Tommy Hutchison (1 Viewer)

[johnniericoh]

Whilst praising George Hudson to the roof tops as one of the finest players ever to play for CCFC I've got to mention Tommy Hutchison as arguably the BEST player to wear the Sky Blue shirt.

This guy was really beyond belief - to watch his mazy runs down the left touchline was a sight to behold.

For a winger in those days he was quite tall at 6'0", lean as a whippet, stamina of a bull and speed of a gazelle.

Many a crunch man tried to do serious damage but he dropped a shoulder twinkled those magical feet and he was gone.

Not a prolific scorer by any means (24 in 314 games for CCFC 1972-1981) BUT he specialised in assists particularly when partnering Colin Stein who came from Rangers at the same time as TH came from Blackpool in 1972 under Gordon Milne.

Tommy was superfit and was still playing for Merthyr Tydfill in 1994 aged 47 !!!

Again as with most of our great players of yesteryear there was no quantifiable video record of their exploits but I do believe lurking somewhere in the BBC archives there is a black and white tv shot of Tommy, away at Arsenal, receiving the ball in our half beating five of their players and slotting the ball home - priceless.

Time and time again Tommy has been voted the BEST player EVER for CCFC by all sorts of voting media and fans of all ages and I am so greatful I was around to witness most of his magic

Anybody else see this magician ???

PUSB

 

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[Notorious B.I.Girimana]

Had the honour of watching him at Micky Gynn's testimonial, still looked like he could do a job now!!

Sadly, being 24, i never had the pleasure of watching the greats (though i'm pretty well schooled on the subject due to Jim Brown's 'Elite Era' book)!!

....at least i got to witness Runar Normann.... *sigh*

 

[swanageskyblue]

I was lucky enough to see Hutch play many times for City. It just seemed he had the ball on a short piece of string - he could pass 3,4 or 5 defenders effortlessly.
Colin Stein was a contemporary of Hutch and what a great centre forward, great endeavour and commitment. Stein formed a vey productive striking partnership with Brian Alderson, who does not seem to get many mentions in these reminiscences but was a great goalscorer with a thunderous shot.
After leaving city, Hutch found more fame with other clubs - did he not score both for his team Man City - and against them also - in the same FA Cup final?

 

[georgehudson]

ah indeed,
an absolutely magnificent footballer, a man with a wry sense of humour, a gentleman also,
i loved the way he used to beat a defender, then for the hell of it, wait for the defender to recover only to perform another trick & beat him again
there are also several other great characters who upon arrival @ CCFC put roots down here who were/are also greats in their own right
barry powell (great energy), ron farmer (the penalty king), ernie machin (class act), ray gooding (supreme grafter), ronnie rees (sublime skills), jim holton (great centre half & bloke), terry yorath (a heartbeat to the team), garry gillespie (pure class), micky gynn (determination & skill), john & george ( absolutely !!!!),
i will add further to my musings, and i know,
i've missed loads because there are so very many, apologies for any i've missed,
anyone feel free to add names to a list,
we ARE COVENTRY CITY

PUSB

 

[skybluejelly]

i had forgoton about jim holton..i remember the car stickers when i was a kid.. 6ft 2 eyes are blue big jim holtons after you..

 

[Astute]

Hutch stopped playing for us just as I started going to games frequently so I just missed seeing him where I remember it. Some good players mentioned so far. We have had so many good players in the 30 years I have been going to games that I can't pick out my best even from then, although there has only been one player in the last 10 years I could put in the best category. This is Wise. If only we could get a player like him now. With what we have at the moment we would be going places.

 

[skybluesam66]

strange - we got rid of hutch and bobby mcdonals at the same time - jimmy hill was castagated just as much as sisu are now

 

[Tankie]

Tommy, Merlin Hutchison.
What a player he was, and quite rightly a sky blue ledgend,
not a prolific goalscorer, but worth the entrance money, just to see him turn Full Backs inside out, with ease.

His Bones must be made from teak,he took loads of clatterings, every game, but I can hardly remember him missing games through Injury, he was virtually Bomb Proof.
And for the time he was with us, Colin Stein, was just about the Hardest of centre forewards to wear Our Colours, he would litterally run through brick walls, and put his head in amongst Flying Boots, to score goals.
I was lucky enough to see both these players, and what a privilige it was.

Best.....Tankie

 

[DazzleTommyDazzle]

Saw Hutch's debut at home to Man City (also Colin Stein's home debut). I think my reasoned comment on the day was "Wow".

Difficult to explain how good Hutch was to those who were too young to see him play. The game was very different then. The first challenge any full back made in a game was a "reducer" to "put the winger off". They were the sort of tackles that would be straight reds these days, but rarely even got a talking to then. Wingers had to brave as well as skillful. Hutch always had the ball under control and with a shimmy or a drop of the shoulder he'd leave defenders in his wake.

I remember reading one of the Cov players at the time saying that it took them a while to realise that he wanted the ball all the time, even when he was closely marked he was always confident that he could bring it under instant control and start another of his runs.

Someone above mentioned his assists for Colin Stein, but for me the real golden season was 77/78 with Hutch on the left, Ray Graydon or Donato Nardiello on the right and Fergie and Wallace in the middle. Happy days.....

And my username - the shout that used to go up from the crowd when Hutch got the ball!!

 

[sky_blue_up_north]

Without a doubt the greatest player I've seen in a Sky Blue shirt, that does include the Hud who comes a very close second. If you look at the team he was in you realise how poor a side we are now...

 

[ccfc_Tom]

Had the honour of watching him at Micky Gynn's testimonial, still looked like he could do a job now!!

Sadly, being 24, i never had the pleasure of watching the greats (though i'm pretty well schooled on the subject due to Jim Brown's 'Elite Era' book)!!

....at least i got to witness Runar Normann.... *sigh*

Haha same here he looked the fittest person on the pitch and had pace.

 

[cloughie]

Tommy Hutchinson ,how we could do with his skills now, I remember going to watch city at Anfield and decided to watch from the famous Kop end just to experience the atmosphere. Although we were under the cosh most of the game, as most teams were at Anfield in those days, the Liverpool fans were calling for their players to chop him down! Eventually i could stand it no longer and could not hold it in, " go on Tommy skin um" as Tommy took them on, on his own. Just 1 of many memories of the Great Tommy Hutchison.

 

[barnsleyskyblue]

loved tommy, once when i watched them at that the trainning ground in the school holidays he gave me a packet of gum,

 

[Skyblueloyal]

One of the reason I started getting my season tickets was Tommy Hutch. My Mum used to serve him in a shop see work in selling newspapers she always used to ask for his autograph and I give them away to friends at school.

 

[covkid69]

Tommy hutch is a city legend and a true gent.
Used to watch him from tne kop as a kid and he took the piss out of many a defender with his skill.
Had the pleasure to meet him a couple of seasons ago when we played brizzle in the fa cup.
He was then a football development man for brizzle.
Had my pic taken with him which is proudly on show at home :/)

 

[tower_skyblue]

Watching City for 40 years, the first player that comes to mind when remembering past great Cov players is Tommy Hutchison by a distance.The most skillful player I've seen in a sky blue shirt and one of the best in any shirt.

 

[Tonylinc]

Sadly, I too am old enough to have seen the Hutch play on many occasions. What a player! Don't think we will ever see his like again in sky blue.

 

[ooh ahh lloyd mcgrath]

Watched 'Hutch' as a kid when I had a season ticket in the seats under the main stand, in front of the wood clad exec boxes .... pitch level!! The man was a genius - as somebody said, he used to beat a player and wait for him to recover .. and beat him again. People used to say that he gave defenders twisted blood!

As also mentioned, Tommy was not a prolific scorer but scored an unbelivable goal against Norwich, forget the year. Martin Peters scored what he thought was a wonderful goal from the left side of the pen area by the west stand - he looked up & lofted the most delicate of shots over our keeper into the top right corner - sublime!! - but the goal was not given for one reason or another. Tommy, shortly afterwards, from almost exactly the same position, performed almost exactly the same floated effort, but his was given! Brilliant

Also thought David Cross was the absolute dogs - he used to go playing snooker in the Albany Social Club in Earlsdon on a Saturday night after the game - I used to go in with the old man & sit there there with the 'Pink' & a bag of chips, totally in awe. I was only a nipper, so it made my night when he would come across and nick some of my chips. Top Bloke!

Love The Sky Blues, don't care what division they are in.