Tommy Hutchison played more than 1,100 senior games over three decades, from Scottish amateur football as a teenager with Alloa Athletic to the Welsh Valleys with Merthyr Tydfil at the age of 46.
He never had to worry about the threat posed when he quit his decorating job to sign as a professional with Blackpool that he would no longer be allowed to paint or decorate in Fifeshire if he was determined to leave without a month’s notice.
Instead he went on to an impressive career that included eight years at Coventry City, where they dubbed him ‘Mr Magic’, and a World Cup with Scotland.
John Bond signed him three times and there were stints in the United States and Hong Kong, but one game will always rise above all others.
“Aye, the FA Cup final,” smiles 76-year-old Hutchison as he sinks back into the bench and rewinds almost 43 years to 1981 and his two goals at Wembley in a 1-1 draw between Tottenham and Manchester City, who met meet again on Friday evening in the fourth round of the same competition. ‘The grandchildren ask me about it. It keeps it fresh in my memory. I can imagine it all.
Tommy Hutchinson spoke to Mail Sport to reflect on his heroics in the 1981 FA Cup Final
His grandchildren regularly ask about those two Wembley goals and he says it keeps him young
Hutchinson (left) jumps in front of Tottenham defender Graham Roberts to give City the lead
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‘I loved it. As a player you don’t want it to end, and it never did. To be honest, it turned me into Peter Pan.”
The first, a flying header, gave City a half-time lead.
“Nobody believes me, but I’ve never really headed towards goal,” he says. ‘I got to the near post and thought I could help him further, but I met him close and he flew into the top corner. I didn’t score many headers.’
It looked like he would be the winner until the 79th minute, when Glenn Hoddle took the goal from a free kick, with Osvaldo Ardiles rolling the ball a yard square to Ricardo Villa to create a better angle. Like Ivan Toney for Brentford against Nottingham Forest, but without the mischief.
But as Spurs rolled the ball square, Hutchison broke from his position on the inside of the defensive wall to try to make a block on the other side. The ball hit his shoulder and flew past City keeper Joe Corrigan, who easily covered Hoddle’s shot.
“My job was to go and make an extra guy on the other side of the wall, just as he rolls it. We had done it in training and I caught it on my chest or headed it away.
‘The problem was that I read it too quickly, passed by and it landed on my shoulder. I was the only player who could beat Joe that day because he had stopped everything.”
Hutchison buried his face in the turf and Corrigan pulled his friend back to his feet.
Unfortunately for Hutchinson, Tottenham would equalize after the ball deflected off him
‘He patted me on the back and said, “Come on, forget it.”
“Joe was tough as nails. If you chipped him during target practice, he would hit you. He shouted, “You’re not here to do that.”
‘For him it was also practice, saving shots, but if he came off his line we chipped him. Martin O’Neill chipped him and Joe broke two of his ribs. We went on tour in Iceland and Martin had to come off because he couldn’t breathe.’
Without the own goal there would have been no replay. No Steve MacKenzie shouter. No fooling around from Villa to get the win for Spurs.
“It’s never bothered me,” Hutchison says. “I would have been more concerned if we had been beaten on the day but we were also ahead in the replay. We had plenty of chances.
‘You think you’ve let the boys down, but I haven’t had any criticism from anyone. The sad thing was it was Tommy Booth’s testimonial on Tuesday and if we had won the cup he would have had a huge crowd.”
Hutchison was a right-footed winger who played on the left, 33 at the time of the cup final and, unbeknownst to anyone, had been playing since the previous summer with a broken bone in his neck.
It was damaged when he dived into a pool with one of his sons while on loan to Seattle Sounders, but not diagnosed.
“My head hit the bottom of the pool because I was holding his hand,” he says. ‘It scraped away the hair and I felt very warm. I told the gaffer and the doctor took me to hospital.
‘Then we went to the game. We played the New York Cosmos that same night. They had me head balls before the game and I didn’t feel anything. Then I’m taken down and I hit my shoulder because I can’t get my hand down fast enough.
‘I fainted and the doctor came. I told him I was fine, but I got up and walked the wrong way. I didn’t know where I was.’
Hutchinson has been playing with a broken bone in his neck since last summer
Hutchison was back at Manchester City having scans done for a groin problem when he asked if they could also scan his neck. ‘They said, “When did you break your neck?”
Serious injuries were rare as he racked up a staggering number of appearances.
“I joined Blackpool for £25 a week and £15 a gig, so you had to play,” he says. ‘That’s why I never missed a game in my first two seasons at Blackpool.’
Hutch, Hard Work and Belief was a book published by Pitch in 2022 about his life
When he signed for Burnley at the age of 35, Bond had promised him a three-year contract.
“I signed a blank contract and when it came back it was only two years,” says Hutchison. Bondy says, ‘Yes, the chairman doesn’t think you’ll play many games at your age, but I told him you want an entry fee. I’ve never missed a match. In two seasons I played 92 league games.’
Bond signed the Scot for Manchester City with a little help from his son Kevin, who had recently played for Norwich after a win at Coventry.
“I just got back from Seattle and wasn’t on the team,” Hutchison said. ‘We were in the players’ bar and I said, “Hey, Kevin, your dad needs a winger up there.” Bobby McDonald intervened and said: “He needs a full-back too”. I never meant anything by it, but on Monday morning the manager brought us both in and asked if we wanted to speak to Man City.’
Bond also took Hutchison to Swansea City at the age of 37, where he played for six years, won the Welsh Cup at the age of 41, played in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup at the age of 42 and made his final appearance against Southend United, at a club. record age of 43 years and five months.
At the age of 46 he was still playing part-time for Merthyr.
“I’d be making the turn and they’d say, ‘Where’s your pension book?’ and I’d say, ‘Whatever, what about my Zimmer frame?’ Before you knew it, we were all laughing and joking.
‘I ended up finishing because I couldn’t train. I was able to play on Saturdays, but I couldn’t work hard enough in training to feel confident, and I’ve always worked hard.
Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Corrigan consoles Hutchinson after scoring that own goal
He continued playing until he was 46, before deciding to hang up his boots
‘I started getting tight hamstrings and it was coming from my back. I went to someone who tried to manipulate it and made it worse. I was in bed for about six weeks.”
He claims he doesn’t run anymore, although he looks fit enough and will be doing quite a sprint across the car park in a flurry when this interview is over. He still plays golf every weekend with a handicap of seven. At best there were five.
Hutchison stepped in as manager of Swansea when they were in one of their financial crises, but felt no urge for a coaching career, preferring the community work he started while playing for Merthyr.
“I did that for about 20 years and enjoyed it almost as much as playing,” he says. ‘I wanted to teach the children through football the importance of looking after themselves, about fitness, attitude, determination, self-respect and hard work.’
Hutchison discovered an ability to connect with children from disadvantaged backgrounds, which was likely to do with his own experiences growing up in poverty in a Scottish mining community, when he was told he was too small and weak to play for school football . team.
The book written with Kevin Shannon and published by Pitch in 2022, he called Hutch, Hard Work and Belief and the Scotland jersey he wore on his debut against Czechoslovakia in 1973, he gave to Dundonald Bluebell, the club where he started in the junior football .
Hutchinson has built a reputation for his brilliant community work in the Welsh valleys
“I didn’t want to give it to anyone else,” he says. “I wanted it to go there to show that it doesn’t matter where you start.”
After building a reputation for his community work in the Welsh Valleys, he accepted a similar role at Bristol City, where he worked for eleven years before retiring to his native Fife, but he never went into schools to tell them stories of his illustrious playing days. .
“I haven’t spoken to anyone about the cup final,” says Hutchison.
‘I went in and said, “I’m Tommy and I’m coming to take you to football,” and they went home and their parents said, “What happened at school?” and they said, “We had Tommy Hutchison for football.” And the parents would say: ‘Go and ask him about the cup final.’