Gary Hamson (born 24 August 1959) 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, rugby ...

. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he scored 15 goals in 292 league appearances in a 12-year career in the Football League with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, and

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

. He retired as a player in March 1988, and after a brief spell coaching at Port Vale he took up work as a financial adviser.

Career

Hamson had trials with

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 ...

and played for Ilkeston Town, before he joined

, turning professional in November 1976. United finished the 1976–77 season in 11th place in the

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 ...

under the stewardship of

Jimmy Sirrel James Sirrel (2 February 1922 – 25 September 2008) was a Scottish football player and manager; he gained his highest profile in the latter role. Born in Glasgow, Sirrel began his career with Celtic before moving to England, spending most o ...

. The "Blades" then ended the 1977–78 campaign in 12th place under new boss Harry Haslam, before suffering relegation in 1978–79. In league and cup competitions, Hamson scored a total of nine goals in 124 appearances during his three years at Bramall Lane. He was sold on to

Jimmy Adamson James Adamson (4 April 1929 – 8 November 2011) was an English professional footballer and football manager. He was born in Ashington, Northumberland. He made 486 appearances for Burnley ranking him sixth in their all-time appearance lis ...

for a £140,000 fee in July 1979. He played 19 First Division games in the 1979–80 season, and played 14 games in the 1980–81 campaign under Allan Clarke's stewardship; his appearances in the latter campaign were restricted due to a nine match ban he picked up for picking up too many yellow cards. He claimed three goals in 21 games in the 1981–82 season as the "Whites" dropped into the Second Division; he also picked up an injury against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

that seriously affected his career at Elland Road. He was forced to sit out the entirety of the 1982–83 season, save for one appearance 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 competi ...

. He returned to manager Eddie Gray's first team plans and posted 28 appearances in the 1983–84 season and 32 appearances in the 1984–85 season, and then played 34 matches for new boss Billy Bremner in the 1985–86 campaign. Hamson moved on to

in July 1986, with "Robins" manager Terry Cooper picking him up on a free transfer. He scored one goal in 12 Third Division games before losing his first team place at Ashton Gate halfway through the 1986–87 season. He was bought by

manager

John Rudge John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

for a £5,000 fee in December 1986. He was a regular feature on the left side of the Vale midfield, making 27 Third Division appearances in the 1986–87 season and scoring one goal in a 4–2 win over

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

on 3 February. He claimed three goals in 18 league and cup games in the 1987–88 season, but was forced to retire in March 1988 due to an ankle injury.

Personal life

After retiring as a player, Hamson was appointed as youth coach at

. He quit this post in July 1989 to become a builder. He later served on the Erewash Borough Council as a

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

; Hamson is now a co-owner of a financial advisers in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and also the agent of winger Aiden McGeady. He became an independent financial advisor for Hallmark-ifa in 2000. He has a wife and four sons.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

Football League play-offs The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football leagu ...

and

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamson, Gary 1959 births Living people Footballers from Nottingham English footballers Men's association football midfielders Ilkeston Town F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players English Football League players Association football coaches Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff Financial advisors