Gordon Hill

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This article is about a former English football player. For the London station, see Gordon Hill railway station.


Gordon Alec Hill (born 1 April 1954 in Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, England) is an English former football player.

Hill, a goal scoring winger was originally on the books of Southend United, but had an early falling out with management when he claimed the tactics were so complicated "you needed an O level to understand them". His career subsequently got off the marks with Millwall. Known to The Lions fans as Merlin, Hill had outstanding skill that earned him International recognition. The Millwall youngster entertained the fans with some incredible shooting and dribbling and it was not long before scouts from the big clubs noticed him. Hill played 100 overall games for Millwall scoring 22 goals. After playing on loan in the summer with North American Soccer League's Chicago Sting , and being named an NASL all-star, Hill subsequently signed for Manchester United in November 1975 for £70,000 a massive bargain for manager Tommy Docherty, forming an effective wing partnership with Steve Coppell.

Hill helped United to the 1976 FA Cup Final, scoring both goals with typical long-range efforts in the semi-final at Hillsborough Stadium against Derby County. He was also part of the winning team in the 1977 FA Cup Final. Hill left United for Derby County in 1978 after scoring 51 goals for United. He left the English game after playing for Q.P.R., returning to play in the NASL with the Montreal Manic in 1981 and part of '82 (36 apps 18 goals) and the Chicago Sting for the remainder of 1982 (26 apps 9 goals). Hill played in the Major Indoor Soccer League in 1983 to 1985 with 3 teams - the New York Arrows, Kansas City Comets (41 apps 46 goals), and the Tacoma Stars (48 apps 18 goals). He joined FC Twente in the Dutch Premier Division, for the 1985/86 season, playing 19 times and scoring 4 goals. He spent the summer of 1986 in Finland with HJK Helsinki, making 2 appearances and scoring two goals before returning to England where he helped his former team mate Stuart Pearson, then manager, playing for Northwich Victoria, before retiring from the game. Lived in Macclesfield Cheshire where he taught youngsters in his spare time.

Hill has since briefly managed Chester City during the Terry Smith period, and had a short spell managing Hyde United. In the summer of 1991, he was Managing Director, Head Coach and Player of the Nova Scotia Clippers in the team's only year in the Canadian Soccer League, where he took the club to the playoffs. He is currently Owner and Head Coach of United FC, a youth soccer club in McKinney, Texas.

He holds a UEFA 'A' licence and fashions his coaching methods on the English System.

During his career, Hill played at every stage for England: as an amateur, youth, under 23, England B and full International, with 6 full caps.


Preceded by
David Nolan		 Hyde United manager
October-December 2001		 Succeeded by
Steve Waywell
v • d • e
Chester City F.C. – Managers

Hewitt (1930–36) • Mansley (1936) • Raisbeck (1936–38) • Brown (1938–53) • Page (1953–56) • Harris (1956–59) • Pearson (1959–61) • Lambton (1962–63) • Hauser (1963–68) • Roberts (1968–76) • Oakes (1976–82) • Sear (1982) • Sainty (1982–83) • Storton (1983–84) • Sear (1984) • McGrath (1984) • Speight (1984–85) • McNally (1985–92) • Barrow (1992–94) • Pejic (1994–95) • Mann (1995) • Ratcliffe (1995–99) • Smith (1999–2000) • Atkins (2000) • Barrow (2000–01) • Hill (2001) • Mungall (2001) • Spink (2001–02) • Porter (2001–02) • Wright (2002–04) • Mathias (2004) • Rush (2004–05) • Bell (2005) • Curle (2005–06) • Wright (2006–07) • Davies (2007) • Williamson (2007–2008) • Davies (2008–)