590 Andy Flounders

Biography

Hull born forward Andrew John Flounders was part of an exalted group of juniors that emerged at Hull City in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which included Garreth Roberts, Steve McClaren and Brian Marwood. Flounders was a couple of years younger than his peers in this group and made his City first team debut before his 17th birthday in what was one of the darkest times in the club’s history – City had invested in new manager Mike Smith and his squad, got into serious financial hot water and were tumbling down the Division Three table towards relegation to the bottom tier of the Football League. Flounders had three starts at a time when City were on a lengthy losing streak and bereft of goals – not surprisingly, the teenage Flounders with his wispy stature and pacy approach was not able to make a difference. Smith again turned to Flounders in the dying weeks of his tenure as City manager, ahead of the receivers taking control of the bankrupt club. Flounders was 15 months further into his career by now and had more to offer the first team, scoring his debut goal in a January 1982 1-0 win over Torquay then following up with another strike a month later in a 2-0 win over Mansfield. Despite the financial meltdown behind the scenes the young talent at City’s disposal was starting to get good results on the pitch, and Flounders added to that turnaround.

Joint managers Chris Chilton and Bobby Brown took over the managerial reins when cost-cutting led to Smith’s sacking, and the duo gave Andy a run of games in March and April 1982 that was rewarded with further goals including a brace in an April 1982 2-1 defeat of Hereford. When new manager Colin Appleton joined the club in the 1982 close season he had a young striker at his disposal that knew where the back of the net was. City dominated the Fourth Division in 1982/83 season to win promotion and Flounders was a regular goalscorer as he combined the roles of reserve striker and impact substitute. The pinnacle of Andy’s season came in a January 1983 demoilition of Stockport County in which he struck a hattrick. An established part of City’s first team squad, Flounders had another successful season in the Third Division in 1983/84, scoring ten times as City were denied promotion by one goal on the final night of the season.

Appleton left the club in May 1984 and was replaced by Brian Horton as manager, a change that seemed to further boost Flounders’ career. While not always considered a true “first name on the team sheet” player, Andy had his best season for the Tigers in 1984/85 as he started 34 of the 46 league games and scored 16 times in all competitions as City won a second promotion in three years. Andy scored twice in the pivotal 5-4 win at Orient in November 1984 that saw City recover from 4-1 down midway through the second half. He continued to score regularly and struck up a decent partnership with powerful centre forward Billy Whitehurst.

City began the 1985/86 season well in the Second Division, but the signing of Frankie Bunn meant that Flounders was back to first team bench duties most of the time. In January 1986 Horton turned to Flounders to lead the line and was rewarded with 13 goals in 21 starts during the second half of the season, a hattrick against Shrewsbury Town in a March 1986 4-3 win being the highlight. Flounders remained a first team regular in the first half of the 1986/87 season but goals were coming less frequently and the emergence of Andy Saville, another locally-sourced young striker, then the signing of Alex Dyer meant Flounders was no longer a first team pick. He left the club in March 1987.

Flounders joined Fourth Division side Scunthorpe United in March 1987 and operating at a slightly lower level clearly suited the young forward. He was the Iron’s top goalscorer in three of the next four seasons as the Lincolnshire club competed at the upper end of the Fourth Division, three times missing out on promotion after qualifying for the play-offs. Flounders was a near ever-present and between March 1987 and the end of the 1990/91 season, scoring precisiely 100 senior goals in 242 appearances – he netted four hattricks for the club, in February 1988 against Peterborough, March 1989 against Peterborough again, May 1990 against Doncaster and January 1991 against Aldershot.

In July 1991 Flounders moved to Rochdale for an £80,000 fee and the goalscoring form continued – in 1991/92 season he scored 18 times and added another 14 goals in 1992/93. In February 1993 he was loaned to Rotherham United after losing his driving licence, he scored a brace against Port Vale on his Millers debut but didn’t score again in the next four weeks and returned to Spotland. In 1993/94 season the restless Flounders had two more short loan spells at Carlisle United before moving to Conference side Halifax Town in the 1994 close season. After six months at The Shay, Andy was back in the Football League when he signed for League Division 3 Northampton Town in December 1994 but that move yielded only two starts and his senior career drew to an end in the 1995 close season with precisely 200 goals coming from 556 appearances.

Andy then tried his luck briefly in China before spending a further five years in lower league football, playing in the FA Vase Final in 1996 for Brigg Town and 1997 for North Ferriby United. By 2001 he had scored over 150 goals for the Villagers.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 13 December 1963, Hull
Hull City First Game: 4 October 1980, Oxford United H (Division Three), 16 years, 296 days old
Hull City Final Game: 21 February 1987, Wigan Athletic A (FA Cup Fifth Round), 23 years, 70 days old

Clubs

Hull City (1980-1987), Scunthorpe United (1987-1991), Rochdale (1991-1994), Rotherham United (1993, loan), Carlisle United (1993, loan), Carlisle United (1994, loan), Halifax Town (1994), Northampton Town (1994-1995), Guangdong Hongyuan (1995), Brigg Town (1995-1996), North Ferriby United (1996-2001)

Hull City Record

Career: 191 apps, 63 goals

Andy Flounders

Season	LGE App	LGE Gls	FAC App	FAC Gls	FLC App	FLC Gls	EUR App	EUR Gls	OTH App	OTH Gls
1980/81	3 (2)	0	0 (1)	0	-	-	-	-	-	-
1981/82	12 (1)	5	0 (1)	0	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982/83	17 (6)	13	-	-	1 (1)	1	-	-	0 (2)	0
1983/84	22 (8)	9	2 (0)	1	-	-	-	-	1 (2)	0
1984/85	34 (5)	14	3 (0)	1	1 (0)	1	-	-	2 (0)	0
1985/86	20 (5)	10	3 (0)	2	1 (1)	1	-	-	1 (1)	0
1986/87	18 (6)	3	2 (1)	0	3 (0)	0	-	-	2 (0)	2