Ray Hudson

Hudson signed with Newcastle United in 1973 at the age of 17, from local team Whickham Juniors. He made 25 appearances for Newcastle and fans there nicknamed him "Rocky". After four years in the Football League First Division, Hudson moved to the United States, playing for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983. His former teammate at Newcastle, Paul Cannell, who like Hudson had struggled to get a first team place, in his book Fuckin' Hell It's Paul Cannell, claimed he was one of the people responsible for getting Hudson to play his football in America. Cannell had spell on loan at the Washington Diplomats in the 1970s. When Cannell came back to Newcastle, Hudson, was keen to know what life and playing football was like in the US. Cannell claimed he gave Hudson tales of sex, drugs, rock and roll and football. In the next season Cannell played against Fort Lauderdale Strikers, a team full of world class players, and he explained Hudson was by far the best player on the pitch... Hudson played the winter season of 1983–84 in Germany with Union Solingen, making 10 appearances without scoring. Hudson also played for the Strikers following their move to Minnesota in 1984, which proved to be the league's final year. Over the course of his eight years in NASL, Hudson scored 44 goals in 197 matches with 99 assists, and was named to five All-NASL squads, including once as a Best XI in 1984. He followed this with a season playing for Edmonton…