Rob Hulse

Robert William "Rob" Hulse (born 25 October 1979 in Crewe, Cheshire) is an England professional Association football who currently plays as a striker for Derby County F.C. in the Football League Championship.

Career

Crewe Alexandra

Hulse began his career at his home town club of Crewe Alexandra F.C., having been part of the club's youth system since he was nine years old. Unfortunately, a sudden spurt in height during his late teens left Hulse with a serious back injury and was sidelined for around 12 months. When Hulse returned to fitness, he was given a two month loan to then Northern Premier League side Hyde United F.C., where he scored nine goals in 11 appearances during the 1999–00 in English football. The successful loan spell led to Hulse's first team debut for Crewe, in their 1–0 win over Norwich City F.C.. It took Hulse a further three appearances to score his first goal for the club, which was in the club's 2–0 away win over Barnsley F.C..

Hulse quickly became a fans' favourite at Crewe, thanks to his high work-rate and finishing the 2000–01 in English football and 2001–02 in English footballs as the club's top goalscorer with 11 and 12 goals respectively. The club were relegated at the end of the 2001-02 season, but Hulse, along with Dean Ashton and Rodney Jack, proved to be too much for fellow Division Two defences to handle in 2002-03. Hulse finished as the club's top goalscorer for the third season in succession, scoring 27 goals. His performances during the season earned him the club's Player of the Year award, as well as appearing in the Professional Footballers' Association Division Two Team of the Year.

Despite Crewe's promotion back to Division One, Hulse rejected a new contract and manager Dario Gradi decided to sell him instead of letting him go on a Bosman ruling. A whole host of clubs were interested in Hulse. Fellow promoted club Cardiff City F.C. were close to signing Hulse for a fee believed to be in a region of Pound sterling750,000, but Hulse didn't wish to sign for the Blue Birds.

West Bromwich Albion

It was West Bromwich Albion F.C. that would secure the signing of Hulse for a fee of £750,000. He made his debut for West Brom in their 4–1 defeat at Walsall F.C., but scored his first goal for the club in the 4–0 home win over Brentford F.C.. Hulse played a key role in the club's promotion challenge prior to having a stomach injury during the Christmas period. After recovering from this injury, Hulse made a further 19 appearances, scoring a single goal.

Despite his influential role in the previous year's promotion campaign, Hulse was given little chance to prove himself in the top flight, this was because of the summer signings of Robert Earnshaw, Geoff Horsfield and Nwankwo Kanu. Hulse played seven games for West Brom during the 2004–05 in English football, scoring no goals in any of the games.

Leeds United

Having played only a mediocre amount of games in comparison to his fellow strikers at West Brom, Hulse decided to join Leeds United A.F.C. on loan for the final three months of the 2004–05 campaign instead of a £1.2 million switch to Stoke City F.C.. His debut was spectacular, scoring two individual goals struck from outside the box against high-flying Reading F.C..

The success of the loan spell led to a £1.1m transfer to Leeds. Hulse scored 20 goals in 51 games. He was the club's joint top scorer with 14 goals in the 2005-06 in English football season despite being in competition with several forwards including Robbie Blake, David Healy (footballer) and Richard Cresswell for a place in the side as well as playing with an ankle injury during the start of the season.

Sheffield United

With Leeds failing to gain promotion to the F.A. Premier League, Hulse's ambition led elsewhere and in July 2006, Leeds accepted a bid of £2.2 million from Sheffield United F.C. although the fee could have risen to £3m, beating Norwich City F.C. to Hulse's signature.

Hulse scored on his debut for the Blades against Liverpool F.C.; scoring the first goal of the FA Premier League 2006-07, although Liverpool managed to equalise through a Robbie Fowler penalty. He went on to be the clubs's top scorer for the season, netting regularly until March.

On 17 March, Hulse and Chelsea F.C. goalkeeper Petr Čech challenged for the ball in a league game at Stamford Bridge (stadium), resulting in a horrific injury. Hulse almost turned in a low Keith Gillespie cross but Čech raced out to smother his effort and in the collision Hulse's ankle appeared to snap beneath him. After a five-minute delay Hulse was carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital with what was thought to be a double fracture. On 20 March, it was confirmed that Hulse had fractured his left leg in two places, for which he underwent surgery. His season over, he still finished up as United's top scorer in the Premiership with eight league goals.

Hulse eventually returned to the first team in December 2007 after 9 months out, but despite making 24 appearances for the Blades over the course of that season he failed to score a goal ending his Blades career on a disappointing note.

Derby County

Following the end of the 2007–08 season, Hulse was strongly linked with a move away to United's Championship rivals Derby County F.C.. Although an initial move in June 2008 fell through, the deal was eventually completed on 21 July 2008 for £1.75m. Five days later he scored on his unofficial debut for the club, a friendly match, against Mansfield Town F.C.. Hulse made his competitive debut in a 1–0 home defeat to Doncaster Rovers F.C. on the opening day of the 2008–09 season. His first league goal for Derby was the winner in a 2–1 victory over his former club Sheffield United in September 2008.

Club stats

Footnotes