Arsenal travel to Hull City this Saturday with the two clubs level on points in the Premier League.
Chuba Akpom won promotion to the Premier League on-loan at Hull City from Arsenal last season
Arsenal and Hull City are two clubs with very different pasts. The Gunners have spent 100 years in England’s top flight, winning 13 league titles, 12 FA Cup’s and 2 League Cup’s. Hull City, on the other hand, are currently in just their fifth season in the top flight in their 112 year history, and have never won a trophy.
Despite this, the two teams have shared some top class players (and some slightly less impressive ones). We take a look at 10 notable players to have donned both the red of Arsenal and the black and amber of Hull City at some stage during their career. Among it are 5 former full internationals and a further 3 youth internationals.
Ray Parlour
Ray Parlour played for Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Hull City
One of the finest players to have played for both clubs is Ray Parlour. A fans favourite at Highbury, nicknamed ‘the Romford Pele’, Parlour had 12 highly successful years with the Gunners, having emerged through the Arsenal academy.
He went on to play 466 games for the North Londoners, winning 3 Premier League titles, 4 FA Cup’s, one League Cup and one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. Aged 34, Parlour was in the swan-song of his career when he joined Hull City, and played just 15 games as the Tigers narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship.
Jay Simpson
Jay Simpson played 43 league games during Hull’s 2012/13 promotion season
A man who has had a much less decorated career, but a more successful Hull City one, is Jay Simpson – who won promotion with Hull in 2013. He joined Arsenal when he was 11, but played just 3 games for the Gunners, scoring 2 goals. In three seasons with Hull, Simpson scored 13 goals in 85 games before being released.
David Rocastle
A tribute to former Arsenal player David Rocastle
Arsenal hero David Rocastle graced both the pitches of Highbury and Boothferry Park. He spent 8 years at Arsenal where he won 3 trophies and was named the clubs 1986 Player of the Year. A two-time PFA Player of the Year member who won 14 caps for England, Rocastle played 11 games on-loan at Hull in 1997. The skilful midfielder tragically lost his life to cancer at the age of just 33.
John Roberts
Former Wales international John Roberts won 22 caps for his country, as well as spending 3 years with Arsenal and 2 with Hull. The striker-turned-centre-half had a career spanning almost two decades as a player, but worked as both a stationery salesman and driving instructor following his retirement.
Chuba Akpom
Chuba Akpom scoring for Arsenal during their pre-season
Chuba Akpom spent last season on-loan at Hull City, along with Newcastle summer signing Isaac Hayden. The England youth international scored just 3 goals in 36 league outings as Hull went on to win promotion to the Premier League, although many of those were off the bench. Akpom is now back at Arsenal and fighting for more first team involvement.
Brian Marwood
Brian Marwood in action for against North London rivals Tottenham
One of the finest players to ever emerge from Hull City’s historically lacklustre youth system, Brian Marwood was a great servant to the club, before going on to play for both Sheffield teams and Arsenal. Once voted Hull’s greatest ever right winger, Marwood scored 53 goals in 191 games for the Tigers and 16 goals in 52 games for Arsenal, winning a solitary cap for England.
James Harper
James Harper whilst playing for Hull City
From a Hull City great to a man who did very little in black and amber. A hugely important player for 9 years at Reading, Harper showed little in East Yorkshire, doing more pointing and shouting than producing anything to shout about on the pitch. A youth player at Arsenal, Harper played just 6 games for the Gunners and is currently starring for Hayes & Yeading United in the 7th tier.
Terry Neill
Arsenal manager Terry Neill alongside Pele
The most obvious man to have both Arsenal and Hull City connections is Terry Neill, having played only for those two teams, making over a century of appearances for each and going on to manage both for substantial periods of time. At Arsenal, Neill arrived at 17 and left at 28, making 275 appearances, only 3 of which were as a substitute.
Neill joined Hull City in 1970 as a player-manager, despite being aged just 28, and went on to player-manage Northern Ireland also, with whom he won 59 caps. After managing Hull for 4 years, he managed Tottenham and later Arsenal for 7 years, reaching 3 FA Cup finals and winning one.
Vito Mannone
Vito Mannone played 23 games for Arsenal and 33 for Hull City
Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone spent 8 years at Arsenal, although he made only 23 appearances for the club in that time. Mannone spent two seasons on-loan at the KC Stadium, making 33 appearances and earning many plaudits.
John Hawley
John Hawley during his Arsenal days
More fondly remembered by supporters of Hull City than Arsenal, John Hawley started his career with the Tigers, and went on to play 114 games for the club, scoring arguably their finest ever goal at Boothferry Park against Sunderland.
Hawley later played for Leeds, Sunderland, Arsenal, Leyton Orient, Bradford, Scunthorpe and the St. Louis Stars in the United States. He played a total of 287 games in the Football League, scoring 89 goals. Since his retirement, Hawley has worked in antiques and with Hull City at the KCOM Stadium.
Who is the finest to player to have played for both Arsenal and Hull City?
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