Stuart

Ask most Hull City fans of a certain vintage who they think of when they connect Hull City and Manchester United, and Stuart Pearson is the name which comes out.

Pearson was the last player to leave Hull City directly for Old Trafford, back in 1974. Tommy Docherty signed him after being impressed with the Cottingham lad's sturdy, unflinching effort to step into the iconic goalscoring boots vacated by Chris Chilton.

Docherty was only at Boothferry Park for a bit, as an experienced assistant to Terry Neill, before the call to manage Scotland naturally drew him away. Within a year he had left his country behind to go to Manchester United and, having realised Denis Law was past his best, aimed for youth and enthusiasm to rebuild a falling giant of the game.

Pearson, along with future household names like Macari, Hill, Coppell and Greenhoff, was part of it. It was a big deal around the city when Manchester United, freshly relegated into the same division as the Tigers, forked out £200,000 for the centre forward's services, but it represented good business all round. A year in a division he was already familiar with helped Pearson settle quickly, and he scored vital goals within typically bustling displays that endeared him quickly to a demoralised Old Trafford faithful and sent Manchester United straight back up. This was the last season that the two clubs would face each other in the League until now, and each side won at home.

Pearson also became a rare breed of Hull City player to have left the club and gone on to represent England, which he did sporadically for Don Revie and Ron Greenwood from 1976 until 1978. Only Brian Marwood has done this since. His Manchester United career was blighted by injury, but he won the FA Cup in 1977, scored in the final at Wembley, and went on to win another FA Cup with West Ham United after joining them, back in the second tier, in 1979. He remains on the hospitality roster at Old Trafford but his family are still in Hull, and it would be of mild interest to know who he roots for at Old Trafford today.