Des Hamilton

Des Hamilton
Personal information
Full name Derrick Vivian Hamilton
Date of birth (1976-08-15) 15 August 1976 (age 48)
Place of birth Bradford, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Bradford City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1997 Bradford City 88 (5)
1997–2001 Newcastle United 12 (1)
1998 → Sheffield United (loan) 6 (0)
1999 → Huddersfield Town (loan) 10 (1)
2000 → Norwich City (loan) 7 (0)
2000 → Tranmere Rovers (loan) 2 (0)
2001 → Tranmere Rovers (loan) 4 (0)
2001–2003 Cardiff City 25 (0)
2003–2004 Grimsby Town 27 (0)
2004 Barnet 0 (0)
2005–2010 Campion
Total 181 (6)
International career
1997 England U21 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Derrick Vivian "Des" Hamilton (born 15 August 1976) is an English former professional footballer and was assistant manager of Eccleshill United.

As a player he played as a midfielder from 1994 to 2010. He started his career with his hometown club Bradford City, making his debut at the age of 17. He helped Bradford win promotion to the First Division by scoring in the 1996 Football League Second Division play-off final. He left Bradford less than a year later for a club record £2m having played more than 100 career games. He instead signed for Newcastle United, for whom he played in both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup. However, he was restricted to just 12 league games in five seasons and spent time on loan with four other clubs. He moved on to Cardiff City and Grimsby Town, but after a brief spell at Barnet for whom he never played, he retired from professional football age of 27. He later went on to spend five years with Non-League side Campion. He won one England under-21 cap.

Playing career

Bradford City

Born in Bradford, Hamilton came through the youth ranks at Bradford City as a promising youngster. He made his debut, aged 17, in the league at home to Barnet on 3 May 1994 scoring in a 2–1 win. He was a main feature in the team for the following two seasons and helped City to promotion from Division Two in 1995–96. He scored in the play-off semi-finals at Blackpool as City turned round a 2–0 first leg deficit into a 3–2 aggregate win before scoring the club's first goal at Wembley Stadium in the 2–0 play-off final victory over Notts County.[1]

City struggled to adapt to life in Division One the following season but Hamilton was attracting the scouts to Valley Parade. He eventually signed for Newcastle United before the March transfer window for £2m. It is still a club record fee received by Bradford, jointly shared by Andy O'Brien who also left for Newcastle four years later.[2]

During his time with Bradford, Hamilton won a call-up to the Football League XI to play against a Serie B select side.[3]

Newcastle United

Hamilton was manager Kenny Dalglish's first major signing at Newcastle, having fought off competition from Middlesbrough.[4] Hamilton was injured at the time of his arrival and his full debut was further delayed after he damaged ankle ligaments in a pre-season friendly with Italian-side Juventus.[5] Hamilton eventually made his debut in a League Cup 2–0 victory over Hull City when he scored the opening goal[6] and received a call-up for the England under 21 side against Portugal in May 1997.[7] In November 1997, he made his European debut, against Spanish side FC Barcelona, which finished in a 1–0 defeat.[8] However, Hamilton struggled to break into the first team at Newcastle United and, along with Rob Lee and Alessandro Pistone, was not even given a squad number for the 1999–2000 season.[9]

Instead Hamilton spent loan spells at Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, Norwich City and twice at Tranmere Rovers in October 2000.[10] His first spell at Tranmere was cut short after he injured himself in a League Cup tie, which ruled him out for six weeks.[11] Hamilton was one of four players released by Newcastle at the end of the 2000–01 season.[12]

Cardiff City

He left St James' Park in 2001 for Cardiff City. His new manager Alan Cork praised Hamilton, and fellow new signings Spencer Prior and Graham Kavanagh for their experience and immediately blending into the squad.[13] Hamilton made an early impression in two pre-season friendlies,[14][15] but his first season at Cardiff was marred by a number of injuries; by March, he was ruled out for the final two months of the campaign after he twisted his knee in a semi-final victory against Wrexham in the FAW Premier Cup.[16]

Grimsby Town and move to Barnet

In the summer of 2003, Hamilton joined Grimsby Town and immediately joined his new team on tour in Ibiza.[17] Hamilton's career with Grimsby suffered an early setback when he was sent off in a League Cup against Doncaster Rovers; Hamilton apologised after his red card led to Grimsby's surprise exit.[18] He left Grimsby in March 2004 after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.[19] He finished his professional career with Barnet. However, he did not play a game with the Bees.[20]

Campion

Hamilton abruptly retired from professional football in 2004 at the age of 27. He returned home to Bradford to work where he also played amateur football.[21] In May 2007, he scored in the final of the West Riding County FA Challenge Cup to give his Campion side a 2–1 victory over Golcar.[22]

Coaching career

In 2017 he became the assistant manager of Eccleshill United.[23]

Playing statistics

[24]

Club Division Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Bradford City Second Division 1993–94 2 1 –
1994–95 30 1 –
1995–96 24 3 –
First Division 1996–97 32 0 3 0 1 0 – 0 0 36 0
Total 88 5 6 0 6 0 – 5 2 105 7
Newcastle United Premier League 1996–97 0 0 0 0 0 0 – – 0 0
1997–98 12 0 1 0 2 1 2[A] 0 – 17 1
1998–99 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 0
1999–2000 0 0 0 0 0 0 1[B] 0 – 1 0
2000–01 0 0 0 0 0 0 – – 0 0
Total 12 0 1 0 2 1 3 0 – 18 1
Sheffield United (loan) First Division 1998–99 6 0 0 0 0 0 – – 6 0
Huddersfield Town (loan) First Division 1998–99 10 1 0 0 0 0 – – 10 1
Norwich City (loan) First Division 1999–2000 7 0 0 0 0 0 – – 7 0
Tranmere Rovers (loan) First Division 2000–01 2 0 0 0 1 0 – – 3 0
Tranmere Rovers (loan) First Division 2000–01 4 0 3 0 0 0 – – 7 0
Cardiff City Second Division 2001–02 19 0 2 1 0 0 – 2 0 23 1
2002–03 6 0 3 0 1 0 – 2 0 12 0
Total 25 0 5 1 1 0 – 4[C] 0 35 1
Grimsby Town Second Division 2003–04 27 0 2 0 1 0 – 1[D] 0 31 0
Barnet Football Conference 2003–04 –
Career totals 181 6 17 1 11 1 3 0 10 2 222 10
A. ^ In the 1997–98 season, Hamilton played two games in the UEFA Champions League for Newcastle United.
B. ^ In the 1999–2000 season, Hamilton played one games in the UEFA Cup for Newcastle United.
C. ^ Hamilton played four games in the Football League Trophy for Cardiff City.
D. ^ Hamilton played one game in the Football League Trophy for Grimsby Town.

References

  1. ^ Collings, Tim (27 May 1996). "Hamilton engineers Bradford's elevation". The Independent. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  2. ^ Bradford City Football Club Club History Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "That was the weekend that was". The Independent. 9 March 1998. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  4. ^ Nixon, Alan (27 March 1997). "Football: Dalglish snaps up Hamilton for £2.5m". The Independent. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  5. ^ Leslie, Jack (5 August 1997). "Hamilton adds to Dalglish woes". The Northern Echo. p. 22.
  6. ^ Liddle, Carl. "Newcastle 2 Hull City 0". Sporting Life. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  7. ^ "Football: Heskey's first England goal is not enough". The Independent. 31 May 1997. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  8. ^ Moore, Glenn (27 November 1997). "Football; Champion's League: Newcastle make exit as Nou Camp echoes past failures". The Independent. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  9. ^ Moore, Glenn (17 August 1999). "Football: Magpies close ranks behind Gullit". The Independent. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  10. ^ Nixon, Alan (25 October 2000). "McManaman considering Ibrox loan deal". The Independent. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  11. ^ "Injury forces Des back home". BBC Sport. 1 November 2000. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  12. ^ "Gallacher to leave Magpies nest". BBC Sport. 24 May 2001. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  13. ^ "Cork happy with his Bluebirds squad". BBC Sport. 26 July 2001. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  14. ^ "New boys star in City win". BBC Sport. 24 July 2001. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  15. ^ "Earnshaw shines in Cardiff romp". BBC Sport. 28 July 2001. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  16. ^ "Season over for Hamilton". BBC Sport. 14 March 2002. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  17. ^ "Trio miss Ibiza trip". BBC Sport. 6 July 2003. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  18. ^ "Hamilton apologises to Grimsby". BBC Sport. 14 August 2003. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  19. ^ "Mariners seal Rankin deal". BBC Sport. 25 March 2004. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  20. ^ "Appearances". Barnet F.C. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  21. ^ "City hero is now Campion star". Telegraph & Argus. 20 September 2005. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  22. ^ "Morris strike not enough as Golcar lose". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  23. ^ "Thebootifulgame". Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  24. ^ "Des Hamilton". Soccerbase. Retrieved 11 September 2010.