For the latest in our ongoing series covering those who have achieved legendary status among the support, we feature another former player who became a fans favourite.
Following on from those already covered – John Moore, David Preece, Mal Donaghy, Brian Lewis, Bruce Rioch, Fred Jardine, Brian Horton, Kevin Nicholls, Tony Read, Steve Foster, Mike Keen, Ian Buxton, Lars Elstrup, Peter Anderson, Graham French, Alan West, David Moss, Terry Branston, John Aston, Paul Futcher and John Ryan, Syd Owen and Marvin Johnson and Malcolm MacDonald
The latest Hatter to be featured is Bob Hatton, as suggested by Alan R.
As a star struck young teenager, stood on the terraces of Kenilworth Road, I can vividly recall Bob Hatton wearing a Luton shirt.
With his receding hairline, moustache and muscular build, he was everything I visualised a centre forward should be.
Looking at his career record, you cannot help but notice that Bob Hatton played for a raft of clubs, never staying at one club for too long but a striker who was always in demand.
Bob only made 82 league appearances for the Hatters before moving on but during this time, the equivalent of two seasons, he gave the club so much.
The record books show that during those 82 league games he notched 29 goals but it deserves mentioning that away from the highlight of first team action, he helped David Pleat nurture and improve a young Brian Stein who, as we all know, went on to make a huge reputation of his own at Kenilworth Road.
On hanging up his boots, after a plethora of clubs, the record books show that Robert James Hatton played in excess of 600 games in the Football League and his prolific ability as a goal scorer shows he averaged a goal every 3 games, now that is something to boast about.
Searching the internet I managed, courtesy of LUTONVIDS, to find a grainy colour clip of Bob Hatton, with the action described by David Pleat, of one of the best goals Bob scored for the Hatters.
Bob Hatton – Mini Fact File
Name – Robert James Hatton
Date of Birth – 10-April-1947
Place of Birth – Hull, England
Position – Centre Forward
Career – Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bolton Wanderers, Northampton Town, Carlisle United, Birmingham City, Blackpool, Luton Town, Sheffield United, Cardiff City, Dundalk
If you feel able to share any of your thoughts or memories on the Hatters career of Bob Hatton, please feel free to do so in the comment facility beneath this article.
If you can think of anyone who deserves nominating for coverage in this ongoing series, please drop their name into the comment facility beneath this article.
My thanks go to those who have already nominated faces from the past, they will all be covered, in time.
Next up in the series will be – Steve Buckley suggested by Ben Grilli
COYH’s
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My memory of Bob Hatton was him scoring a diving header for Luton v Cardiff I think, we won 6.0
He was practically on the floor when he dived it was amazing. I loved Bob Hatton !