Terry Hurlock

English footballer

Terence Alan Hurlock (born 22 September 1958) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Over the course of a 15 year career in the Football League, he had notable spells with Brentford and Millwall. He won England B international caps while with Millwall and is a member of the club's Hall of Fame. A physical player, Hurlock received seven red cards during his career and in 2007 was rated by The Times as the 23rd hardest player in football.

Hurlock was born in Hackney and started his football career as an associate schoolboy with West Ham United, becoming an apprentice in April 1975. He failed to progress at West Ham and was released at age 18.

After some attention from AFC Bournemouth manager David Webb, Hurlock joined Third Division club Brentford in August 1980 for a £10,000 fee. He immediately established himself in the midfield alongside Chris Kamara and Stan Bowles, making 42 league appearances and scoring four goals during the 1980–81 season. He flourished under Fred Callaghan's management and averaged over 44 league appearances a season, even after Callaghan was replaced by Frank McLintock. Callaghan managed to convince Hurlock to smarten his appearance, as Callaghan believed Hurlock's rough appearance was influencing referees to book him.

Hurlock signed for high flying Third Division club Reading in February 1986 in a £92,000 deal. Hurlock's performances saw him named the Third Division PFA Team of the Year. He made 19 appearances in the Second Division before departing Elm Park on 12 February 1987. Hurlock made 35 appearances and scored no goals during his year with Reading. In 2002, Hurlock revealed that he failed to see eye to eye with manager Ian Branfoot, as he refused to relocate to Reading from his Brentford home. then manager of the Lions. Hurlock showed impressive form during the 1988–89 season, making 40 appearances, scoring three goals and winning the club's Player of the Year award. Hurlock departed Millwall on 23 August 1990, having made 123 appearances and scored 10 goals during 3 1/2 years at The Den.

Hurlock returned to England to sign for First Division club Southampton on 9 September 1991 for a £400,000 fee. He made 36 appearances and scored two goals during the 1991–92 season and was part of the team which reached the 1992 Full Members Cup Final, losing 3–2 to Nottingham Forest after extra time. Hurlock made 33 appearances during the inaugural season of the new Premier League, Hurlock made 15 appearances during what remained of the 1993–94 season, helping the club to a third place finish and a spot in the playoffs, but his season ended on a sour note after a 5–1 defeat on aggregate to Derby County in the semi finals. He made 27 league appearances and scored one goal during the 1994–95 season, in which the Cottagers narrowly missed out on a place in the playoffs. Ahead of the 1995–96 season, Hurlock sustained a double leg break at the hands of Brentford defender Martin Grainger in a pre season friendly between the two clubs. During his one season with Fulham, Hurlock set an unwanted record of 61 disciplinary points.

During his time with Brentford, Hurlock was convinced by chairman Martin Lange to buy a house next to the club's Griffin Park ground.