Profile: There has been a long thread of useful centre-forwards running through the Club's history and it is a thread that Pearson maintained in his eight-year association with the club. His Tiger statistics may not place him in the upper echelons of goal scorers for the club but his record after he left Boothferry Park stands up well to close scrutiny and he would offer a serious threat to Ernie Blenkinsop's claim of being the most successful player ever to have started his career with Hull City. Such an outcome may not have been anticipated when Pearson joined the Tigers as an amateur, combining his apprenticeship with the local telephone company. When he signed professional forms in 1968 there was, perhaps, the first signs that the club had acquired someone special and as he continued to learn his trade he could have had no better example to follow than that of the regular centre-forward Chris Chilton. Pearson eventually replaced Chilton in the forward line and displayed similar characteristics of strength and determination without matching Chilton's strike rate. His performances though drew admiring glances and Pearson earned himself a dream move to Manchester Utd. which was the catalyst for a magnificent career at the highest level including international recognition as well as scoring in the FA Cup final |