Name:	Stephen Hunt
Nationality:	Irish
Date of Birth:	01/08/1981
Height:	5' 8" (172cm)
Weight:	11st 5lbs (72.0kg)
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Clubs:	Reading, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Hull City
Position:	Midfielder

PLAYER SPONSORED BY

 

 

Stan Moore

 

 

 

Wolves' long-running pursuit of Republic of Ireland winger Stephen Hunt came to an end when they signed the player for an undisclosed fee in June, 2010.

 

Hunt signed a three-year contract in becoming the second player to move from Hull to Wolves in the space of three days following defender Steven Mouyokolo.

 

Wolves were initially linked with the winger in the summer of 2009, and then confirmed they had made a substantial bid to land him in January, 2010.

 

Hull however rejected the bid, and Hunt managed to remained unmoved by all the speculation to such an extent that he scored a penalty against Wolves in January's 2-2 draw at the KC Stadium.

 

He then suffered a foot injury in April which ruled him out of the season's run-in and also meant he wouldn't be fit for the start of his first Wolves campaign.

 

But boss Mick McCarthy was delighted to have signed the player with the prospect of him being available to boost the ranks at some point in the early part of the campaign.

 

Hunt, born in Portlaiose in Ireland, secured his first chance in English football with Crystal Palace towards the end of the 1999/2000 season but after only three substitutes appearances dropped down a division to join Brentford.

 

He impressed while at Griffin Park, not only helping his team to the League One play-off final against Stoke in his first season but providing a regular supply of goals, 29 in total from 160 appearances.

 

That form helped secure a move to Reading in the summer of 2005/06, where Hunt was in the same Royals team as Marcus Hahnemann and Kevin Doyle which marched to the Championship title and the Barclays Premier League.

 

Many of his appearances that season were from the bench, but in the top flight he established himself as a key figure in the team which finished eighth in their first season.

 

In two further seasons with Reading, the assists and goals continued to flow with Hunt finishing with 21 goals from 173 games before leaving for Hull last summer.

 

Hunt made an explosive start to life in East Yorkshire, scoring on his first two appearances against Chelsea and Tottenham and going on to notch six times in 27 games, finishing the season as top scorer and scooping Hull's Player of the Year award.

 

Known for his tenacity and never-say-die attitude as well as quality on the ball and from set pieces, Hunt arrived at Molineux having already picked up 25 senior caps for the Republic of Ireland, scoring one goal.

 

So as well as being re-united with Hahnemann and Doyle from his Reading days - and the latter of course from Ireland as well - Hunt was already well known at Wolves by others to have represented their country at different levels such as Andy Keogh, Kevin Foley and Stephen Ward.

 

Despite missing the start of his first Wolves season due to that injury, it was Hunt who finished up making a major impact with Wolves' second goal on the final day of the season in the 3-2 defeat to Blackburn.

 

It was that goal, which took Wolves above Birmingham in the table with full time looming, that prompted Blues to push forward at Tottenham and concede themselves, thus securing survival for the Molineux Men.

 

Despite a stop-start campaign, Hunt made 24 appearances in all competitions, scoring four goals, with his display in the crucial Black Country Derby win against West Bromwich Albion three games from the end of the season - and just weeks after undergoing a hernia operation - one to live long in the memory.