Biography
Striker Christian Hargreaves joined the Tigers in July 1993 for a £50,000 fee. He made his debut for City in October 1993, played eighteen consecutive games, scoringd his first goal during November in a rearranged FA Cup tie against Runcorn. So far so good. However that Runcorn goal proved to be his only strike for the Tigers across two seasons of senior football, poor returns for a forward. The longer the subsequent drought went on, the more Hargreaves tried desperately to reverse it and the worse his form became. Hargreaves was used less regularly by Terry Dolan in his second season, which of course reduced Chris’s opportunities to score further, and he left the club in the 1995 close season.
Hargreaves was born and educated in Cleethorpes amid the South Humberside barrios and after a teenage spell with Everton he returned home at 16 and joined Division Four side Grimsby Town. He made his Mariners’ debut in August 1989 at the age of 17 and in four seasons he played a first team support role, scoring eight goals in 67 appearances (45 as a sub) as the Mariners were promoted twice to League Division 1. He had drifted out of first team contention in the 1992/93 season and was loaned out to Scarborough in March 1993, where he made 3 senior appearances prior to his move to Boothferry Park.
In July 1995 Hargreaves left the Tigers and made a slightly unexpected move to Legue Division 1 side West Bromwich Albion, who were managed by ex-Grimsby Town boss Alan Buckley. Playing alongside ex-Tigers Richard Sneekes and Tony Brien, plus future City manager Mike Phelan, Hargreaves was unable to make his mark at The Hawthorns and made just 2 appearances. Between February and May 1996 he had a successful loan spell at League Division 3 side Hereford United, scoring two goals in 18 appearances. He moved permanently to Hereford United in July 1996 and was a first team regular during the 1996/97 season, scoring four goals in 50 appearances as the Bulls were relegated to the Conference National league. He stayed at Edgar Street for a further season, scoring four goals in 38 Conference appearances before switching to League Division 3 side Plymouth Argyle in July 1998. He was a first team regular for two seasons at Home Park, scoring seven goals in 92 appearances before joining League Division 2 side Northampton Town in July 2000.
It was here in the Home Counties that Hargreaves reinvented himself as a solid central midfield organiser and in four seasons with the Cobblers he amassed eleven goals in 176 senior appearances, staying on despite relegation to League Division 3 at the end of the 2002/03 season. He spent the 2004/05 season at League One side Brentford, scoring three goals in 39 appearances, then joined League Two side Oxford United in July 2005. At Oxford Hargreaves suffered his second relegation to the Conference, making 39 senior appearances and scoring once before staying on for one more season.
In August 2007 Hargreaves joined another Conference National side Torquay United and in May 2009 he captained the Gulls in the Conference National play-off final, scoring the first goal in a 2-0 victory over Cambridge United. Returned to the Football League, Hargreaves scored three goals in 25 appearances for Torquay in the 2009/10 season before returning to the Conference with Oxford United in January 2010 and helping The U’s to promotion that May. That neatly bookended his playing career, adding two promotions from Conference to Football League to his two earlier relegations from Football League to Conference.
Hargreaves began coaching after his playing career ended in 2010, joining the coaching staff at Bournemouth in 2012. In January 2014 he was appointed manager at Torquay United where he added a third career relegation to the Conference and left in June 2015. In September 2016 he returned to coaching at Bristol Rovers, taking the Academy Manager role in 2019 while also working as a lower league pundit for BT Sports. He left his post at Bristol Rovers in February 2022 and in May 2022 he returned to the managerial hotseat and took the reins at Conference National side Yeovil Town, only to be dismissed at the end of October 2022 after a run of poor form. He returned to his TV pundit duties following this dismissal and also undertook scouting missions for Brighton & Hove Albion.
Hargreaves wrote an entertaining biography called “Where’s Your Caravan?”, a chant he regularly heard from opposition fans on account of his luscious lengthy locks. It’s a good read, try it.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 12 May 1972, Cleethorpes
Hull City First Game: 16 October 1993, Fulham H (League Division 2), 21 years, 157 days old
Hull City Final Game: 6 May 1995, Blackpool A (League Division 2), 22 years, 359 days old
Clubs
Grimsby Town (1988-1993), Scarborough (1993, loan), Hull City (1993-1995), West Bromwich Albion (1995-1996), Hereford United (1996, loan), Hereford United (1996-1998), Plymouth Argyle (1998-2000), Northampton Town (2000-2004), Brentford (2004-2005), Oxford United (2005-2007), Torquay United (2007-2010), Oxford United (2010)
Hull City Record
Career: 57 apps, 1 goals
Chris Hargreaves| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993/94 | 21 (7) | 0 | 2 (0) | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 (1) | 0 |
| 1994/95 | 13 (8) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | 2 (0) | 0 |