George Hudson: Accrington Stanley Peel Park Days Legend

George Hudson scored an amazing 35 goals for Accrington Stanley in the 1960-1961 season.

Following photographs featuring Accrington Stanley’s legendary centre forward George Hudson surfacing on social media, I thought it would be good to contact George and thanks to a search on Twitter, l managed to locate initially  his son Al, then eventually George himself.

Understandably aged 83, George has had his ups and downs with health issues but was in good spirits when Phil Kennedy and myself interviewed him and when I said that people in Accrington still hold him in high esteem. He said they must have good memories!

However, given the statistics of George’s career at Stanley it is hardly surprising that people who saw him play remember him and his strike partner Jackie Swindells.

Swindells, was a fellow Mancunian, born just a month apart from George in 1937 and both started their careers at Blackburn Rovers. George and Jackie scored a combined 52 of Stanley’s 74 goals in the 1960-61 season and George fondly remembered traveling with Jackie from Manchester to Blackburn every day for training as apprentices.

Accrington Stanley legend George Hudson in 2020 at age 83 remains a big supporter of the club!

There was some big name players at Rovers at the time including top international players, Bryan Douglas, Ronnie Clayton, Mike England, Keith Newton, Derek Dougan, so it was no surprise that George and Jackie had to move on to find first team football although George played four games and scored one goal in the Blue and White colours.

So George joined Stanley and he remembers the strong contingent of Scottish players, in particular he noted Terry Tighe as good player and spoke about the Manager Jimmy Harrower.

His 35 goals in a struggling team in the 1960-61 season equalled the record set by the legendary George Stewart and the stats are amazing, his first 10 league games-13 goals, 3 hat-tricks and a total of 39 goals in 55 games for Stanley, forming a formidable partnership with Swindells.

Stanley had to sell George in that last fateful season at Peel Park due to the well documented financial situation, but he had been a revelation at Stanley.

George Hudson’s career goals 164 in 297 games (plus one sub app) highlight what a fantastic player he was, he was noted for his areal prowess and went on to have a great career at Peterborough, Coventry and Tranmere.

It was a pleasure for Phil and myself to speak to George and his son Al and document a piece of Accrington Stanley history!