Tommy Hutchison

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tommy Hutchison (born 22 September 1947 in Cardenden, Fife) was a Scottish footballer widely considered among the most skilful of his generation.

Beginning his career with Alloa Athletic, he joined Blackpool in 1968. He signed for Coventry City for a transfer fee of £140,000 in 1972 and remained at Highfield Road for eight years, playing 353 games (plus 2 appearances as substitute) 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 (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.

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.

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

	Scotland squad - 1974 FIFA World Cup
1 Harvey | 2 Jardine | 3 McGrain | 4 Bremner | 5 Holton | 6 Blackley | 7 Johnstone | 8 Dalglish | 9 Jordan | 10 Hay | 11 Lorimer | 12 Allan | 13 Stewart | 14 Buchan | 15 Cormack | 16 Donachie | 17 Ford | 18 Huchison | 19 Law | 20 Morgan | 21 McQueen | 22 Schaedler | Coach: Ormond