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Jonathan Hunt (footballer)

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For other people named Jonathan Hunt, see Jonathan Hunt (disambiguation).

Jonathan Hunt
Personal information
Full name Jonathan Richard Hunt
Date of birth (1971-11-02) 2 November 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth Camden, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1993 Barnet 33 (0)
1990 → St Albans City (loan) 1 (0)
1990–1991 → Hendon (loan) 8 (1)
1991 → Woking (loan)
1991 → Basingstoke Town (loan)
1993–1994 Southend United 49 (6)
1994–1997 Birmingham City 77 (18)
1997–1999 Derby County 25 (2)
1998 → Sheffield United (loan) 5 (1)
1998 → Ipswich Town (loan) 6 (0)
1999–2000 Sheffield United 22 (1)
2000 → Cambridge United (loan) 7 (1)
2000–2001 Wimbledon 12 (0)
2002–2003 Peterborough United 0 (0)
2008–2009 St Albans City 49 (7)
2009 Harrow Borough 4 (0)
2009–2012 AFC Hornchurch 81 (18)
2012–2013 Enfield Town 30 (2)
Total 409 (57)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jonathan Richard Hunt (born 2 November 1971) is an English former footballer who made more than 200 appearances in the Football League for a variety of clubs and played in the Premier League for Derby County.[2]

Football career

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Born in Camden, London,[2] Hunt was a striker in youth football before converting to midfield,[citation needed] and developed into a skilful right-sided midfielder.[3] He came through the ranks at Barnet, and had loan spells in the Isthmian League with St Albans City,[4][5] Hendon,[6][7] Woking[8] and Basingstoke Town.[9] Under Barry Fry's management, he made 33 Football League appearances and won promotion to Division Two in 1992–93,[10] before following Fry first to Southend United,[11][12] and then to Birmingham City in September 1994 in a part-exchange deal that took Dave Regis, Roger Willis and £100,000 to Southend in return for Hunt and Gary Poole.[13]

The most successful time of Hunt's career was spent at Birmingham where he played over a hundred games.[10] His first season was disrupted by injury, but he was still able to contribute to Birmingham becoming Division Two champions,[3] and he played in the final of the 1994–95 Football League Trophy at Wembley, the game won by Paul Tait's golden goal.[14] While at the club he scored 18 league goals,[10] and was leading scorer in the 1995–96 season with 15 goals in all competitions,[15] a performance that earned him the club's Player of the Year award.[16]

Hunt moved on to Premier League Derby County for £500,000. Although he did play (and score) in the top flight,[17] he only made seven first-team starts, and his career started to go downhill from there. He made loan moves to Sheffield United and Ipswich Town, both of the First Division,[10] before joining Sheffield United on a permanent basis in a swap deal for Vassilis Borbokis.[18] He played regularly until Neil Warnock took over as manager, and was then made available for transfer. A trial at Norwich City[19] proving unsuccessful, Hunt made yet another loan move, this time to Cambridge United of Division Two. At the end of the 1999–2000 season Sheffield United cut their losses, paid up the remaining two years of his contract and released him.[20]

He joined Wimbledon of the First Division in September 2000 but appeared only intermittently. The highlight of his Wimbledon career came when he scored the extra-time goal to seal a 3–1 victory over Premier League Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fifth round.[21] With the transfer window about to close, he agreed to link up yet again with former manager Barry Fry, now at Peterborough United, but changed his mind at the last minute.[22] He played no more first team games for Wimbledon and was released at the end of the season.[23]

He eventually joined Fry at Second Division Peterborough in September 2002 on non-contract terms. Although Fry reportedly said he would have "no hesitation" about giving him his debut in the weekend's game,[24] Hunt made no first team appearances for Peterborough and was released at the end of the season.[25]

Having been out of the game for five years, in February 2008 Hunt signed a short-term contract until the end of the season for St Albans City of the Conference South, managed by former Birmingham and Peterborough colleague Steve Castle.[26] In August 1990, as an 18-year-old, he had made one previous appearance for the club.[4] He remained with the club until the end of the 2008–09 season, scoring 9 goals from 57 appearances in all competitions.[4] After five Isthmian Premier matches and a goal for Harrow Borough,[27] Hunt joined divisional rivals AFC Hornchurch in September 2009 – his friend and Harrow manager, Dave Howell, thought he should be playing at a higher level, but understood why he left: "If you were offered three times the amount of money to play at a club much nearer to your home, what would you do?"[28] He scored 27 goals from 109 appearances in all competitions over the next three seasons,[29] – 18 from 80 in the league to help Hornchurch gain promotion to the Conference South in 2012,[30][31][32] and one match in the 2012–13 Conference South.[33] In September 2012 he joined Enfield Town,[34] and finished the season with two goals from 30 Isthmian Premier matches.[35]

Honours

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Barnet

Birmingham City

References

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  1. ^ Sewell, Albert, ed. (1996). News of the World Football Annual 1996–97. London: Invincible Press. p. 401. ISBN 978-0-00-218737-4.
  2. ^ a b "Jonathan Hunt". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b Matthews (1995), p. 99.
  4. ^ a b c "Jonathan Hunt". St Albans City F.C. History and Archives. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  5. ^ Tavener, David (8 April 2020). "2008–09: A season of stability". St Albans City F.C. History and Archives. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Former Staff – Jonathan Hunt". Greensnet and Hendon F.C. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Appearances – Season 1990/1991". Greensnet and Hendon F.C. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  8. ^ Cumming, Bob (1 August 2012). "Cards draw again". Woking F.C. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  9. ^ Jefferies, Tony (24 December 1991). "Soccer: Sutton's finale sees off Grays". The Daily Telegraph. London. p. 27. ProQuest 317024524. Retrieved 3 October 2023 – via ProQuest.
  10. ^ a b c d "Games played by Jonathan Hunt in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Stein to meet players". The Times. London. 30 June 1993. p. 40 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  12. ^ "Club by Club Guide to the Endsleigh Insurance League". The Times. London. 13 August 1993. p. 31 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  13. ^ Burton, Mark (16 September 1994). "Ekelund joins happy Saints". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  14. ^ Tattum, Colin (25 February 2011). "Paul Tait, Birmingham City's last Wembley winning goalscorer, on that 1995 Auto Windscreens Shield final". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  15. ^ Matthews (2010), pp. 427, 477–478.
  16. ^ "Player of the Year". The Birmingham City FC Archive. 13 December 2002. Archived from the original on 28 December 2004.
  17. ^ Hadfield, Dave (29 December 1998). "Wanchope off in flare-up". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  18. ^ "Football: On the move". The Independent. London. 14 March 1999. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  19. ^ Allen, David (2 February 2000). "Duo take City trial". Sky Sports. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  20. ^ Allen, David. "One in, two out for Blades". Sky Sports. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  21. ^ "Wimbledon hand Venables first defeat". BBC Sport. 13 February 2001. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  22. ^ "March 2001". It Must Be Dons. Paul Raymond. 22 March 2001. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  23. ^ Evans, Nic (18 May 2001). "Mixed day for Dons – 2 sign, 4 released". Sky Sports. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  24. ^ Fudge, Simon (7 September 2002). "Posh sign Hunt". Sky Sports. Retrieved 31 July 2007.[dead link‍]
  25. ^ Wilkinson, Chris (2006). "2002/03 Transfers". Up the Posh! The Peterborough United Database. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
  26. ^ Affleck, Kevin (14 February 2008). "Castle lands Hunt". St Albans and Harpenden Review. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  27. ^ Wilson (2010), p. 13.
  28. ^ "Hornchurch in the hunt for gem Jonathan". My London. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  29. ^ "Connections: vs Harrow Borough". AFC Hornchurch. 22 July 2001. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  30. ^ Wilson (2010), p. 3.
  31. ^ Wilson (2011), p. 3.
  32. ^ Wilson (2012), p. 3.
  33. ^ "J. Hunt". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  34. ^ "Experienced midfielder Hunt completes his move to Town". Barnet & Whetstone Press. 27 September 2012. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  35. ^ Wilson (2013), p. 10.
  36. ^ Haylett, Trevor (24 April 1995). "Fry's delight as Carlisle succumb to sudden death". The Independent. Retrieved 29 April 2024.

Sources

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