781801503501
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Contents
Foreword by Gordon Taylor
Foreword by Gordon Milne
Prelude
1. God s Own Village
2. The Miner s Raw
3. Son of a Miner
4. Eating, Sleeping, Football
5. Bluebells
6. Becoming a Wasp
7. I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside
8. Tangerine Dream
9. Morty
10. Promotion
11. A Sinking Feeling
12. My Michelangelo Phase
13. The M Men
14. Fever Pitch
15. Heroes and Villains
16. Fulfilment of a Dream?
17. The Aftermath
18. Lady Luck Bites Me on the Bum
19. Gone Fishing
20. Will We Stay or Will We Go?
21. It s Farewell to Scotland
22. Money, Money, Money (or the Lack of It!)
23. Survival
24. On Our Way to Europe?
25. Not Open All Hours
26. Carefree in Seattle
27. Sky Blue to Sky Blue
28. Que Sera Sera
29. Ten Minutes from Glory
30. Top-Flight Farewell
31. Mr Gentleman
32. It s Raining Again
33. The Only Way Is Down
34. Into the Hot Seat
35. Sharpe by Name
36. Back in the Hot Seat
37. Deadly Doug Strikes Again
38. Going the Full Circle
39. Life after Football
40. Football in the Valleys
41. The Last Post
42. Retirement
Acknowledgements by Kevin Shannon
Tributes to Tommy
Photos
To Irene for all the love and support you have given me for over 50 years
Foreword by Gordon Taylor
DURING MY 20-year playing career and 40 years running the Players Union - the PFA - I came across not only great players with top-class skills on the field of play but such players who, once their playing career was over, contributed even more to the reputation of the game with their ability to impact so well on the lives of so many people, particularly youngsters, in the community of clubs that employed them. Tommy Hutchison was a prime example of such persons.
A great playing career of longevity and quality throughout football s pyramid to the very highest level for club and country. Such dedication was very deserving of the description from fellow colleagues as one of the very best community managers and one of the finest and most deserving winners of the PFA Merit Award for his contribution and service to football, alongside other pantheons of the world s greatest game!
Gordon Taylor OBE
Foreword by Gordon Milne
MY FIRST introduction to Tommy was when he joined Blackpool FC in 1968. His youthful enthusiasm and willingness to work and learn immediately caught my eye, plus his amazing physical strength and stamina in such a slight frame at that time. When I was appointed team manager of Coventry City in 1972, one of my first priorities was to sign Tommy; I had that assurance from the chairman that this would happen as soon as I had put pen to paper. Thankfully he was true to his word; Coventry City football club never did a better day s business in its history. He had a perfect temperament, and could handle any situation, was always available for selection and prepared to put himself forward when not 100 per cent fit, which was not very often. He looked after himself, had a Rolls-Royce engine and the strength and knowledge on how to handle it. Ron Wylie, our talented coach at the time, used to say that in bad days Tommy always gave the fans hope; how right he was. To be respected by supporters wherever he played, to be respected by his team-mates wherever he played, to be respected by his managers and coaches wherever he played, and to be respected by chairmen and fellow directors wherever he played takes some doing in a long football career. Very few players have ticked all those boxes; Tommy did that with dignity and style.
Gordon Milne
Prelude
I WAS taking a group of ten-year-olds for football at St Pius Primary school in Withywood, Bristol, one of the city s most deprived areas. They didn t know me; this was my first session with this group. Even if their teacher had said to them, Hey, this guy is Tommy Hutchison, it would have meant nothing to them. I had been a football development officer for a number of years since finishing as a professional. I loved my job, in fact I loved it almost as much as I had loved being a player.
Almost!
I certainly loved working with kids like these, kids who came from a similar background to myself.
I had the drill off pat now; I wanted the children to develop independence, to work outside of their comfort zone.
Okay, find a partner. They all went with a friend, as expected.
Right. One of you is number one, one of you is number two. They identified their number. Now here was the cruel bit.
Number ones over here, number twos over there. Ones: if you are a boy, find a new partner who is a girl; girls, a partner who is a boy. Twos, you do the same. We would now generally have mixed-ability pairs who would not be used to working together.
The warm-up drill was a simple passing exercise. Stand four metres apart and side-foot a pass to your partner. As expected, within seconds chaos reigned, balls flying off everywhere. Those who could play the ball were frustrated that, quite often, their partner couldn t.
Sir, she s useless, she can t even kick it straight. The whinging and complaints came in from all quarters.
Now, football was my vehicle for teaching life skills to the children I worked with; skills they would need growing up in the areas of deprivation they called home. I d had my fill of elite players during my time in the professional game. I wanted to work with children who were never going to make it to the academies of league clubs, but for whom football could still be a force for good if they gave it a chance. I was always on the lookout for those who were lacking in confidence, had low self-esteem and were often got at by other children. I wanted them to know that I understood how it felt to be undervalued. I wanted them to see that there is always a way to improve.
So, as usual, I sat them down.
First of all, I said, I m not Sir , the only Sir that I know is Sir Alex Ferguson. Well, that made them sit up. They all knew of Sir Alex.
You know Alex Ferguson? a little lad asked.
Aye, I know him well. That impressed them. But even though I know Sir Alex, I still want you to call me by my first name, so you all call me Tommy, alright? They all nodded.
Now then, I want you to think about the passing session we just did. I want no names called out; I want no finger-pointing. However, if you can think of someone in that session that you thought was useless at football, I want you to put your hands up. You may even think that you yourself are useless at football. If that s you, you can put your hand up too. Hands up now!
Every hand was up.
Right then, hands down. You didn t know this, but I played over 400 games in the First Division for Blackpool and for Coventry. I d got their attention now.
I played and I scored in an FA Cup Final at Wembley for Manchester City. Well, Blackpool and Coventry may not have impressed them too much but the words Wembley and Manchester City had certainly hit the mark.
I also played 17 times for my country, Scotland, and played in a World Cup finals. I could tell that even those kids who knew nothing about football could see that this was something special.
But do you know something? They were all watching and listening. I never played football for my school team. Can anyone guess why?
The hands shot up again. I pointed at a little girl. Tommy, were you ill? she asked.
No, never ill in my life. I pointed to someone else.
You were injured?
No, never injured. Okay, last guess. I pointed at a little lad with wonky glasses.
I bet the teacher didn t like you, Tommy. We all laughed.
Well, that may be true, I said, and it s probably another story, but that s not the reason why I didn t play for the school team.
Well, why didn t you play then? asked my friend with the glasses.
The answer is simple, I told them. I was useless at football.
There was a second s silence as they took in what I had just said. Then they all fell about laughing. The idea that one of their teachers could be useless was a really funny idea. Some of them might not have believed me.
The fact is that I never did play for my school team. The genuine reason was that I was a useless footballer.
Chapter 1
God s Own Village
IF YOU are telling your life story, it s probably best to clear up any half-truths or misconceptions that may have been written about you. So here is one that I can sort out straight away. If you look me up on the internet or find my name in club histories it will always say: Tommy Hutchison, born Cardenden. This is both a half-truth and a misconception. I was actually born and raised in Dundonald, one of a number of villages that make up the small town of Cardenden. Now, you might think that such a small inaccuracy is hardly worth mentioning. Well, that would be a misjudgement of the pride each person has in their own small part of Cardenden. Indeed, there would be people living in Dundonald, even today, w