Hugh Fisher (Footballer)
Encyclopedia
Hugh Donnelly Fisher is a Scottish
former professional footballer who played for Southampton
between 1966 and 1976 and was a substitute in the 1976 FA Cup Final
.
– who played for Clyde
, Burnley
, Watford
and Stenhousemuir
in the 1930s) and was playing for his local youth team when he was spotted by Blackpool
and signed by them in August 1962, aged 18.
At Blackpool, then playing in the First Division, he played in midfield alongside Alan Ball
.
On 31 December 1966, he was part of the Blackpool side that defeated Southampton 5-1 at The Dell
, and scored the opening goal. This was Blackpool’s only away win of the 1966-67 season, in which they finished bottom with only 21 points and were relegated.
He played 55 League games in his five seasons at Blackpool, scoring once.
tried to sign a player to boost their midfield, having an offer of £75,000 for Howard Kendall
rejected by Preston
. He then turned his attention to Fisher, who had helped to rip Southampton apart on New Year’s Eve, and he was signed for £35,000 at the beginning of March, making his debut (together with goalkeeper Eric Martin
) on 18 March 1967 away to Everton
(who by then had themselves signed Kendall). He made a good debut and remained ever-present to the end of the 1966-67 season
when Saints narrowly avoided relegation in their first season in Division 1, thanks largely to the goal-scoring talents of Ron Davies
(37 league goals) and Martin Chivers
(22 league goals).
In 1967-68 he was the regular at No. 4, but the following season he lost his place to Fred Kemp. By November 1969 he had re-established himself as first choice in midfield and was ever-present in the 1970-71 season
as Saints finished 7th in the First Division.
On 2 October 1971, he broke his leg in a collision with Arsenal
’s goalkeeper Bob Wilson,thus ending a sequence of 50 consecutive appearances. Fisher was then side-lined for the rest of the season, when again Saints struggled to avoid relegation. He was restored to the starting line-up the following season and barely missed a game over the next 3 seasons as Saints finally slipped back into Division 2 in 1974.
During the summer of 1975, he played in the United States with Denver Dynamos
in the NASL
.
His greatest moment in a Southampton shirt came in the 1975-76 season
. The Saints were having a mediocre season in Division 2, but on 3 January 1976, in an F.A. Cup third round match at the Dell
, Saints were 1-0 down against Aston Villa
when, in the 89th minute of the game, the ball was crossed into the area by David Peach
. The ball was touched on by Pat Earles
to Mick Channon
and back to Fisher, who shot the ball into the goal through a crowd of defenders. This goal, Fisher’s first for 16 months, kept his side in the competition.
Southampton progressed through the remaining rounds of the cup to reach the final. Fisher had played in all the rounds up to the semi-final, but had to withdraw from the starting line-up, in favour of Paul Gilchrist
, with a pelvic strain. For both the semi-final and final
on 1 May 1976 Fisher was on the bench, as Southampton went on to win their first trophy.
At the start of the following season, Fisher was still carrying the injury that had prevented him playing in the cup final, but he still appeared in most of the league games until 20 November 1976, when he played what was to be his last game for Southampton in a 3-1 home defeat by Bolton Wanderers. By this time, Steve Williams was beginning to make a name for himself in midfield and shortly afterwards Saints signed Fisher's former Blackpool team-mate, Alan Ball
. As the pairing of Ball and Williams became a virtual fixture in midfield, Fisher became a regular in the reserves, together with several other members of the team that had won the cup only a season earlier.
In all he had played 366 games for Southampton, scoring 11 goals and over his 10 years with the club he played a massive part in Saints’ survival and ultimate establishment among England’s elite football clubs.
as player-manager. He played in Southport’s remaining 15 games of the 1976-77 season, and only missed one game in the following season. Together with cup games, he made 66 appearances for Southport in a period of 14 months. Unfortunately, however, his efforts were not enough to keep Southport in the Football League and they were not re-elected to the Fourth Division at the end of the 1977-78 season
and were replaced by Wigan Athletic.
, but finally retired from football in 1980.
By this time he was working as a sales representative for Schweppes before moving on to Watneys (brewers) and then to Newcastle Courage, although he now spends a lot of his time on the golf course. He is currently living in Bishop's Waltham
, Hampshire
with his wife, Claudia.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
former professional footballer who played for Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
between 1966 and 1976 and was a substitute in the 1976 FA Cup Final
FA Cup Final 1976
The 1976 FA Cup Final took place on 1 May 1976 at Wembley Stadium. It was contested between Manchester United and Southampton.United had finished third in the First Division that season, and were strong favourites, while unfancied Southampton had finished sixth in the Second Division...
.
Early career
Hughie is the son of another professional footballer (Peter FisherPeter Fisher (footballer)
Peter Fisher was a Scottish professional association footballer who played as an inside forward.-References:...
– who played for Clyde
Clyde F.C.
Clyde Football Club are a Scottish professional football team currently playing in the Third Division of the Scottish Football League. Although based for the last fifteen years in the new town of Cumbernauld, they are traditionally associated with an area that covers Rutherglen in South...
, Burnley
Burnley F.C.
Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...
, Watford
Watford F.C.
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...
and Stenhousemuir
Stenhousemuir F.C.
Stenhousemuir FC is a Scottish football club located in Stenhousemuir. The club is a member of the Scottish Football League and currently plays in the Scottish Second Division....
in the 1930s) and was playing for his local youth team when he was spotted by Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
and signed by them in August 1962, aged 18.
At Blackpool, then playing in the First Division, he played in midfield alongside Alan Ball
Alan Ball (footballer)
Alan James Ball, Jr., MBE was a professional English footballer and football club manager.He was the youngest member of England's 1966 World Cup winning team and played for various clubs, scoring more than 180 league goals in a career spanning 22 years...
.
On 31 December 1966, he was part of the Blackpool side that defeated Southampton 5-1 at The Dell
The Dell (Southampton F.C.)
The Dell in Milton Road, Southampton, England was the home ground of Southampton Football Club, between 1898 and 2001.-New stadium:Since 1896, Southampton had been tenants of Hampshire County Cricket Club at the County Ground, having vacated the Antelope Ground in the summer of 1896...
, and scored the opening goal. This was Blackpool’s only away win of the 1966-67 season, in which they finished bottom with only 21 points and were relegated.
He played 55 League games in his five seasons at Blackpool, scoring once.
Southampton
After defeat by Blackpool, Southampton manager Ted BatesTed Bates (footballer)
Edric Thornton "Ted" Bates MBE was a former Southampton F.C. player, manager, director and president which earned him the sobriquet Mr. Southampton.-Playing career:...
tried to sign a player to boost their midfield, having an offer of £75,000 for Howard Kendall
Howard Kendall
Howard Kendall is an English football manager and former player. He is most famous for his connection to Everton, a club that he both played for and managed. His uncle Harry Taylor played for Newcastle United and Fulham in the 1950s....
rejected by Preston
Preston North End F.C.
Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...
. He then turned his attention to Fisher, who had helped to rip Southampton apart on New Year’s Eve, and he was signed for £35,000 at the beginning of March, making his debut (together with goalkeeper Eric Martin
Eric Martin (footballer)
Eric Martin is a former football goalkeeper who played 290 games for Southampton F.C. between 1967 and 1975, including 248 Football League games.-External links:*...
) on 18 March 1967 away to Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
(who by then had themselves signed Kendall). He made a good debut and remained ever-present to the end of the 1966-67 season
1966-67 in English football
The 1966–67 season was the 87th season of competitive football in England.-Events:Queens Park Rangers won the Football League Cup on the first occasion it was played at Wembley, coming from 2-0 down at half-time to beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2....
when Saints narrowly avoided relegation in their first season in Division 1, thanks largely to the goal-scoring talents of Ron Davies
Ron Davies (footballer)
Ronald Tudor "Ron" Davies was a Welsh footballer who played as a centre forward. He spent most of his career with Southampton in the Football League First Division, and also for the Welsh national team....
(37 league goals) and Martin Chivers
Martin Chivers
Martin Harcourt Chivers is a retired English professional footballer from the 1960s and 1970s.-Southampton:...
(22 league goals).
In 1967-68 he was the regular at No. 4, but the following season he lost his place to Fred Kemp. By November 1969 he had re-established himself as first choice in midfield and was ever-present in the 1970-71 season
1970-71 in English football
The 1970–71 season was the 91st season of competitive football in England.-First Division:Arsenal won the league championship at the end of a season which would soon be followed by their FA Cup final tie with Liverpool. Arsenal secured the league title at White Hart Lane, the home of bitter rivals...
as Saints finished 7th in the First Division.
On 2 October 1971, he broke his leg in a collision with Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
’s goalkeeper Bob Wilson,thus ending a sequence of 50 consecutive appearances. Fisher was then side-lined for the rest of the season, when again Saints struggled to avoid relegation. He was restored to the starting line-up the following season and barely missed a game over the next 3 seasons as Saints finally slipped back into Division 2 in 1974.
During the summer of 1975, he played in the United States with Denver Dynamos
Denver Dynamos
The Denver Dynamos were a soccer team based out of Denver that played in the NASL from 1974 to 1975.Their home field was Mile High Stadium. After the 1975 season, they moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Kicks.-Year-by-year:...
in the NASL
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
.
His greatest moment in a Southampton shirt came in the 1975-76 season
1975-76 in English football
The 1975–76 season was the 96th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Liverpool won their first major trophy under Bob Paisley by narrowly winning the league title after heated competition from Queens Park Rangers. They also lifted the UEFA Cup for the second time in their...
. The Saints were having a mediocre season in Division 2, but on 3 January 1976, in an F.A. Cup third round match at the Dell
The Dell (Southampton F.C.)
The Dell in Milton Road, Southampton, England was the home ground of Southampton Football Club, between 1898 and 2001.-New stadium:Since 1896, Southampton had been tenants of Hampshire County Cricket Club at the County Ground, having vacated the Antelope Ground in the summer of 1896...
, Saints were 1-0 down against Aston Villa
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
when, in the 89th minute of the game, the ball was crossed into the area by David Peach
David Peach
David Sidney Peach is a former footballer, who played at left back for Southampton in the FA Cup Final 1976.-Chelsea & Gillingham:...
. The ball was touched on by Pat Earles
Pat Earles
Patrick John "Pat" Earles is an English former footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Southampton and Reading...
to Mick Channon
Mick Channon
Michael Roger "Mick" Channon is a sportsman who enjoyed a career as a striker with Southampton and England in the 1970s and later became a hugely successful racehorse trainer.-Southampton:...
and back to Fisher, who shot the ball into the goal through a crowd of defenders. This goal, Fisher’s first for 16 months, kept his side in the competition.
Southampton progressed through the remaining rounds of the cup to reach the final. Fisher had played in all the rounds up to the semi-final, but had to withdraw from the starting line-up, in favour of Paul Gilchrist
Paul Gilchrist
Paul Anthony Gilchrist is a former footballer, who won the FA Cup with Southampton in 1976.-Early career:Gilchrist was a Charlton apprentice and played 7 league games for them...
, with a pelvic strain. For both the semi-final and final
FA Cup Final 1976
The 1976 FA Cup Final took place on 1 May 1976 at Wembley Stadium. It was contested between Manchester United and Southampton.United had finished third in the First Division that season, and were strong favourites, while unfancied Southampton had finished sixth in the Second Division...
on 1 May 1976 Fisher was on the bench, as Southampton went on to win their first trophy.
At the start of the following season, Fisher was still carrying the injury that had prevented him playing in the cup final, but he still appeared in most of the league games until 20 November 1976, when he played what was to be his last game for Southampton in a 3-1 home defeat by Bolton Wanderers. By this time, Steve Williams was beginning to make a name for himself in midfield and shortly afterwards Saints signed Fisher's former Blackpool team-mate, Alan Ball
Alan Ball (footballer)
Alan James Ball, Jr., MBE was a professional English footballer and football club manager.He was the youngest member of England's 1966 World Cup winning team and played for various clubs, scoring more than 180 league goals in a career spanning 22 years...
. As the pairing of Ball and Williams became a virtual fixture in midfield, Fisher became a regular in the reserves, together with several other members of the team that had won the cup only a season earlier.
In all he had played 366 games for Southampton, scoring 11 goals and over his 10 years with the club he played a massive part in Saints’ survival and ultimate establishment among England’s elite football clubs.
Southport
In March 1977, after 10 years with Southampton, Fisher joined Fourth Division SouthportSouthport F.C.
Southport Football Club are an English football club, based in Southport, Merseyside. They are currently in the Conference National, and play their home matches at Haig Avenue, which has a capacity of 6,008...
as player-manager. He played in Southport’s remaining 15 games of the 1976-77 season, and only missed one game in the following season. Together with cup games, he made 66 appearances for Southport in a period of 14 months. Unfortunately, however, his efforts were not enough to keep Southport in the Football League and they were not re-elected to the Fourth Division at the end of the 1977-78 season
1977-78 in English football
The 1977–1978 season was the 98th season of competitive football in England, from August 1977 to May 1978:-First Division:Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest side took on the First Division by storm, by winning the League Cup on 22 March and confirming themselves as league champions the following month...
and were replaced by Wigan Athletic.
After football
As a result of Southport leaving the Football League, Hugh was out of a job, although he played as a semi-professional for various Hampshire clubs, including a season with WaterloovilleHavant & Waterlooville F.C.
Havant & Waterlooville Football Club are an English football club based in Havant, Hampshire. The club formed in 1998 after a merger between Havant Town and Waterlooville, and are currently members of the Conference South. Nicknamed The Hawks, they play at West Leigh Park.-History:In 1998 Havant...
, but finally retired from football in 1980.
By this time he was working as a sales representative for Schweppes before moving on to Watneys (brewers) and then to Newcastle Courage, although he now spends a lot of his time on the golf course. He is currently living in Bishop's Waltham
Bishop's Waltham
Bishop's Waltham is a small town in Hampshire, England situated at the head of the River Hamble. It is home to the ruins of Bishop's Waltham Palace, an English Heritage monument.-History:...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
with his wife, Claudia.