Most Saints fans wont have heard this name, but given the number of games he played they shoul !

John Hoskins was a great nephew of former Saints player Bert Hoskins who played for the club just after the turn of the century, originally playing for Millbrook Rangers locally, he joined Winchester City, a club that in the 1950's provided Terry Paine to Saints a year of so later.

John arrived at the Dell via this route in the summer of 1952 aged 21

He didnt have to wait long for his debut making his bow up at Ewood Park in the December of that year and the following week he marked his home debut with a goal against Nottingham Forest. Pretty much a regular for the rest of the season in a side destined for relegation he ended it with 20 appearances and five goals.

In 53/54 he established himself in the Saints side playing 35 times and scoring 12 goals, in 54/55 he went a little better with 44 games and 13 goals and this got him selection for an FA Touring party to the West indies. He was a success scoring six times in eleven matches and this looked like it might be the first step to a call up to the full England squad, but their would be difficult times ahead for John. towards the end of 55/56 he picked up a cartilage injury needing surgery and this meant he missed the start of the following season, one that saw him play only 16 games as he struggled for fitness.

In 57/58 he bounced back to form playing 38 times and hitting his best total of 18 goals as Saints narrowly missed promotion and this gained him further honours when he represented the 3rd Div South against the North

However 1958/59 would be his last for Saints, in many respects it was as good as the previous one, he was again a regular playing 36 times and scoring 8, but the new guard was coming through as Ted Bates re built his side ready for a promotion push, Bates needed to wheel and deal if he was to bring in the people he needed and Hoskins surprisingly moved to Swindon Town in the summer of 1959.

Perhaps Bates saw that the flaw in his make up was a lack of ambition, certainly as good as his Saints career was it could of and should have been better, but it was now over after 238 games and 67 goals, in Wiltshire he seemed to lose his appetite for the game playing only 10 times before moving to non league Cambridge United, his league career over at 28.

He returned to Southampton and became a bus driver

John Hoskins is a name that only the older generation will remember, which is a shame because his total of games and goals scored is impressive and certainly a lot more than many who would be considered Saints legends, surprisingly more that Ted Bates himself, although in fairness Ted had a career in which he lost six year to World War 2, but there are still many other Saints players who have not racked up as many games as John.   

Photo: Action Images

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