Rob Hulse

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Rob Hulse
Image:Rob Hulse.png
Personal information
Full name Robert William Hulse
Date of birth October 25, 1979 (1979-10-25) (age 28)
Place of birth    Crewe, England
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
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)
008 0(9)
038 (10)
052 (18)
050 0(8)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 09:12, 5 May 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Robert William "Rob" 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 Coca Cola Championship.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] 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 nine goals in 11 appearances during the 1999-2000 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 three 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 and 2001-02 seasons 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 defences to handle in 2002-03. 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] 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 seven games for West Brom during the 2004-05 season, scoring no goals in any of the games.

[edit] 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 instead 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 joint top scorer with 14 goals in the 2005-06 season 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] 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 Blades against title challengers Liverpool; scoring the first goal of the 2006-07 Premiership season,[9] although Liverpool managed to equalise through a Robbie Fowler penalty. He went on to be the clubs's top scorer for the season, netting regularly until March.

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[10]. On 20 March, it was confirmed that Hulse had fractured his left leg in two places, for which he underwent surgery.[11] His season over, he still finished up as United's top scorer in the Premiership with eight league goals.

Hulse returned to the first team in December 2007 after 9 months out.[12] Following the end of the 2007/08 season, Hulse was strongly linked with a move away to United's Championship rivals Derby County, with a few of £1.75m quoted by the press.[13]

[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 07-08 22 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 25 0
06-07 28 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 28 8
Total 06-Present 50 8 3 0 0 0 0 0 53 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 256 78 12 1 14 5 0 0 289 85

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ "Crewe transfer-list Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
  2. ^ "Hulse snubs Cardiff" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
  3. ^ "Baggies bag duo" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
  4. ^ "Hulse completes Leeds loan switch" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
  5. ^ "Leeds sign Baggies striker Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
  6. ^ "Blackwell tribute to 'hero' Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
  7. ^ "Blades agree deal to sign Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
  8. ^ "Worthington keen on striker Hulse" BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2006
  9. ^ Hero Hulse's perfect goal. Sheffield Star (2006-08-21). Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  10. ^ "Hulse Suffers Double Fracture", premierleague.com, 2007-03-17. Retrieved on 2007-03-17. 
  11. ^ Hulse feared his career was over. BBC (2007-03-21). Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  12. ^ Hulse ready for more action. SUFC.co.uk (2007-12-24). Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  13. ^ Rams raid Sheffield United as striker Hulse arrives at Pride Park for talks. Daily Mail.co.uk (2008-06-03). Retrieved on 2008-06-04.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Sheffield United F.C. – current squad

1 Kenny • 3 Naysmith • 5 Morgan • 6 Beattie • 7 Shelton • 8 Stead • 9 Hulse • 10 Webber • 11 Hendrie • 13 Bennett • 14 Carney • 15 Speed • 16 Kilgallon • 17 Montgomery • 18 Tonge • -- Zeyn Alabidyn S-Latef • 19 Gillespie • 20 Armstrong • 22 Lucketti • 24 Sharp • 26 Geary • 28 Quinn • 31 Law • 33 Ehiogu • –– Seck • Manager: Blackwell


Persondata
NAME Hulse, Robert William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hulse, Rob
SHORT DESCRIPTION footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 1979-10-25
PLACE OF BIRTH Crewe, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH