Rob Hulse
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| Rob Hulse | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Robert William Hulse | |
| Date of birth | October 25, 1979 (age 27) | |
| Place of birth | Crewe, England | |
| Height | 6ft 1in (1.85 m) | |
| Nickname | Hulsey | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Sheffield United | |
| Number | 9 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1999-2003 1999-2000 2003-2005 2005-2006 2006- |
Crewe Alexandra → Hyde United (loan) West Bromwich Albion Leeds United Sheffield United |
116 (45) 8 (9) 38 (10) 52 (18) 28 (8) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Robert William Hulse (born October 25, 1979 in Crewe, Cheshire) is an English professional footballer who currently plays as a centre forward for Sheffield United in the Premiership.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] 1999-2003: Crewe Alexandra
Hulse began his career at his home town club of Crewe Alexandra, having been part of the club's youth system since he was nine years old. Unfortunately, a sudden spurt in height during his late teens left Hulse with a serious back injury and was sidelined for around 12 months.
When Hulse returned to fitness, he was given a 2 month loan to then UniBond League side Hyde United where he scored 9 goals in 11 appearances during the 99/00 season. The successful loan spell led to Hulse's first team debut for Crewe, in their 1-0 win over Norwich. It took Hulse a further 3 appearances to score his first goal for the club, which was in the club's 2-0 away win over Barnsley.
Hulse quickly became a fans' favourite at Crewe, thanks to his high work-rate and finishing the 2000-01 season and 2001-02 season as the club's top goalscorer with 11 and 12 goals respectively.
The club were relegated at the end of the 2001-02 season, but Hulse, along with Dean Ashton and Rodney Jack, proved to be too much for fellow Division Two defence to handle and Hulse finished as the club's top goalscorer for the third season in succession, scoring 27 goals. His performances during the season earned him the club's Player of the Year award as well as appearing in the PFA Division Two Team of the Year.
Despite Crewe's promotion back to Division One, Hulse rejected a new contract at Crewe and manager Dario Gradi decided to sell him instead of letting him go on a Bosman.[1] A whole host of clubs were interested in Hulse. Fellow promoted club Cardiff City were close to signing Hulse for a fee believed to be in a region of £750,000, but the English striker didn't wish to sign for the Blue Birds.[2]
[edit] 2003-2005: West Bromwich Albion
It was West Bromwich Albion that would secure the signing of the young English striker for a fee of £750,000.[3] Hulse made his debut for the Baggies in their 4-1 defeat at Walsall, but scored his first goal for the club in the 4-0 home win over Brentford. Hulse played a key role in the club's promotion challenge prior to having a stomach injury during the Christmas period. After recovering from this injury, Hulse made a further 19 appearances, scoring a single goal.
Despite his influential role in the previous year's promotion campaign, Hulse was given little chance to prove himself in the top flight, this was because of the summer signings of Robert Earnshaw, Geoff Horsfield and Nwankwo Kanu. Hulse played 7 games for West Brom during the 2004-05 season, scoring no goals in any of the games.
[edit] 2005-2006: Leeds United
Having played only a mediocre amount of games in comparison to his fellow strikers at West Brom, Hulse decided to join Leeds on loan for the final three months of the 2004-05 campaign in favour of a £1.2 million switch to Stoke City.[4] His debut was spectacular, scoring two individual goals struck from outside the box against high-flying Reading.
The success of the loan spell led to a £1.1m transfer to Leeds.[5] Hulse scored 20 goals in 51 games. He was the club's top scorer with 14 goals in season 2005-06 despite being in competition with several forwards including Robbie Blake, David Healy and Richard Cresswell for a place in the side as well as playing with an ankle injury during the start of the season.[6]
[edit] 2006-Present: Sheffield United
With Leeds failing to gain promotion to the Premiership, Hulse's ambition led elsewhere and in July 2006, Leeds accepted a bid of £2.2 million from Sheffield United although the fee could rise to £3m,[7] beating Norwich to Hulse's signature.[8]
Hulse scored on his debut for the club against title challengers Liverpool; scoring the first goal of the 2006-07 Premiership season. Unfortunately for Hulse and the Blades, Liverpool managed to equalise through a Robbie Fowler penalty. Further goals against Reading, Middlesbrough, Bolton and Wigan made Hulse the club's top goalscorer by December 2006.
On 3rd March, Hulse scored his 8th goal of the season for United in a 1-1 draw against Everton F.C. at Bramall Lane. He remains United's current top scorer in the Premiership with 8 league goals.
On 17 March, Hulse and Chelsea's goalkeeper Petr Čech challenged for the ball in a league game at Stamford Bridge, resulting in a horrific injury. Hulse almost turned in a low Keith Gillespie cross but Čech raced out to smother his effort and in the collision Hulse's ankle appeared to snap beneath him. After a five-minute delay Hulse was carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital with what was thought to be a double fracture[9].
On 20th March, it was confirmed that Hulse had fractured his left leg in 2 places. After undergoing surgery, it is believed that he may be fit in time for the start of the 2007-08 season.
[edit] Club stats
| Club | Season | Domestic League |
FA Cup | League Cup | European Competition |
Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Sheffield United | 06-07 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 8 |
| Total | 06-Present | 17 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 8 |
| Leeds United | 05-06 | 39 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 14 |
| 04-05 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 6 | |
| Total | 05-06 | 52 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 20 |
| West Brom | 04-05 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 03-04 | 33 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 13 | |
| Total | 03-05 | 38 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 13 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 02-03 | 38 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 23 |
| 01-02 | 41 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 12 | |
| 00-01 | 33 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 11 | |
| 99-00 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | |
| Total | 99-03 | 116 | 45 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 129 | 47 |
| Career Totals | 99-Present | 223 | 78 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 246 | 85 |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "Crewe transfer-list Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
- ^ "Hulse snubs Cardiff" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
- ^ "Baggies bag duo" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
- ^ "Hulse completes Leeds loan switch" BBC Sport. Retrived 18 December 2006
- ^ "Leeds sign Baggies striker Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
- ^ "Blackwell tribute to 'hero' Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
- ^ "Blades agree deal to sign Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
- ^ "Worthington keen on striker Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
- ^ "Hulse Suffers Double Fracture", premierleague.com, 2007-03-17. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
[edit] External links
| Sheffield United F.C. - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Kenny | 2 Bromby | 4 Davis | 5 Morgan | 6 Jagielka | 7 Shelton | 8 Stead | 9 Hulse | 10 Webber | 12 A. Quinn | 13 Bennett | 14 Sommeil | 15 Kozluk | 16 Kilgallon | 17 Montgomery | 18 Tonge | 19 Gillespie | 20 Armstrong | 21 Leigertwood | 22 Lucketti | 23 Fathi | 24 Short | 26 Geary | 27 Nadé | 28 S. Quinn | 29 Gerrard | 30 Li | 31 Law | 32 Kâzım-Richards | 33 Annerson | 34 Ashmore | 37 Marrison | 38 Hurst | 39 Seck | –– Gyaki | –– Hao | Manager: Warnock |
