Roger Hunt, MBE (born 20 July 1938 in Golborne, Lancashire) is an English former footballer.
Hunt played for Stockton Heath, Bury, Stockton for a second time, Devizes Town and Stockton again before manager Phil Taylor signed him for Liverpool on 29 July 1958. He made his debut and scored his first goal for the club on 9 September 1959 in a Second Division fixture at Anfield against Scunthorpe United; Hunt scored in the 64th minute to give the Reds a 2–0 victory. This goal was the first of many - he would go on to score 286 goals for the club, 245 of them in the league, which remains a club record.
Roger Hunt was a major factor in the Reds success under Bill Shankly in the early 1960s, gaining promotion to the First Division in 1962, after the club had finished 3rd or 4th, and thus just outside the promotion spots for five consecutive years from 1956 to 1961.
Hunt appeared in 41 of the 42 league games and scored 41 goals in season 1961–1962, averaging one goal per game. His goals helped propel Liverpool to a comfortable eight point title win over runners-up Leyton Orient and included five hat-tricks, coming against Leeds United, Walsall, Swansea, former club Bury and Middlesbrough.
It was a similar story in 1963–64 and 1965–66, with Hunt again the top scorer (as he was for eight straight seasons) as Liverpool won the League championship, scoring 31 goals from 41 games and 30 goals from 37 appearances respectively.
In between the two titles, in 1965 he was instrumental in the side winning the FA Cup for the first time. Hunt scored four times in a cup run that saw West Bromwich Albion, Stockport County, Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City and Chelsea all defeated as Liverpool reached the final for the first time since 1950. In the final, after a goal-less 90 minutes, Hunt scored the opening goal in the 93rd minute as the Reds recorded a 2–1 victory over Leeds at Wembley. He would also score Liverpool's only goal in the final of the Cup Winners Cup the following year as they went down 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund.
On 22 August 1964, Hunt scored against Arsenal after 11 minutes in a 3–2 home win, the first ever goal seen on the BBC's flagship football highlights programme Match of the Day.
Hunt was capped 34 times for his country, with his debut given to him by Walter Winterbottom whilst he was still a Second Division player on 4 April 1962, in a friendly against Austria at Wembley. He scored on his international debut as England won 3-1. He then went to the 1962 World Cup finals in Chile, but was not selected to play.
England had been given the go ahead to host the 1966 FIFA World Cup and Hunt, along with club mates Ian Callaghan and Gerry Byrne were selected for the 22 man squad by manager Alf Ramsey.
Birthdate: 20.07.1938
Birthplace: Golborne, England
Other clubs: Stockton Heath, Bury, Stockton Heath (2), Devizes Town, Stockton Heath (3), Bolton, Hellenic FC (South Africa)
Bought from: Stockton Heath (3)
Signed for LFC: £0 29.07.1958
International debut: 04.04.1962 vs. Austria
International caps: 34/18 - 15.01.1969
Liverpool debut: 09.09.1959
Last appearance: 13.12.1969
Debut goal: 09.09.1959
Last goal: 26.11.1969
Contract expiry: 16.12.1969
LFC league games/goals: 404 / 245
Total LFC games/goals: 492 / 286
No comments:
Post a Comment