Alan Thomas Hinton (born 6 October 1942) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played at the top level of

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

from 1961 to 1975. He famously wore white football boots.

Playing career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Hinton started his career in the youth ranks at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

in October 1959, before making his senior debut on 7 January 1961 in a 1–1 draw with

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

. He came into the Wolves team during the 1961–62 season when he managed 16 appearances, scoring 5 times. The following season, he was a first choice in the wide left position, from where he netted 19 times, making him their leading goalscorer. He also won a call-up to the England team during this season when he played against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 3 October 1962 in a European Championship qualifier at Hillsborough.

Nottingham Forest

Johnny Carey John Joseph Carey (23 February 1919 – 22 August 1995) was an Irish professional footballer and manager. As a player, Carey spent most of his career at Manchester United, where he was team captain from 1946 until he retired as a player in 1953 ...

became Forest manager in 1963 signing Hinton in January 1964. Carey assembled a team including Hinton,

Ian Storey-Moore Ian Storey-Moore (born 17 January 1945) is an English former association football forward. He scored over 100 league goals for Nottingham Forest, and earned one cap for England during his time there. In 1972, he moved to Manchester United, bu ...

, and

Joe Baker Joseph Henry Baker (17 July 1940 – 6 October 2003) was an England international footballer. Born in Woolton in Liverpool, England, he spent virtually his entire childhood growing up in Motherwell, Scotland. He is notable for being the first ...

that for a long spell went largely unchanged in challenging for the

1966–67 Football League The 1966–67 season was the 68th completed season of The Football League. Final league tables The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found aThe Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite and in ' ...

title. They beat title rivals

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

4–1 at the

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when En ...

on 1 October 1966. The 3–0 win against Aston Villa on 15 April had Forest second in the table a point behind United. Injuries eventually took effect meaning Forest had to settle for being League Runners-up and losing in the 1966-67 FA Cup semi-final to

Dave Mackay David Craig Mackay (14 November 1934 – 2 March 2015) was a Scottish football player and manager. Mackay was best known for a highly successful playing career with Heart of Midlothian, the Double-winning Tottenham Hotspur side of 1961, a ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. After missing out on both trophies, Hinton left in September of the following season. Hinton appeared 112 times for Forest scoring 24 goals. His time with Forest also saw him earn two further

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

caps, in a 2–2 draw with

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

– in which he scored – and a 2–1 win over

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, both in 1964.

Derby County

He was then signed by

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engli ...

for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

(local rivals of Forest) in September 1967 for £30,000. He spent eight seasons with the ''Rams'', which coincided with the golden period in the club's history, winning promotion to the top flight as

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

champions in 1968–69 and then winning the league championship in both 1971–72 and 1974–75. He departed in 1975 after 253 appearances and 63 goals for Derby. Whilst at Derby he was universally and affectionately known, amongst the fans by his nickname `Gladys` which stemmed from his aforementioned white boots and curly blonde perm, along with his elegant and non-aggressive playing style.

Later playing career

After a brief stint as player-manager of non-league Borrowash Victoria, he relocated to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

in 1976 after his son Matthew died from a rare form of cancer. Hinton first played for the

Dallas Tornado The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons. T ...

for a season, before moving to the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

to close out his playing career. In his final season before retiring aged 36 he set an NASL single-season record with 30 assists in 1978.

Managerial career

Having settled in North America, Hinton managed only Canadian and American teams, his biggest successes were with the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

(66 games, 45 wins) and later on the Tacoma Stars (87 games, 69 wins). Hinton also spent a number of years coaching youth soccer in the Puget Sound area of Washington state and became known as "Mr. Soccer" in the area. He coached the U13-18 Crossfire Sounders boys team (now the Crossfire Premier Soccer Club, including boys and girls teams) from 1992–1997. Hinton was involved in efforts to bring the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

to the U.S., and when the

name was revived for a new

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

club in 1994, Hinton became club President and appointed himself as coach.

Personal life

After retiring from coaching, Hinton turned to a career in real estate, while remaining involved in youth soccer. He served as a local broadcast analyst for

. His nephew, Craig, is also a professional footballer. On 18 November 2014 Hinton tweeted that his bladder cancer had returned and that he would have major surgery on 7 January 2015. A few weeks later he tweeted that the pathology results showed him to be "clear". On 1 June 2020, Hinton tweeted controversial remarks about black soccer players that led to Sounders FC officially ending a 40-year relationship with him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinton, Alan 1942 births Living people Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Borrowash Victoria A.F.C. players Dallas Tornado players Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players England international footballers England under-23 international footballers English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Canada English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English football managers English footballers Expatriate soccer managers in Canada Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States Association football midfielders Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) coaches North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Sportspeople from Wednesbury Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) coaches Seattle Sounders (1994–2008) coaches Tacoma Stars coaches English Football League players Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) coaches Major League Soccer broadcasters