Champions League to Lowland League in 10 years...
A decade on from facing the Red Devils, Hutton has new challenge at East Kilbride
KYLE HUTTON has found himself at a crossroads more than once in his career. Now he is going down a different track as he completes his journey from the Champions League to the Lowland League.
At 29, Hutton still has plenty in the tank but football is no longer the only focus in his life. A young family are his priority and a job as a railway engineer will give him a trade once he chooses to hang up his boots.
A move to join East Kilbride this summer has taken Hutton down another level and a step further away from the echelons he operated at in the early days of his career.
The decade anniversary of his Rangers debut – as he came off the bench against Kilmarnock – passed earlier this month. In a couple of weeks, it will be 10 years since his first start in a League Cup win over Dunfermline.
The major milestone will come up in November, though.
“Time certainly does fly and I have been reminded of it a few times over the last few weeks just how long ago it was that I played against Man United in the Champions League,” Hutton said of the game with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side at Ibrox in November 2010.
“It does feel a long time ago. At the time, you wish you had taken more of it in but it all flies in, even when you are playing in the game it is over in the blink of an eye because you are so worked up.
“It was one of my first games for Rangers, there were 50,000 at Ibrox and it was the Champions League against Man United. It is hard to take everything in. Ten years, eh. A lot has gone on since then.”
Few, let alone Hutton, could have imagined how the years would unfold and what would become of the career of the then 19- year- old who emerged through the Rangers ranks.
Rangers would win the League Cup and SPL title during Hutton’s first and Walter Smith’s last season at the Govan outfit.
That era is full of ifs, buts and maybes at Ibrox. History, of course, cannot be changed and it still makes grim reading for everyone associated with Rangers during the most turbulent time in the club’s illustrious past.
“Looking back, maybe it wasn’t the right decision to stay when the club went down the leagues,” Hutton said. “I had broken into the team, I loved the club, I loved everything about it, and that is why I stayed.
“The road back to the Premiership wasn’t as smooth as we thought it was going to be and when we got to the Championship we obviously failed in the first year. There was a lot of pressure on us and we got a lot of stick. Looking back, there were other players who left when administration happened and the club were in the Third Division. Boys left and went down south and I had a chance to go to England.
“I opted to stay at Rangers. But I don’t have any regrets about staying, I loved every minute of my time at Rangers.
“The last year of my contract was difficult. The year before I was out for a long time with two broken legs and after that I just couldn’t get going again.
“New players came in, you had more competition and things didn’t work out. I still have no regrets. I loved it at Rangers.”
Loan spells with Partick Thistle and Dunfermline didn’t allow Hutton to establish himself at Ibrox. Since leaving five years ago, he has turned out for Queen of the South, St Mirren, Airdrieonians and Dumbarton as he has moved up and down the divisions.
His step into the Lowland League isn’t seen as a backward one, however.
“A few people said to me I should stay at Dumbarton and play at the highest level possible for as long as I could,” Hutton said. “That is all well and good, but it never came into my head to try and prove to people that there was still
something left in the tank. It was just a case of what I wanted to do and it is about enjoying my football. I want to go out and win games every single week and go for a title. It isn’t about trying to prove a point or anything, that has never come into my head. Ever since I left full- time football, all that went out my head.
“I have got a job, a family with two young kids and now it is about being happy and enjoying my football for as long as possible.”
That transition into the parttime game is one that players can make with trepidation. For Hutton, the deal with Dumbarton has been a fresh start in more ways than one.
“When I first went parttime with Dumbarton, I got a job on the railway with C& G Systems and I have been there ever since,” he said. “I really enjoy it and it is a good job, a good career, to get into. I enjoy being able to work there and still have my football parttime.
“When I decide to hang the boots up, it will be because I have stopped enjoying it. I can’t see that happening any time soon, I have got a few years left in the old legs and I will keep going until that day comes.”
It is Stevie Aitken and Ian Durrant, the men who took him to Dumbarton, who will look to get the best out of Hutton this season. Paul Paton and Chris Erskine have also joined the ambitious K- Park outfit and the project has struck a chord with the former Scotland youth.
“I have been at good clubs, worked with good people and enjoyed my time at those clubs,” Hutton said. “When this opportunity came up, it was one that really attracted me.
“When the manager explained his plans and his signing targets, that was exciting. I thought, ‘ Aye, let’s go and give it a go and be part of what they are building.’”
You wish you had taken more of it in but it all flies in