James Hunt (footballer)

James Hunt

Personal information
Full name	James Malcolm Hunt
Date of birth	(1976-12-12) 12 December 1976
Place of birth	Derby, England
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–1997	Notts County	19	(1)
1997–2002	Northampton Town	174	(8)
2002–2004	Oxford United	80	(3)
2004–2007	Bristol Rovers	95	(6)
2007	→ Grimsby Town (loan)	15	(2)
2007–2009	Grimsby Town	59	(0)
2009–2010	Gainsborough Trinity	32	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10:43, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

James Malcolm Hunt (born 12 December 1976) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder from 1994 to 2010.

He played for Notts County, Northampton Town, Oxford United, Bristol Rovers, Grimsby Town and Gainsborough Trinity.

Playing career

Notts County

He was born shortly after his namesake became Formula One World Champion in Derby. Hunt started his professional career after graduating from the youth academy at Notts County. He was promoted to the first team squad at the start of the 1994–1995 seasaon and was handed his debut by Russell Slade. During his time at Meadow Lane Hunt also played under Howard Kendall, Steve Nicol and Colin Murphy before finally being released by Sam Allardyce at the end of the 1996–1997 season. Hunt played 73 times for County in all competitions, scoring one goal in the League Cup.

Northampton Town

Ian Atkins brought Hunt to Northampton Town in the summer of 1997. Hunt did not make his debut for Town until 21 October 1997 when he came on as a 55th-minute substitute for David Rennie. During his first full season with Northampton the club secured a play-off place with the Second Division and after defeating Bristol Rovers in the semi-final the club were defeated 1–0 by Grimsby Town at Wembley Stadium.

Oxford United

In 2002 Hunt joined Oxford United.

Bristol Rovers

In 2004 he signed for Bristol Rovers, and he became the club's captain until November 2006, when a disagreement with first team coach Paul Trollope about Hunt being named as a substitute instead of being in the starting 11 led to him being transfer listed.

Grimsby Town

He joined Grimsby Town in early 2007 on loan and was instrumental in the club's successful fight to avoid relegation. He was out of contract with the Pirates in the summer so signed permanently for The Mariners. Hunt cemented himself as one of the first team regulars in the side managed by Alan Buckley during the 2007–2008 season. Buckley was sacked as manager in the early part of the following season, and when he was replaced by Mike Newell, he opted to bring in such players as Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala. Hunt found himself froze out of the first team, until the late season when he managed to re-established his place in Grimsby's first team following injuries to Kalala and Dean Sinclair. Hunt managed to hold a regular position down and became an integral part of the team that for the third season in a row managed to avoid relegation. Despite earning a place back in the team, Hunt was released by Newell, stating at the age of 33, Grimsby could not offer Hunt first team football.

Gainsborough Trinity

Hunt signed for Gainsborough Trinity on May 29, 2009 where he remained for a new season before retiring from the game for family reasons.

Honours

Grimsby Town

• Football League Trophy runner up: 2007–08

External links

• James Hunt career statistics at Soccerbase
• Profile of James Hunt at codalmighty.com