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Stuart Pearson

Stuart Pearson

Stuart James Pearson, born Cottingham, England, June 21, 1949. Probably the best football player to come out of Kingston upon Hull since the legendary Horratio Stratton Carter, Stuart Pearson played for Hull City, Manchester United, and West Ham United in a striking goal scoring career that stretched over 20 years. The Yorkshireman also managed to win 15 senior caps for England, hitting five goals in the process.

Born and growing up in the large village of Cottingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Stuart Pearson signed amateur forms with Hull City in 1965 and became a professional three years later. In a city dominated by rugby, Hull City Association Football Club had been established in 1904 and their inaugural season consisted of playing friendly games against nearby teams. The East Riding outfit would be elected to the Second Division of the Football League the following year and finished their first campaign in a highly respectable fifth position, having won 19 of their 38 fixtures. Following their relegation from League Division Two in 1929-30, they would spend three years in Division Three North before they eventually managed to regain their Second Division status in 1932-33. Hull´s stint back in Division Two lasted just three seasons, but The Tigers returned to the second tier in 1949 under the inspirational guidance of player-manager Horatio Stratton “Raich” Carter, a forward previously with Sunderland and Derby County, and stayed there until their demotion in 1956. City clinched promotion again in the 1958-59 campaign, only to suffer yet another relegation to the third tier the very next season. The Yorkshire club once again won promotion in 1965-66 with a talented side featuring the likes of defenders Andy Davidson and Mike Milner, midfielders Alan Jarvis and Chris Simpkin; and forwards Ian Butler, Chris Chilton, Ken Houghton, and Ken Wagstaff, and the men in amber and black now appeared to have consolidated their status in Division Two after several years of continuous yo-yoing between the second and third tiers.

A wholehearted central attacker, Pearson broke into the first team at Hull City in 1970 and went on to become one of the most combative and consistent servants that the club have ever known. He was given his debut for Hull in an enthralling 3-3 League Division Two draw with Ron Tindall´s Portsmouth at Boothferry Park on the last day of the 1969-70 term and would ultimately replace popular goal plunderer Chris Chilton who had been with The Tigers for more than ten years. Hull, who had won the Third Division Championship title in 1965-66, came close to gaining promotion to the First Division in 1970-71, but they eventually finished in fifth position in the standings. The East Yorkshiremen also enjoyed a good run in the FA Cup that season, reaching the quarter-finals before narrowly losing 3-2 to First Division Stoke City at Boothferry Park. After establishing himself as a regular starter at Hull, Pearson notched up 15 goals in 38 Second Division appearances for City in the 1971-72 campaign and improved his goal tally by contributing 17 Football League hits in the 1972-73 season, including four goals in a 5-1 dismantling of Portsmouth at Boothferry Park on the 14th of October 1972. Thriving under the leadership of player-manager Terry Neill, who had arrived at Hull from Arsenal in 1970, Pancho kept up the good work and was instrumental as City finished in the top half of the Second Division table in 1973-74. Then, in the summer of 1974, ex-Hull City assistant-manager Tommy Docherty lured the highly coveted goal poacher to recently relegated League Division Two club Manchester United for a fee of around £200,000.

Manchester United, who had won the European Cup in 1968, had hit rock bottom after being relegated to Division Two for the first time since 1938, but the club’s board of directors decided to stick with manager Tommy Docherty. After settling down in the new surroundings, Stuart Pearson was handed his Football League debut for United by The Doc in a scintillating 2-0 Second Division victory against Orient at Brisbane Road on the opening day of the 1974-75 campaign and netted his inaugural goal for his new employer in a 4-0 mauling of Millwall at Old Trafford seven days later. Built on the lines of a heavy weight boxer, he became an immediate favourite with the Manchester United supporters and went on to score the equaliser in a 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion on the 14th of September before hitting a brace either side of the half-time break in a 2-1 success over Alec Stock´s Fulham at Craven Cottage three weeks later. As the season moved on, the former Boothferry Park ace registered the winning goal in a hard-fought 1-0 triumph at home to Southampton, who had been relegated to League Division Two at the same time as Manchester United, on the 26th of October and followed up by netting a hat-trick in a convincing and comprehensive 4-0 home victory against Oxford United on the 2nd of November. And four weeks later the trigger happy sharpshooter hit the opening goal in an important 3-2 triumph against promotion-seeking Sunderland in front of over 60,000 people at Old Trafford and then recorded another goal in a thrilling 4-4 draw to relegation threatened Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on the 7th of December before he netted the winner in a professional and workmanlike 1-0 win over Division Two newcomers York City at Bootham Crescent on the 21st of the same month.

Blessed with physical presence and ferocious shot, Pearson continued to provide goals on a regular basis in the second half of the season. He grabbed a goal in a 2-0 win against old club Hull City at Old Trafford on the 15th of February and hit another in a fine and resounding 4-0 triumph at home to relegation battling Cardiff City on the 1st of March. He then scored the winner in a 1-0 victory against Bolton Wanderers at Burnden Park on the 8th of the same month and found the back of the onion bag again in a 1-1 draw with Norwich City at Old Trafford the following Saturday before registering a double in a 4-0 success against Blackpool in front of a crowd of more than 58,000 spectators at Old Trafford on the 26th of April. At the end of the day, he finished the 1974-75 term on 17 goals in 31 Football League appearances and helped Manchester United clinch the Second Division Championship, as well as to reach the semi-finals of the League Cup, where they were knocked out by fellow promotion challengers Norwich City after drawing 2–2 at home and losing 1-0 away.

Back in Division One following only one single season in the Second Division, Manchester United now boasted a dedicated and determined first team squad of professionals that included talented youngsters like Arthur Albiston, Steve Coppell, David McCreery, Brian Greenhoff, and Jimmy Nicholl. United opened the 1975-76 campaign with two consecutive First Division away victories as they had made a couple of successful trips to the Black Country to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 at Molineux Grounds on the opening Saturday of the season, and then Birmingham City by the same score at St Andrew´s the following Tuesday. And then, on the second Saturday of the new campaign, Docherty´s fiercely committed team followed up their good start with another excellent performance in their third fixture of the season which gave the Old Trafford faithful a clear and powerful indication of what could be expected from their players. Manchester United´s opponents on that day were Ken Furphy´s Sheffield United side which contained seasoned campaigners of the likes of Eddie Colquhoun, Tony Currie, Colin Franks, Mick Speight, and Alan Woodward. The South Yorkshire club had finished the previous campaign in a highly respectable sixth place in the Division One standings, but it was the First Division new boys who opened the scoring account when Pearson fired the ball home from inside the penalty box after eleven minutes of play. Manchester United then doubled their advantage courtesy of an own goal from Len Badger in the 38th minute of the one-sided affair before Pancho´s bravado surfaced again as he found the net from a few yards out a couple of minutes later to make it 3-0 to the home team. Following the resumption of play, Chris Guthrie managed to score from just outside the six-yard box to reduce the deficit for Sheffield United, only for Gerry Daly to notch up Manchester United´s fourth goal of the afternoon with a devastating drive past away custodian Jim Brown and into the net, and shortly afterwards Sammy McIlroy rounded off the high-scoring spree when he netted with an unstoppable close range shot from inside the penalty area.

After registering a brace in Manchester United´s 5-1 triumph against The Blades, Pearson scored the opening goal in a 1-1 draw against Coventry City at Old Trafford four days later. He produced another brace in a 3-1 win at home to Arsenal on the 18th of October and found the target again on the 1st of November, hitting the sole goal of a 1-0 home win over Norwich City. Three weeks later he scored Manchester United´s consolation goal in a 3-1 defeat against Arsenal at Highbury and netted yet another brace in a 4-1 trashing of Sheffield United, now led by former Notts County boss Jimmy Sirrel, at Bramall Lane on the 13th December. After a slight dip in form in early 1976, he would go on to notch five more First Division goals before the end of the campaign, including a brace in an entertaining 4-3 victory against League Cup finalists Newcastle United at St James´ Park on the 20th of March. He ended the season having scored a creditable 14 goals from 49 first team appearances as Manchester United finished third in the top-flight table and lost 1-0 to Second Division Southampton in the FA Cup Final. The following campaign, Pearson kept on scoring goals at a high rate and the most prestigious event of his professional round ball career at club level arrived on the 21st of May 1977 when he registered the opening goal in Manchester United’s memorable 2-1 win against bitter North West enemies Liverpool in the FA Cup Final. But then, shortly after the FA Cup triumph, Docherty was fired for having an affair with the wife of the club´s physiotherapist and was replaced by Dave Sexton who was the direct opposite of the flamboyant Scot. As for Pearson, the frontman went on to net fifteen goals in 39 games for Manchester United the next season, but he would miss almost all of the 1978-79 campaign due to a problematic knee injury.

Having contributed 66 goals in 188 appearances in all competitions for Manchester United, Stuart Pearson ultimately made a transfer move to Second Division team West Ham United during the summer of 1979 and he was handed his debut for The Irons in a 1-0 Division Two defeat against Wrexham at Racecourse Ground on the opening day of the 1979-80 season. The East Yorkshireman instantly thrived under affable West Ham gaffer John Lyall, and the lethal finisher collected his second FA Cup medal when the Upton Park side managed to edge out Terry Neill´s Arsenal by 1-0 in the Wembley Final of 1980; their second FA Cup triumph in five years. The winning goal arrived after only twelve minutes when West Ham midfielder Alan Devonshire found dangerman David Cross whose close range effort was blocked by Arsenal stopper Willie Young and the ball bounced to Pearson who shot across the goal for suave playmaker Trevor Brooking to head home from inside the six-yard area. While at Boleyn Ground, he accumulated six goals in 34 Football League games for The Hammers before being forced into an early retirement in 1982 because of a persistent knee problem.

An England player, Pearson made his full international debut in a 1-0 British Home Championship win against Wales at Cardiff City´s Ninian Park on the 8th of May 1976, and registered his first goal for his nation in a 4-0 demolition of Northern Ireland at Wembley Stadium three days later. His next goal came in a 4-1 World Cup Qualifier triumph over Finland at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki on the 13th of the following month and he hit another one in a 1-1 friendly draw against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley on the 8th of September the same year. England boss Don Revie kept faith with him and he proceeded to score five senior goals in fifteen appearances for The Three Lions, but his international career came to an end with the appointment of former West Ham United manager Ron Greenwood and he made his final outing for his homeland in a close 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland at Wembley in the British Home Championship on the 8th of May 1978. Stuart Pearson Playing Career: Hull City, Manchester United, West Ham United. Playing Honours: English Football League Second Division 1975, English FA Cup 1977, 1980, English FA Charity Shield 1977.