Gordon Hill (footballer)

Gordon Hill
Personal information
Full nameGordon Alec Hill
Date of birth1 April 1954
Place of birthSunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, England
Playing positionMidfielder
Youth career
1971–1972Staines Town
1972Slough
1972–1973Southall
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1973–1975Millwall91(22)
1975Chicago Sting (loan)21(16)
1975–1978Manchester United101(39)
1978–1979Derby County24(5)
1979–1981Queens Park Rangers14(1)
1981–1982Montreal Manic36(18)
1981–1982Montreal Manic (indoor)16(29)
1982Chicago Sting26(9)
1982–1983Chicago Sting (indoor)11(10)
1983San Jose Earthquakes (indoor)4(2)
1983New York Arrows (indoor)22(10)
1983Inter-Montreal
1983–1984Kansas City Comets (indoor)50(50)
1984–1985Tacoma Stars (indoor)19(11)
1985–1986Twente19(4)
1986HJK Helsinki2(2)
1986–1988Stafford Rangers?(?)
1988Northwich Victoria24(8)
1991Nova Scotia Clippers?(?)
National team
1976England U231(1)
1976–1977England6(0)
Teams managed
1991Nova Scotia Clippers
2001Chester City
Hyde United
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Gordon Alec Hill (born 1 April 1954 in Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Millwall, Manchester United, Derby County and Queens Park Rangers, and was capped six times for the England national team.[1][2]

Player

In 1971, Hill began his club career with Staines Town of the Athenian League as a 17-year-old. In 1972, he moved to Southall F.C., playing a few youth games there while his brother was on trial at the club. He drew the attention of Millwall F.C. and signed with them in 1973. Known to The Lions fans as Merlin, Hill had outstanding skill that earned him wide 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. He played 91 league games for Millwall, scoring 22 goals.[3] After spending the summer of 1975 on loan with the North American Soccer League's Chicago Sting, and being named All League,[4] Hill subsequently signed for Manchester United in November 1975 for £70,000, a massive bargain for manager Tommy Docherty, forming a wing partnership with Steve Coppell.

Hill helped United reach 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 1977 FA Cup-winning side. Hill left United for Derby County for £250,000 in 1978, with his sale by Dave Sexton deeply unpopular with supporters. At the time of his sale, Hill was United's top scorer and a favourite among fans.[5] He spent two seasons with Derby County, most of it sidelined with a knee injury suffered in one of his first games before moving to Queens Park Rangers in 1980. He left England for the Montreal Manic of the NASL in 1981. After a successful first season with the Manic, he began the 1982 season in Montreal, but after five games the Manic sent him to the Chicago Sting. In the fall of 1982, the Sting entered the Major Indoor Soccer League for the winter indoor season. Hill began the season with the Sting, moved to the San Jose Earthquakes after eleven games. In January 1983, the Earthquakes turned around and traded Hill and Gary Etherington to the New York Arrows in exchange for Steve Zungul.[6] In the summer of 1983, Hill played for Inter-Montreal of the Canadian Professional Soccer League.[7] In the autumn of 1983, Hill signed with the Kansas City Comets of MISL. He played one season with the Comets, then began the 1984–85 season before being released. In December 1984, he signed with the Tacoma Stars.[8]

He joined FC Twente in the Dutch Premier Division, for the 1985–86 season, playing 19 times and scoring four goals. He spent the summer of 1986 in Finland with HJK Helsinki, scoring two goals in as many appearances before returning to England where he played under his former team-mate Stuart Pearson at Northwich Victoria, before retiring from the game.

His son Sammy Hill is also a professional footballer who last played for Otago United and Chester City.[9][10]

Manager

In the summer of 1991, Hill 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. In 2001, he briefly managed Chester City during their spell in the Football Conference, and had a short spell managing Hyde United. He was the Director o coaching (Boys) for Cleveland United SC 2012-13. Hill admits that any promising players would be steered towards his former team. He returns to the UK several times a year with groups of players to play games in the Manchester area.[11] Currently, Gordon is involved with One on One Soccer in the United States and is a director of football for other clubs and projects. While committed and passionate to the development of youngsters in the game, Gordon is still interested in continuing his management career.

International career

During his career, Hill played at every level for England: as an amateur, youth, under 23, England B and full International, at which level he won six full caps between 1976 and 1977.[12]

See also

The Doc's Devils: Manchester United 1972–1977 by Sean Egan

"Merlin" The Gordon Hill Autobiography with Wayne Barton

"Only a game?" by Eamon Dunphy where Gordon is one of the new young members of the Millwall team where he falls for a lot of the wind ups that the team play on him.

References

External links