Hankin: Raymond (Ray)

1976-1980 (Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Wallsend Nr. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 02-02-1956

Debut: v Everton (a): 06-11-1976

6’2” 14st (1979)

#95 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Hankin won three England Under-Twenty-three caps and Youth caps at his first club Burnley, whom he joined in February 1973. After scoring thirty-seven goals in one hundred and twelve appearances at Turf Moor he was transferred to Leeds in September 1976 for £172,000, but injury in his first season at Elland Road. But he certainly announced his arrival on the scene as a fearsome spearhead the following season when he was the club’s top scorer with twenty League goals. After scoring thirty-six goals in over one hundred appearances, he left the club in March 1980 when he joined the Vancouver Whitecaps for £300,000 and won an NASL North-West Division winner’s medal in 1981. In November that year Arsenal were prepared to part with £400,000 for his scoring talents, but, although he signed on a trial basis, he was released in January 1982 without a senior appearance. After a brief spell at Shamrock Rovers, where he notched two goals in five matches, he returned to Vancouver for a year. He spent three seasons with the Vancouver Whitecaps scoring thirty-one goals in seventy-three games. He then joined Middlesbrough for £80,000 in September 1982, where he scored once in twenty-one games. He continued with Peterborough United, who he joined in September 1983, scoring eight goals in thirty-three games. Then it was on to Wolverhampton Wanderers in March 1985 for three months where he scored once in ten appearances. That was his final Football League club and he stepped down into Non-League football with Whitby Town in 1986 and Blue Star in December 1986. He worked in a mental hospital near Middlesbrough while playing for Guisborough Town in 1987, his last club before retirement. Throughout his career the powerfully built Hankin was always capable of scoring with his head, but was not as adept when the ball was at his feet. A highly combative forward he stood on no ceremony and his career was littered with red cards as the result of his inability to control his temper. He never quite lived up to the potential he showed at Burnley and fleetingly at Leeds as he was not able to control his weight or his temper. He was appointed manager of North Allerton Town in March 1989, leaving in 1991 before joining Newcastle United where he became their Football in the Community Officer. He was Manager of Darlington from February to May 1992.