Alan Hudson

Alan Hudson

Personal information
Full name	Alan Anthony Hudson
Date of birth	(1951-06-21) 21 June 1951
Place of birth	Chelsea, London, England
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968–1974	Chelsea	145	(10)
1974–1976	Stoke City	105	(9)
1976–1978	Arsenal	36	(0)
1979–1983	Seattle Sounders	94	(2)
1979–1980	Cleveland Force	13	(6)
1983–1984	Chelsea	0	(0)
1984–1985	Stoke City	39	(0)
Total		432	(27)
International career
1975	England	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alan Anthony Hudson (born 21 June 1951) is a former English footballer who played for Arsenal, Chelsea and Stoke City as well as the England national football team.

Career

Born and brought up near the King's Road, Hudson was rejected by boyhood club Fulham as a schoolboy before signing for Chelsea Juniors. Injury denied him the chance to become Chelsea's youngest ever player aged 16 and he eventually made his senior debut nine months later on 1 February 1969 in a 5–0 loss against Southampton. Hudson found himself in a Chelsea side noted for its flair and skill, complete with equally flamboyant footballers such as Peter Osgood and Charlie Cooke. It was during the 1969–70 season that he established himself as the team's playmaker, in the midfield of a 4–2–4 formation alongside John Hollins who was more defensive, creating goals for Osgood and Ian Hutchinson, and enabling Chelsea to finish 3rd in the First Division.

He played in every match in Chelsea's run to the FA Cup final in 1970, but missed the final itself due to another injury when they beat Leeds United 2–1 in a replay at Old Trafford, having drawn 2–2 at Wembley. He did, however, play a major role in Chelsea's replayed European Cup Winners' Cup final win against Real Madrid in Athens a year later. The debt burden caused by the building of the then new East Stand at Chelsea resulted in the sale of key players, and a spiral of decline began. Chelsea lost 2–1 to Stoke City in the 1972 League Cup final at Wembley, whilst a falling-out with manager Dave Sexton resulted in both Hudson and Osgood being placed on the transfer list in January 1974. Within a month, Hudson had joined Stoke City for a then club record of £240,000.

Stoke manager Tony Waddington saw Hudson as the final piece of the jigsaw that would turn Stoke City into genuine championship challengers in 1975. Hudson's debut for Stoke against Liverpool on 19 January 1974 was described by former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Stan Cullis, commentating on radio, as the finest debut performance he had ever seen. Allowed a free rein by Waddington Hudson combined brilliantly with Jimmy Greenhoff and their form sparked a run of only two defeats in 19 games at the end of the 1973–74 season. Manager Waddington described Stoke's style of play at the time as 'the working man's ballet', a title which Hudson used for his autobiography in 1997. Off the pitch Hudson was a regular drinker often staying at nightclubs until the early hours of the morning and even opened his own club in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Hudson was enjoying the form of his career at Stoke and in his first two years at the Victoria Ground he missed only one game out of 162 and he helped Stoke set a club record 23 home games undefeated from December 1973 to December 1974. Stoke almost won their first league title in 1974–75 finishing four points off Derby County in top spot and he then played 40 times in 1975–76. In January 1976 a strong storm caused considerable damage to Stoke's Victoria Ground and to pay for the excessive repair costs Stoke had to sell off their playing staff and, in December 1976, Hudson was sold to Arsenal for £200,000.

He helped Arsenal reach the 1978 FA Cup Final, which they lost 1–0 to Ipswich Town, but differences with the Arsenal manager Terry Neill meant that he moved to the Seattle Sounders of the NASL for £100,000 at the age of 27. In the fall of 1979, he signed with the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League. Hudson returned briefly to Chelsea on a non-contract basis although illness and injury denied him the chance to play for them again. He re-joined Stoke City for £22,500 in January 1984 after Bill Asprey had consulted Waddington on how to help Stoke avoiding relegation in 1983–84. Stoke picked up 33 points in 17 games and clinched survival with a 4–0 won over Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day of the season. But in 1984–85 Stoke were embarrassingly relegated with a record low points tally. Hudson was named captain by Mick Mills for the 1985–86 season but a knee injury forced him to retire in September 1985.

International career

Owing to a ban from international football after refusing to tour with the England under-23 side, Hudson didn't make his England debut until 1975, when sparkling performances earned him two call-ups by then England manager Don Revie. He starred in the team that beat World Champions West Germany 2–0 at Wembley, and then in the 5–0 destruction of Cyprus. However, injuries and clashes with Revie meant that those two caps were the only ones he earned.

Post-football

Since his retirement, Hudson has suffered a series of setbacks. He had problems with alcoholism and was also declared bankrupt. In December 1997, Hudson suffered multiple injuries when run over by a car while walking along a London street. He spent two months in a coma and the doctors treating him were doubtful as to whether he would walk again. He has since undergone more than 70 surgical operations. He remains disabled, using crutches to walk and says "Every day now is a chore". Following the collision, he took up writing professionally. His autobiography The Working Man's Ballet was a critical success and led to work as a columnist on the Stoke Evening Sentinel and The Sporting Life. A further book The Tinker and The Talisman was self-published in 2003. In 2004 Hudson appeared as himself in a cameo appearance in the British film The Football Factory. In June 2006, Hudson joined Radio Napa in Cyprus, where he commentated on the FIFA World Cup in Germany. In 2008 Alan Hudson released his third book, titled "The Waddington Years", which described his great friendship with former Stoke City manager Tony Waddington. Speaking in December 2012 Hudson revealed that he believes that his accident was actually an attempt on his life.

Family

His son Anthony is also a former professional footballer, and a former manager of Newport County of the Conference National. Now National Coach of New Zealand.

Career statistics

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Chelsea	1968–69	First Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	1	0
	1969–70	First Division	29	3	6	0	2	0	–		0	0	37	3
	1970–71	First Division	34	3	0	0	1	0	9	0	1	0	45	3
	1971–72	First Division	36	2	3	0	9	2	4	2	0	0	52	6
	1972–73	First Division	26	0	5	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	34	0
	1973–74	First Division	19	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	20	2
	Total		145	10	14	0	16	2	13	2	1	0	189	14
Stoke City	1973–74	First Division	18	3	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	18	3
	1974–75	First Division	42	4	1	0	4	0	2	0	0	0	49	4
	1975–76	First Division	34	2	5	0	1	0	–		0	0	40	2
	1976–77	First Division	11	0	0	0	2	0	–		0	0	13	0
	Total		105	9	6	0	7	0	2	0	0	0	120	9
Arsenal	1976–77	First Division	19	0	3	0	0	0	–		0	0	22	0
	1977–78	First Division	17	0	4	0	4	0	–		0	0	25	0
	Total		36	0	7	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	47	0
Seattle Sounders	1979	NASL	26	2	–		–		–		–		26	2
	1980	NASL	27	0	–		–		–		–		27	0
	1981	NASL	27	0	–		–		–		–		27	0
	1982	NASL	13	0	–		–		–		–		13	0
	1983	NASL	1	0	–		–		–		–		1	0
	Total		94	2	–		–		–		–		94	2
Stoke City	1983–84	First Division	16	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	16	0
	1984–85	First Division	17	0	2	0	1	0	–		0	0	20	0
	1985–86	Second Division	6	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	6	0
	Total		39	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	42	0
Career Total			419	21	29	0	28	2	15	2	1	0	492	25

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Charity Shield.

External links

• ArseWEB presents... Alan Hudson
• Football's drink problem – BBC News