509 Ken Houghton

Biography

When Ken Houghton signed for Hull City in January 1965 alongside winger Ian Butler it was seen as the culmination of Cliff Britton’s managerial masterplan to assemble a high quality forward line that would equip the Tigers to challenge the higher reaches of Division Three and, it was hoped, Division Two as well. Houghton was a proven goalscorer at Division Two level and the £40,000 fee paid was broadly equivalent to £1 million in early 21st century money.

Matched with the raw power of Chris Chilton, the prowess of Ken Wagstaff and the creativity of Ray Henderson and Ian Butler, Houghton was the mastermind whose powerful shot and eye for a pass drew the plan together. He quickly struck up a rapport with his fellow strikers, scoring his first City goal in February 1965 against Queens Park Rangers. In the 1965/66 season, his first full season with the Tigers, Houghton was pivotal as City swept most teams aside with a storm of attacking threat and scored over 100 league goals – 22 of which were contributed by Ken.

Restored to the second tier, the Tigers continued to excel but Houghton missed much of the second half of the 1966/67 season due to a stomach muscle injury that needed full bed rest to heal. He returned at the start of the 1967/68 season and was again a first team regular but with a somewhat reduced goal threat – though that didn’t prevent Ken from netting a hattrick against Millwall in November 1968. He missed much of the second half of the 1968/69 season due to a knee injury before again returning to first team action the following season, bagging another hattrick in April 1970 against Birmingham City. He remained a part of the first team for another three seasons although more injuries hampered him as he entered his early 30s. Houghton left the Tigers in May 1973 in a swap deal that saw Scunthorpe United’s centre half Steve Deere join the Tigers. He was by then a venerated part of the Boothferry Park furniture, a part of two extremely successful City sides, in the mid-60s and early-70s, and one of the club’s highest goalscorers in its history.

Born in Rotherham, Kenneth “Ken” Houghton was on Sheffield United’s books as a youngster but opted for a coal mining career at Silverwood Colliery when no professional football contract was forthcoming. He joined Division Two side Rotherham United on amateur terms at the start of 1960 and signed his first professional contract in May 1960. He made his Millers debut in September 1960 against Middlesbrough and when he returned to the first team two months later he started to score regularly – his first goal came against Charlton Athletic in November 1960. He ended his first senior season with 14 goals and played in the League Cup semi-final first leg against Shrewsbury Town. In August and September 1961 Ken started both legs of the League Cup final that the Millers lost 2-3 on aggregate to Aston Villa, and went on to lead the line for Rotherham for the rest of the 1961/62 season. He continued to be Rotherham’s main striker for two further seasons, netting his first hattrick in December 1963 against Bury and repeating the feat in October 1964 against Cardiff City. By December 1964 Houghton, already linked with a move to Division One side Newcastle United, was seen as one of the most promising forwards in Division Two having scored 68 goals in 176 appearances for the Millers. It was therefore a considerable coup for Division Three South side Hull City to pay £40,000 for his signature in January 1965.

Houghton joined Scunthorpe United In May 1973 and scored seven goals in 44 starts for the Division Four side during the 1973/74 season. In May 1974 he dropped out of the Football League and joined Northern Premier League side Scarborough as player/manager – after a season at the top end of the NPL table Houghton led out the Seadogs at the FA Trophy Final in April 1975, his first career appearance at Wembley Stadium, after defeating Bedford Town in the semi-finals. Scarborough lost the final 0-4 to Matlock Town and two months later in June 1975 Colin Appleton, the man that Houghton had replaced a year earlier, was appointed the club’s general manager – Ken, feeling pushed out of the club, resigned. In July 1975 Houghton joined Yorkshire League side Bridlington Town as player/coach and over the next few months he bought several of his former Scarborough players into the Brid squad.

In May 1976 Houghton returned to Hull City, joining as youth development officer under the management of John Kaye. When Kaye and his short-lived successor Bobby Collins departed the Hull City hot seat during a tumultuous 1977/78 season it was Houghton that accepted the caretaker manager’s role at Boothferry Park in February 1978 before being appointed to the role full-time in April 1978. Houghton was not able to arrest the decline that saw City relegated to Division Three, though he was able to consolidate the side in the third tier and made some impressive signings, not least former Sheffield United forward Keith Edwards. Ken was dismissed in December 1979 after an eleven match winless streak culminated in a 2-7 defeat at Brentford, ending a 15 year on-off relationship with the club.

After football, Houghton was a manager at a freight forwarding company based at Immingham on the south bank of the Humber.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 18 October 1939, Rotherham
Hull City First Game: 9 January 1965, Bournemouth A (Division Three), 25 years, 83 days old
Hull City Final Game: 23 April 1973, Huddersfield Town H (Division Two), 33 years, 187 days old

Clubs

Silverwood Colliery, Rotherham United (1960-1965), Hull City (1965-1973), Scunthorpe United (1973-1974), Scarborough (1974-1975), Bridlington Town (1975-1976)

Hull City Record

Career: 304 apps, 91 goals

Ken Houghton
SeasonLGE
App
LGE
Gls
FAC
App
FAC
Gls
FLC
App
FLC
Gls
EUR
App
EUR
Gls
OTH
App
OTH
Gls
1964/65155
1965/6645 (0)227 (0)32 (0)2
1966/6720 (0)93 (0)21 (0)0
1967/6830 (1)73 (0)01 (0)0
1968/6922 (1)61 (0)01 (1)0
1969/7041 (0)161 (0)02 (0)0
1970/7134 (3)73 (1)21 (0)02 (0)0
1971/7219 (1)01 (0)0
1972/7327 (5)7 4 (0)21 (1)03 (0)1

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