John Hurst (soccer player)

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John Hurst
Personnel
Surname John W. Hurst
birthday February 6, 1947
place of birth Blackpool ,  England
position Center-back , striker
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1964-1976 Everton FC 347 (29)
1976-1981 Oldham Athletic 170 ( 02)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1962 England pupil 5 ( 02)
1967-1969 England U-23 7 ( 01)
1 Only league games are given.

John W. Hurst (born February 6, 1947 in Blackpool ) is a retired English football player . The central defender , who could also be used as an offensive player, was an integral part of the Everton team for a good ten years from 1965 . His greatest success was winning the English championship in 1970 . Although he was temporarily also the captain of the English U-23 team, he was denied international appearances for the senior national team.

Athletic career

Hurst, originally from Lancashire , was a promising talent early on in his native Blackpool. Grown up, he initially acted in the position of center forward and in this role he made it into the English national school team. In his youth he was drawn to Liverpool for Everton FC . There he retrained as an outside runner and head coach Harry Catterick quickly noticed him when he had a not insignificant share in the 1965 win of the FA Youth Cup in the junior team . As a substitute behind Jimmy Gabriel and Brian Harris , Hurst completed first competitive games for the first division team from autumn 1965 and at the end of the debut season as a supplementary player he also represented striker Fred Pickering . It was only after the turn of the year 1966/67 that his sporting perspective crystallized when Hurst worked for himself at the side of Brian Labone in the defense center. His performance on March 11, 1967 in the FA Cup round of 16 against arch-rivals Liverpool FC (1-0) was particularly appreciated when Hurst "neutralized" the English world champion striker Roger Hunt .

The early experience as an offensive player helped Hurst to often playfully solve his duties as a defender. He was more characterized by a good understanding of position and an ability to “read” the game than a particular tough duel. This earned him the nickname "Gentleman Jack" in the course of his career, which was also due to the fact that he was one of the quieter characters off the field. The speed was also not one of his strengths and rather he tried to bridge appropriate spaces with the passing game. If necessary - especially with free kicks or corner kicks - he would also intervene in the front of the game, in which case midfielder Howard Kendall would usually back him up. Increasingly as a striker, Hurst was a fixture of the "Toffees" in the 1967/68 season and the series of uninterrupted missions only ended in the run-up to the FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United (1-0). However, he recovered surprisingly quickly from acute hepatitis and in the final against West Bromwich Albion (0-1) he was back in the starting line-up. In the following two years he was not missing a single time in the course of 98 competitive games and on the way to the English championship in 1970 he made a good start with two goals in the first two games of the season - initially the only goal to make it 1-0 at FC Arsenal and shortly afterwards a long-range goal after a one-two with Alan Ball against Manchester United (2-0) at Old Trafford . Although Hurst had proven himself over five years in the English top division and also led the English U-23 selection as captain, he was denied missions in the senior national team . He shared the "fate" with players like Peter Simpson from Arsenal FC, who had just as consistently performed at a high level, but could not oust regular players of the "Three Lions" such as Bobby Moore , Norman Hunter or Colin Todd .

In the course of the 1970s there were no comparable successes and Hurst left Everton after six more years in the summer of 1976 after a total of 402 competitive appearances and 34 goals, including 29 hits in 347 league games. Hurst had fallen victim to the renovation work by coach Billy Bingham , who had (permanently) succeeded Catterick in 1973. With the second division club Oldham Athletic a prospect was found and in the Boundary Park Hurst ultimately spent five more seasons as a regular player before he retired from active sport in 1981.

In the 1990s, Hurst briefly returned to Everton FC as a youth coach.

Title / Awards

literature

  • Ivan Ponting: Everton Player by Player . Hamlyn, London 1998, ISBN 0-600-59581-1 , pp. 75 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gavin Willacy / English Schools Football Association: England Schoolboys, International Players records 1907-99 . Redwood Books Ltd., Trowbridge 1999, p. 24 .
  2. ^ "England - U-23 International Results- Details" (RSSSF)
personal data
SURNAME Hurst, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hurst, John W.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Blackpool