Derek Hales

Derek Hales

Personal information
Full name	Derek David Hales
Date of birth	15 December 1951 (1951-12-15) (age 59)
Place of birth	Lower Halstow, Kent, England
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	N/A
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1968-19??	Gillingham	??
19??-1972	Dartford	??
1972-1973	Luton Town	7	(1)
1973-1976	Charlton Athletic	129	(72)
1976-1977	Derby County	23	(4)
1977-1978	West Ham United	24	(10)
1978-1985	Charlton Athletic	191	(76)
1985-1986	Gillingham	40	(9)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Derek David Hales (born 15 December 1951 in Lower Halstow, Kent) is an English former footballer.

Hales joined Gillingham as a youth team player in 1968 but failed to gain a professional contract and drifted into non-League football, playing for Faversham Town and then Dartford. In 1972 Luton Town paid £2,000 to sign him from Dartford, but just over a year later he was sold for £4,000 to Charlton Athletic. It was at The Valley that he made a name for himself, scoring 168 goals in 368 games in two spells at the club, making him the Addicks' all-time leading goalscorer and earning the nickname from the fans "The Killer" or simply "Killer" due to his lethal finishing in front of goal and the fact that his family owned a butchers' shop with a slaughterhouse attached to it, where Hales used to help out before becoming a professional. In between his two spells with Charlton he played top-flight football for Derby County and West Ham United, the team he supported as a boy. When his second spell at Charlton ended in 1985 he joined Gillingham, where he rounded off his professional career with 9 goals in 31 games. Released by the Gills in 1986, he returned to the village in which he was born and bought the local pub.

During his time at Charlton he was once sent off for fighting with his own team-mate Mike Flanagan during an FA Cup match against Maidstone United.

He is currently a P.E teacher at The Howard School, Gillingham, Kent.

References

• Roger Triggs (2001). The Men Who Made Gillingham Football Club. Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7524-2243-X. 
• Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database

External links

• Charlton Athletic history page

Persondata
Name	Hales,Derek
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	15 December 1951
Place of birth	Lower Halstow, Kent, England
Date of death
Place of death