Steve Hunt

New York Cosmos

New York Cosmos coach Joe Mallett had recruited Hunt after concluding that Coventry City's 30-year-old Tommy Hutchison was too old. The club paid Aston Villa a £26,000 fee and doubled Hunt's Villa wages to £250-a-week. On 15 May, he provided two assists for Pelé's hat-trick in a 3–0 win over Fort Lauderdale Strikers at Giants Stadium. Hunt scored a hat-trick himself on 5 June in a 6–0 home victory over Toronto Metros-Croatia. The Cosmos qualified for the play-offs after finishing second in the Eastern Division, and Hunt provided all three assists for Pelé and Giorgio Chinaglia's goals in their first round win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies. He scored two goals in the Cosmos 8–3 win over Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the second round first leg, with Strikers head coach Ron Newman saying that "we pretty much kept Pelé out of the game but Franz Beckenbauer and Steve Hunt killed us". Hunt also scored in the Conference Championship final win over the Rochester Lancers, which secured the Cosmos a place in Soccer Bowl '77 in what would be Pelé's final game as a professional footballer. The Cosmos won the Soccer Bowl by beating the Seattle Sounders 2–1 at the Civic Stadium; Hunt scored the opening goal and also provided an assist to Chinaglia, and was named the game's MVP. Hunt scored eight goals and laid on ten assists during his 23 games in the 1977 season.

Hunt was persuaded to stay in New Jersey after head coach Eddie Firmani and owner Ahmet Ertegun agreed to provide him with a company car and several free plane tickets home to combat his feelings of homesickness. He scored a hat-trick past Gordon Banks on the opening day of the 1978 season, in a 7–0 victory over Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Cosmos went on to dominate the National Eastern Division, finishing 67 points ahead of the second-placed Washington Diplomats and 13 points ahead of the Vancouver Whitecaps in the overall standings. Cosmos beat Minnesota Kicks in the two-game Conference semi-finals series despite losing the opening match 9–2, with Beckenbauer scoring the winning shoot-out goal. They defeated Portland Timbers in the Conference championship game to reach Soccer Bowl '78. The Cosmos took the title with a 3–1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rowdies, with Hunt assisting for Dennis Tueart's opening goal. Hunt scored 12 goals and laid on 12 assists during his 25 games in the 1978 season. He scored on his debut in a 2–0 win at Derby County. Having struggled to adapt back to the physical English game in the 1978–79 season, he established himself in the "Sky Blues" starting eleven for the 1979–80 campaign, playing as a left-sided midfielder rather than a pure winger. He formed a good understanding with Brian Roberts, who had succeeded Bobby McDonald at left-back. Coventry also reached the League Cup semi-finals in 1981, where they were beaten by West Ham United.

Hunt won the ATV and London Weekend goal of the season awards for the 1980–81 campaign with a goal against Birmingham City that started at the centre circle and ended with a curled shot into the top corner of the net following a one-two with Garry Thompson. New manager Dave Sexton guided Coventry to a 14th-place finish after Milne had been sacked following a poor start to the 1981–82 season. Hoping for a move to Everton, Hunt handed in a transfer request in 1982 despite having only recently signed a three-year contract and Hill informed Coventry fans that "it took our board only 20 seconds today to reject unanimously Steve Hunt's request for a transfer".

Hunt returned to the New York Cosmos in 1982. He had initially been approached by Vic Crowe, who was now coaching the Portland Timbers but found himself legally obliged to rejoin the Cosmos if he were to return to the NASL. He provided all three assists in Cosmos win over the Chicago Sting in his second debut for the club. He won his third Soccer Bowl title as the Cosmos beat the Seattle Sounders at Jack Murphy Stadium, with Chinaglia scoring the only goal of the game. However, he did not respond well to new manager Bobby Gould and his long ball tactics, though admitted that he was already unsettled at the club before Gould's arrival as he "was fatigued by the previous relegation battles".

West Bromwich Albion Hunt was sold to First Division rivals West Bromwich Albion for £100,000 in March 1984. He enjoyed the expansive passing football encouraged at The Hawthorns by manager Johnny Giles, which contrasted to the more restrictive style he had endured at Coventry. He played as a left-sided midfielder, combining well with winger Tony Morley and full-back Derek Statham. The "Baggies" finished 17th at the end of the 1983–84 campaign and moved up to 12th in 1984–85. However, Albion endured a disastrous start to the 1985–86 season, and Giles resigned after nine successive defeats. Nobby Stiles stepped up from coaching the youth team to lead the first team, before Ron Saunders took charge in January 1986; Hunt later said that "I knew when he arrived that my time at Albion was coming to an end". West Brom were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the season, though Hunt was named as the club's Player of the Year after the Sports Argus reported that he had "battled, almost alone, to keep Albion up".

Return to Aston Villa In March 1986, Hunt rejoined Aston Villa for a fee valued at £90,000, with Darren Bradley going the other way in part-exchange. Villa were in the process of salary cuts and the breaking up of the 1982 European Cup winning side under the chairmanship of Doug Ellis. John Pearson, writing in the Birmingham Evening Mail, said that "Steve Hunt's qualities of ball control, composure and precision passing have been the major reason in Villa's surge to safety".

Graham Turner was sacked after a poor start to the 1986–87 campaign, with a 6–0 defeat to Nottingham Forest bringing his two years in charge to a close. Hunt felt that Turner's successor, Billy McNeill, "seemed unable to change the mood" at Villa Park as results continued to go against the "Villans" and that the new manager quickly lost the dressing room. Aston Villa were relegated to last place at the end of the 1986–87 season, and Hunt had to retire due to a knee injury in November 1987. He represented an England XI against a London FA XI, providing an assist for Kevin Keegan, who said that "Steve Hunt will definitely win an international cap and he deserves the chance". He then played in a 2–0 defeat to the Soviet Union at Wembley seven days later, entering the game as a substitute for John Barnes. Manager Bobby Robson also took him on the tour of South America later that summer, though he remained on the bench as only 13 of the 20-man squad would earn caps during the tour. He later was an unused substitute for games against East Germany and Turkey.

Style of play Hunt had pace, creativity and long-range shooting ability. He then became player-manager of Southern League side Willenhall Town, and in July 1989 became the youth team coach at Port Vale. He took up the same post at Leicester City in June 1991. He later moved to the Isle of Wight and had a role with AFC Bournemouth's Community Sports Trust. On 22 April 2017, he was appointed as manager at Wessex League club Cowes Sports. He led the "Yachtsmen" to a 19th-place finish at the end of the 2017–18 season, one place above the Premier Division's relegation zone. He resigned as manager on 21 August 2018, just four games into the 2018–19 season, citing a wish to take a break from the game.

Personal life He married Sue, his first wife, in 1977. He married his second wife, Kirsty, who he met whilst working at Leicester City. A Bruce Springsteen fan who has seen "the Boss" over 60 times in concert, he considered taking the name Springsteen as his surname but instead changed his name to Evans in tribute to his uncle. In 2021, Hunt released his autobiography, I'm with the Cosmos.

Career statistics

A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the League Cup, Football League Trophy, Football League play-offs and Full Members Cup.

Honours Individual NASL All-Stars Second Team: 1978, 1982 West Bromwich Albion F.C. Player of the Year: 1985–86

New York Cosmos Soccer Bowl: 1977, 1978 & 1982