Leicester City In 100 Players: Derek Hines

Ten weeks after his 17th birthday, he made his debut in a Second Division match against Tottenham Hotspur and kept his place in the side for the remaining nine matches of the season, scoring six times. He was also an England youth international.

Derek established himself as a first team regular in September 1950 and, for the next eight years, his strike partnership with Arthur Rowley was legendary, with the pair scoring an astonishing 360 league goals between them.

Derek netted 99 goals in this period, but his intelligent forward play also created many opportunities for Rowley to score his goals. 

While doing his National Service between 1952 and 1954, he represented the British Army on 12 occasions, also still turning out regularly for Leicester City. He was also selected for the FA XI in 1953 and for Young England twice, in 1954 and 1955. 

His contributions to the Second Division title winning sides of 1954 and 1957 were crucial. He also scored a combined total of 33 goals in those two seasons.

In the first two seasons back in the First Division, following the 1957 promotion, Derek helped the team to establish itself in the top flight, a personal highlight coming in November 1958 when he scored four times against Aston Villa at Filbert Street. He was the last player to do this for the Club until Patson Daka repeated the feat against Spartak Moscow last week. 

Derek began to lose his place in the side in the 1959/60 season with the emergence of Wales international centre-forward Ken Leek. It was Derek’s misfortune to miss out on the 1949 FA Cup Final because of his young age and the 1961 FA Cup Final as he was nearing the end of his career.

However, it is indisputable that in the years between these finals he was a key player for the club. 

He left Filbert Street in November 1961. After spells at Shrewsbury Town and Rugby Town, with ex-Leicester colleagues Arthur Rowley and Jimmy Walsh, he ran a shop and Post Office with his wife Jean in Blackfordby. 

Derek died in 2001, but his reputation as one of Leicester City’s best players lives on.