Ray Hudson

For the academic and geographer, see Ray Hudson (academic).
Ray Hudson
Personal information
Date of birth (1955-03-24) 24 March 1955
Place of birth Gateshead, England
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1974–1977 Newcastle United 20 (1)
1975 → Greenock Morton (loan) 4 (0)
1977 → Fort Lauderdale Strikers (loan) 25 (4)
1978–1983 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 151 (38)
1983–1984 Union Solingen 10 (0)
1984 Minnesota Strikers 21 (2)
1984–1988 Minnesota Strikers (indoor) 112 (41)
1988 Edmonton Brickmen ? (?)
1988–1989 Fort Lauderdale Strikers ? (?)
1990 Tampa Bay Rowdies 13 (2)
1991 Fort Lauderdale Strikers ? (?)
Teams managed
2000–2001 Miami Fusion
2002–2004 D.C. United

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Ray Hudson (born 24 March 1955) is a retired English professional football player and former coach who currently works as an English-language football commentator on beIN Sport. He started playing professionally at 17, in 1973, with Newcastle United. Fans nicknamed him Rocky and he stayed with the football League First Division for four years before moving to the U.S. and playing with various teams for about 15 years.

When he finished his playing career, he started coaching. He was named the head coach in the middle of the 2000 season of the Miami Fusion and was then hired by D.C. United on 8 January 2002 to be their head coach. He was replaced in 2004.

Hudson then began commentating for GolTV. In 2012, he joined SiriusXM Radio as its lead commentator on FC94 (now FC85), their soccer channel. He is also the co-host on The Football Show and the centerpiece of the once a month Hudson’s Howlers, which features his most outrageous comments.

Career

Hudson signed with Newcastle United in 1973 at the age of 17, from local team Whickham Juniors. He made 25 appearances for Newcastle and fans there nicknamed him "Rocky."[1] After four years in the Football League First Division, Hudson moved to the United States, playing for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983. He played the winter season of 1983-84 in Germany with Union Solingen, making 10 appearances without scoring.[2] Hudson also played for the Strikers following their move to Minnesota in 1984, which proved to be the league's final year. Over the course of his eight years in NASL, Hudson scored 44 goals in 197 matches with 99 assists,[3] and was named to five All-NASL squads, including once as a Best XI in 1984.[4]

He followed this with a season playing for Edmonton Brickmen before joining the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the American Soccer League. After a knee injury sidelined him, the Strikers released him. He spent one season (1990) playing for cross-state rivals Tampa Bay[5][6][7] before returning to the Strikers in 1991. By this time the team was playing in the American Professional Soccer League. He was released by the Strikers when the club was mired in a four-match scoreless streak to begin the season. In 1992 he injured his other knee while playing in an NASL reunion match between NASL-era Strikers and Rowdies.[8]

Coaching

After starting out as the Miami Fusion's community outreach director and TV commentator,[3] Hudson was named its head coach in the middle of the 2000 season, finishing the season with an 11-12-1 record. He led the club to the best regular season record in Major League Soccer (the MLS Supporters' Shield) in 2001 with 16 wins, 5 losses and 5 draws.[1] However, the club was defeated by the San Jose Earthquakes in the semifinal round of the playoffs.

Hudson quickly became known for his fiery personality. One memorable incident occurred after a Miami home win against the Tampa Bay Mutiny. The Fusion scored five goals, usually considered an excellent performance, but Hudson was apparently unsatisfied. He stormed into the media tent and up to the podium. He said, "I've got nothing to say. Any questions? ANY QUESTIONS? No? OK!" and stormed right back out. Interviews with players after the game indicated that Hudson was angered by a perceived lack of effort, even with the Fusion's dominant win.

Following MLS's contraction of the Fusion, Hudson was hired to replace Thomas Rongen as head coach of D.C. United on 8 January 2002. He continued to regale fans and journalists with his wit, stories, and quotes. He said, "There’s a lot of talent on this team, and I’m talking Anna Nicole Smith type of talent!" upon taking control of the team in 2002. D.C. United finished at the bottom of the table in the East in 2002 with a record of 9-14-5,[1] and were ousted in the first round by Chicago Fire by a 4-0 aggregate score in the two-game series in 2003. "Someone get me a blindfold and a cigarette!" he said during the post-game news conference. He was replaced by Piotr Nowak in 2004.

Hudson's cumulative record as an MLS head coach stands at 46-44-20.

Commentating

He worked for ESPN's World Cup coverage in 2002, and came up with a memorable quote after the American team drew 1-1 with South Korea in group play. Expounding upon whether U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel should be thanking his defenders for their works, he said, "I'll be kissing their bums in the showers."

Beginning with the 2004-2005 season, Hudson began TV commentating for GolTV. He is a co-commentator for European league matches and was a co-host of American Soccer until his final (to date) appearance on the show on 29 August 2007. During the 2006 World Cup, he was a co-host for the English-language segment of the nightly Gol TV En Alemania wrap-up show.

In 2012, Hudson joined Sirius XM Radio as lead commentator on the FC94 (now FC85), the service's soccer channel. Hudson is a co-host on The Football Show which airs from 7-9am Eastern Time. He is the centerpiece of Hudson's Howlers, a monthly feature highlighting his most outrageous comments.

Hudson's commentating style, which consists of metaphors and excited, romanticized descriptions (e.g., "magisteeerial") of players and goals, has earned him both praise and ridicule.

Hudson also did a Dairy Queen TV commercial in 2014 that played on his well-known colorful descriptive commentary.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sweigard, Pete (5 May 2003). "DC United's Ray Hudson". SportsFan Magazine. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
  2. ↑ Ray Hudson - Fussballdaten - Die Fußball-Datenbank
  3. 1 2 Urban, Bill (20 March 2007). "Whatever Happened To: Ray Hudson (Newcastle United)". Square Football. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
  4. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20090503095238/http://home.att.net/~nasl/all-stars.htm
  5. ↑ http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1990-02-15/sports/9001240666_1_ray-hudson-tampa-bay-rowdies-fort-lauderdale-strikers
  6. ↑ http://mytampabayrowdies.blogspot.com/2009/11/1977-rowdies-kick-magazine.html
  7. ↑ http://mytampabayrowdies.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html
  8. ↑ http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-08-18/sports/9201160346_1_strikers-ray-hudson-reunion-game
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