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Jimmy Hill (footballer, born 1935)

This article is about the former Northern Ireland footballer. For other uses, see Jimmy Hill (disambiguation).

Jimmy Hill
Personal information
Full name Matthew James Hill[1]
Date of birth (1935-10-31) 31 October 1935 (age 89)[1]
Place of birth Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland[1]
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Position(s) Winger
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Carrick Rangers
1953–1957 Linfield
1957–1959 Newcastle United 11 (2)
1959–1963 Norwich City 161 (55)
1963–1965 Everton 7 (1)
1965–1968 Port Vale 63 (8)
1968–1971 Derry City
Total 242+ (66+)
International career
1953 Northern Ireland Amateurs 1 (0)
1956–1958 Irish League 6 (0)
1957–1960 Northern Ireland B 2 (0)
1959–1963 Northern Ireland 7 (0)
Managerial career
1968–1971 Derry City
1971–1972 Linfield
1988–1991 Carrick Rangers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
Norwich City F.C. in 1959 with – from left, standing: Roy McCrohan, Ralph Hunt, Ken Nethercott, Barry Butler, Ron Ashman, Matt Crowe; crouched from left: Errol Crossan, Terry Allcock, Terry Bly, Jimmy Hill and Bobby Brennan.

Matthew James Hill (born 31 October 1935) is a Northern Irish former footballer and manager. A winger, he scored 66 goals in 242 league appearances in an 11-year career in the Football League. He also won seven caps for Northern Ireland.

He played for Carrick Rangers and then Linfield, winning three Irish League titles before joining English club Newcastle United in 1957. Two years later, he moved on to Norwich City and helped the "Canaries" to win promotion out of the Third Division in 1959–60 and then to lift the League Cup in 1962. He was transferred to Everton for a £25,000 fee in 1963 but struggled with injury before being moved on to Port Vale for a £5,000 fee in October 1965. He left the club in January 1968 to become player-manager at Derry City. As a manager, he led Derry to second in the league in 1968–69 and to the 1971 Irish Cup final. He then managed Linfield for one season before embarking on a 16-year break from the game in 1972. He returned to manage Carrick Rangers from November 1988 to February 1991.

Club career

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Hill played for hometown club Carrick Rangers before joining Linfield. He won three successive Irish League titles at Windsor Park, in 1953–54, 1954–55, and 1955–56. He joined Newcastle United in part-exchange for Jackie Milburn in 1957. The "Magpies" struggled in the lower half of the First Division table in the 1957–58 season and finished just one point above the relegation zone. They then improved to finish 11th in 1958–59, but Hill never settled in at St James' Park, scoring two goals in just 11 league games. He moved on to Norwich City, and helped Archie Macaulay's "Canaries" to win promotion out of the Third Division in second place in 1959–60; Hill and Terry Allcock were the club's top-scorers with 16 goals. Norwich finished fourth in the Second Division in 1960–61, nine points short of a second successive promotion. New manager Willie Reid led the club to 17th in 1961–62, though Norwich found greater success in the League Cup. Norwich won the 1962 Football League Cup final with a 4–0 aggregate victory over Rochdale, Hill scoring the only goal of the second leg at Carrow Road. He left the club after a comfortable mid-table finish in 1962–63.

Everton manager Harry Catterick paid a £25,000 fee for Hill's signature in preparation for the 1963–64 season. However, his career never took off at Goodison Park, and he played just seven league games for the title challenging "Toffees". Hill was signed by Port Vale manager Jackie Mudie for a £5,000 fee in October 1965.[2] He scored four goals in 24 appearances in the 1965–66 season, as the "Valiants" struggled in the lower half of the Fourth Division table.[2] He scored seven goals in 39 games in the 1966–67 season but scored one goal in only nine appearances in the 1967–68 campaign as Stanley Matthews's time at the helm at Vale Park proved to be unsuccessful.[2]

International career

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Hill won his first cap for the Northern Ireland senior team on 22 April 1959, in a 4–1 victory over Wales.[1] He won further caps against Wales, West Germany, Scotland (2), and Spain, before winning his seventh and final cap in an 8–3 defeat to England on 20 November 1963.[1]

Management career

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Hill returned to the Irish League as player-manager of Derry City in 1968, guiding them to runners-up spot in the Irish League in 1968–69. He then led the "Candystripes" to fifth place in 1969–70 and ninth in 1970–71. He took Derry to the final of the Irish Cup at Windsor Park in 1971, where they were beaten 3–0 by Distillery. He then left Brandywell for the management position at Linfield. He took the club to fourth place in 1971–72 before resigning at Windsor Park for personal reasons. Hill ran a sports shop in his native Carrickfergus for 20 years before taking the job as Carrick Rangers manager in November 1988.[1] He led the "Gers" to eighth place in 1988–89 and tenth place in 1989–90, before he resigned from his post at Taylors Avenue in February 1991 as the club headed for a second-from-bottom finish in 1990–91.

Career statistics

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Club statistics

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Source:[3]

Club Season Division League FA Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Newcastle United 1957–58 First Division 11 2 0 0 0 0 11 2
Norwich City 1958–59 Third Division 33 11 11 2 0 0 44 13
1959–60 Third Division 38 16 2 0 0 0 40 16
1960–61 Second Division 31 9 4 1 0 0 35 10
1961–62 Second Division 31 6 3 1 6 4 40 11
1962–63 Second Division 28 13 5 1 3 2 36 16
Total 161 55 25 5 9 6 195 66
Everton 1963–64 First Division 7 1 0 0 0 0 7 1
Port Vale 1965–66 Fourth Division 20 1 4 2 0 0 24 3
1966–67 Fourth Division 36 6 3 1 0 0 39 7
1967–68 Fourth Division 7 1 0 0 2 0 9 1
Total 68 8 7 3 2 0 77 11
Career total 242 66 32 8 11 6 285 80

International statistics

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Northern Ireland national team[4]
Year Apps Goals
1959 1 0
1960 2 0
1961 1 0
1963 3 0
Total 7 0

Honours

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Norwich City

Derry City

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Jimmy Hill". nifootball.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 137. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
  3. ^ Jimmy Hill at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  4. ^ "Jimmy Hill". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 10 July 2016.