Playing career Born in
Belfast, Hamilton began his career at
Distillery, before moving on to
Linfield. He was named
Ulster Footballer of the Year and
Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year for the 1970/71 season, also finishing as
Irish League top goalscorer. In 1971, he signed for
Ipswich Town, where he spent five years and made over 150 appearances for the club. In 1976, he signed for
Everton, before moving onto short spells at
Millwall and
Swindon Town. In the
FA Cup semi-final of 1977, full-time was looming in the clash between
Everton and
local rivals Liverpool at
Maine Road, with the score at 2–2, when Hamilton put the ball into the back of the net. However, infamously, his goal which should have stood was disallowed by referee
Clive Thomas and the match went to a replay, which Everton lost 3–0. This echoed an incident in the
1975 FA Cup semi-final replay, when Thomas had similarly disallowed a potentially match winning goal by Hamilton. ==Managerial career==