RIP Jimmy Hill

Sad news.

Just announced on Soccer Saturday that Jimmy Hill has passed away at the age of 87

R.I.P Jimmy Hill.

The former footballer, manager and TV pundit Jimmy Hill has died at the age of 87.

Hill was born in Balham, London. He did his national service as a clerk in the Royal Army Service Corps in which he attained the rank of Corporal and was considered a potential candidate for officer training.

Hill first came into football as a fan, regularly watching football at local club Crystal Palace, but, despite this, he started playing in 1949 with Brentford, making 87 appearances before moving to Fulham in March 1952, for whom he played nearly 300 games, scoring 52 goals. He set up a club record by scoring five goals for Fulham in an away match against Doncaster Rovers in 1958 and was part of the team that gained promotion to the First Division.

In 1957, he became chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) and campaigned to have the Football League's £20 maximum wage scrapped, which he achieved in January 1961, when Fulham teammate Johnny Haynes became the first £100 player.

In November 1961, after retiring as a player aged 33, Hill became manager of Coventry City. His time at Coventry was marked by great changes to the club, nicknamed "The Sky Blue Revolution". He changed the home kit's colours to sky blue, coining the nickname "The Sky Blues". He also penned the club song "The Sky Blue Song", sung to the tune of the Eton Boating Song. Among his other innovations were the first full-fledged match programme in English football, and organised pre-match entertainment to encourage fans to arrive early. His partnership with the chairman D H Robbins also led to a redevelopment of the stadium, Highfield Road, with two new stands being built.

After winning the Division Three championship in 1963–64, and the Division Two title in 1966–67, Hill quit the club shortly before the start of the 1967–68 season as the club entered the top flight for the first time.

After leaving Coventry in 1967, Hill moved into broadcasting, acting as technical adviser to the BBC's football-based drama series United! before becoming Head of Sport at London Weekend Television from 1968 to 1972. He also fronted their World Cup 1970 coverage which, at his suggestion, used the first panel of football pundits (another of Hill's decisions at LWT affected the history of football coverage for a generation, for had he not arrived at LWT when he did and insisted on the appointment of the then BBC radio commentator Brian Moore, Barry Davies would have become presenter of "The Big Match" and Moore would have moved to "Match of the Day").

He was briefly LWT's Deputy Controller of Programmes, before joining the BBC to present Match of the Day. Hill racked up 600 appearances on the show, and became a television icon, instantly recognisable and often caricatured for his long chin and distinctive beard. As a presenter or analyst, he worked on every major international championship from 1966 to 1998. As a broadcaster with the BBC he was present at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, whilst covering the game for Match of the Day.

In 1999, Hill moved from the BBC to Sky Sports, where he featured on Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement, a weekly discussion show between Hill and three football journalists conducted over a Sunday breakfast. In 2007, he was replaced by his co presenter Brian Woolnough and the programme was renamed Sunday Supplement.

In 1972 he famously came down from the broadcasting gantry in the middle of a game at Highbury to take over from linesman Dennis Drewitt after he pulled a hamstring and couldn't continue. Hill was a qualified referree and therefore eligible to fulfil the role, and without him the game would probably have had to be abandoned, as there was no fourth official in those days.

Hill was married three times and had five children. He had been ill for some time and had been suffering from Alzheimer's.

He had a reputation as an all-round innovator in football: as well as helping to get rid of the maximum wage, he commissioned the first English all-seater stadium, lifted a ban on media interviews, Introduced the first electronic scoreboard in 1964, the first colour matchday programme and in 1965 the first to show a live match via CCTV on four giant screens at Coventry. He has been credited with the introduction of the 3 points for a win system, pioneered by The Football Association in 1981.

For those of us who lived through the era of Hill, Coleman, Moore, Davies and Motson, this is a sad day indeed, as Jimmy Hill was an icon whose contribution to football and sports broadcasting was immense.

A truly great football man and a great person too.

(19-12-2015 15:04 )mr williams Wrote:  He has been credited with the introduction of the 3 points for a win system, pioneered by The Football Association in 1981.

Many people don't realise that the 3pts for a win was Jimmy Hill's idea.

(19-12-2015 15:26 )dominar rygel xvi Wrote:  Many people don't realise that the 3pts for a win was Jimmy Hill's idea.

Didn't even know he was a footballer.

Footballer, broadcaster, figure of fun... legend. RIP

Jimmy Hill was football's great innovator.

A top player, broadcaster and supporter of the game. When he spoke, people listened - he had a wealth of knowledge and was a true pioneer of ideas that will stand forever. He was also like a father / uncle figure to all players getting started in the game. Sad, sad loss. RIP.