John Hewitt (footballer)

John Hewitt (born 9 February 1963) is a Scottish former footballer and manager, who spent the majority of his playing career with Aberdeen, 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.

John Hewitt
Personal information
Full name John Hewitt[1]
Date of birth (1963-02-09) 9 February 1963
Place of birth Aberdeen, Scotland
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Middlefield Wasps Boys' Club
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1979–1989 Aberdeen 241 (55)
1989–1992 Celtic 16 (0)
1991–1992 → Middlesbrough (loan) 2 (0)
1992 St Mirren 14 (5)
1992 Deveronvale
1992–1996 St Mirren 75 (11)
1996–1997 Dundalk 9 (0)
1997 Ross County 7 (1)
1997–1998 Cove Rangers
1998–1999 Brantwood
Total 364 (72)
International career
1982–1984 Scotland U21[2] 6 (1)
Managerial career
1996–1997 Dundalk (player-manager)
1997–1999 Cove Rangers (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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 Cornhill Primary and Middlefield Boys' Club in Aberdeen, and was a schoolboy international before signing for Aberdeen, the club he had supported as a boy,[3] in the face of competition from a number of other clubs.[4] 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.[3] in January 1982, Hewitt scored the only goal of the game in a third round Scottish Cup tie against Motherwell. This goal, timed at 9.6 seconds,[3] was not only the fastest recorded in Scottish Cup history,[5] but proved to be the first step in Aberdeen's route to the following season's European success; the club 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 16 March 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.[6][7][8]

Hewitt also scored twice in the 1986 Scottish Cup final against Hearts – a game in which he was named Man of the match.[3] In all, he won three championship medals, four Scottish Cup winners medals, one Scottish League Cup winners medal as well as the Cup Winners' Cup and the following season's European Super Cup while at Aberdeen.[9]

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 he scored the only goal of a pre-season friendly game against Aberdeen.[10] Hewitt retired from the game after a season as assistant manager to his former Aberdeen team-mate Doug Rougvie at Cove Rangers.

Career statistics

Club
Club Season League National cup League cup Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Aberdeen[11] 1979–80 Scottish Premier Division 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
1980–81 22 2 1 0 3 1 3 0 29 3
1981–82 25 11 6 2 8 2 6 4 45 19
1982–83 16 5 1 0 7 1 9 5 33 11
1983–84 32 12 5 0 10 4 10 0 57 16
1984–85 21 4 5 1 0 0 2 0 28 5
1985–86 23 6 4 4 5 1 6 3 38 14
1986–87 34 11 3 1 3 2 2 0 42 14
1987–88 37 1 5 0 5 2 4 0 51 3
1988–89 27 3 2 0 5 2 1 0 35 5
Total 241 55 33 8 46 15 43 12 363 90
Celtic[12] 1989–90 Scottish Premier Division 12 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 15 0
1990–91 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 6 0
1991–92 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 16 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 21 0
Middlesbrough (loan)[13] 1991–92 Second Division 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
St Mirren (loan)[14] 1991–92 Scottish Premier Division 14 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 5
St Mirren 1992–93 Scottish First Division – – – – – – – – – –
1993–94 – – – – – – – – – –
1994–95 – – – – – – – – – –
1995–96 – – – – – – – – – –
Total 75 11 – – – – – – 87 11
Deveronvale (loan) 1992–93 Highland League – – – – – – – – – –
Dundalk[15] 1996–97 Ireland Premier Division 9 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 15 0
Total 9 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 15 0
Ross County[16] 1996–97 Scottish Third Division 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1
Total 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1
Cove Rangers 1997–98 Highland League – – – – – – – – – –
Total – – – – – – – – – –
Brantwood 1998–99 First Division – – – – – – – – – –
Total – – – – – – – – – –
Career total 364+ 72+ 36+ 8+ 54+ 15+ 43 12 497+ 107+

Honours

Aberdeen

References
  1. "John Hewitt". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  2. "Scotland U21 Player John Hewitt Details".
  3. Smith, Paul (2007). The Legends of Aberdeen. Breedon Books. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-85983-575-3.
  4. Ferguson, Alex (2000). Managing My Life. Coronet. p. 167. ISBN 0-340-72856-6.
  5. "Scottish League SFAQs". Scottishleague.net. Retrieved 22 January 2008.
  6. 5 of football's finest super-subs, BT Sport, 23 September 2015
  7. Hewitt's glory in Gothenburg, UEFA, 19 May 2003
  8. Aberdeen's glory in Gothenburg: 30 years on, BBC Sport, 11 May 2013
  9. Super-sub Hewitt asks away from Pittodrie,The Glasgow Herald, 9 February 1987
  10. "Dundalk FC: Results 1996–1997". Dundalk FC. Retrieved 22 January 2008.
  11. "Aberdeen Football Club Heritage Trust – Player Profile". afcheritage.org. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  12. fitbastats.com
  13. "11v11.com".
  14. "Past Saints – H". StMirren.info. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  15. "John Hewitt | Dundalk F.C. Who's Who". dundalkfcwhoswho.com. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  16. "John Hewitt | Player Statistics | Ross County (Staggie Archive)". staggiearchive.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
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