John Hewitt (footballer)

Infobox Football biography
playername = John Hewitt


fullname = John Hewitt
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1963|2|9
cityofbirth = Aberdeen
countryofbirth = Scotland
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height =
position = Pittodrie| clubs = Aberdeen
Celtic
→Middlesbrough (loan)
St. Mirren
Dundalk
Ross County
Cove Rangers
caps(goals) = 0266 0(52)
016 0(0)
02 0(0)
089 0(14)
0 ? 0 (?)
07 0(1)
0 ? 0 (?)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears = 1996
1997–1999
managerclubs = Dundalk
Cove Rangers (assistant)

John Hewitt, (born 9 February 1963 in Aberdeen), is a Scottish former footballer and manager, who spent the majority of his playing career with Aberdeen F.C., but also had spells with Celtic and St. Mirren among others. He also spent a short time in management in Ireland with Dundalk before retiring from the game.

He is best known as the scorer of a number of significant goals for Aberdeen, including the winning goal in the 1983 Cup Winners' Cup final. He was inducted into the Aberdeen FC "Hall of Fame" as one of the founding members in 2003.

Playing career

Hewitt was a product of Middlefield Boys' Club in Aberdeen, and was a schoolboy international before signing for Aberdeen, the club he had supported as a boy,cite book
first=Paul
last=Smith
title=The Legends of Aberdeen
publisher=Breedon Books
year=2007
id=ISBN 978 1 85983 575 3
page=83] in the face of competition from a number of other clubs.cite book
first=Alex
last=Ferguson
title=Managing My Life
publisher=Coronet
year=2000
id=ISBN 0 340 72856 6
page=167] He made his full debut for Aberdeen in 1979 at the age of 17, and by the 1981–82 season had become a regular in the side. in January 1982, Hewitt scored the only goal of the game in a fourth round Scottish Cup tie against Motherwell. This goal, timed at 9.6 seconds, was not only the fastest goal recorded in Scottish Cup history [cite web
url=http://www.scottishleague.net/archive/archive149.htm
title= Scottish League SFAQs
publisher=Scottishleague.net
accessdate=2008-01-22 | ] , but proved to be the opening goal in Aberdeen's route to the following season's European success; Aberdeen qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup by going on to win the Scottish Cup that season.

The following season, Hewitt again featured prominently for Aberdeen, but it is for two substitute appearances in Europe that he is best known. On March 16, 1983, Hewitt came off the bench to score the winning goal in the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final tie against Bayern Munich, and then repeated the feat by scoring the winner in extra time in the final against Real Madrid. Hewitt also scored twice in the 1985-86 Scottish Cup final against Hearts - a game in which he was named Man of the match.

In all, Hewitt won three championship medals, four Scottish Cup winners medals, a Scottish League Cup winner's medal as well as the Cup Winners' Cup and the following season's UEFA Super Cup - all while at Aberdeen.

In 1989, Hewitt moved to Celtic, but failed to break into the first team on a regular basis, and subsequently spent four more successful seasons with St. Mirren. A short, unsuccessful spell as player-manager of Dundalk was notable only for the fact that Hewitt scored the only goal of a pre-season friendly game against Aberdeen. [cite web
url=http://www.dundalkfc.com/History/Results/Results_1996-97.html
title=Dundalk FC: Results 1996-1997
publisher=Dundalk FC
accessdate=2008-01-22| ] Hewitt retired from the game after a season as assistant manager to his former Aberdeen team-mate Doug Rougvie at Cove Rangers.

References