Jimmy Hill
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Jimmy Hill OBE (born July 22, 1928 in Balham, London) is an English football personality. His career has taken in virtually every role in football, including player, union leader, coach, manager, director, chairman, television executive, presenter, analyst and even match official.
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[edit] Football career
He first came into football as a fan, regularly watching football at local club Crystal Palace, but, depite this, he started playing in 1949 with Brentford, before moving to Fulham in 1953, for whom he played over 300 games. He scored five goals for Fulham in an away game against Doncaster Rovers and was part of the team that gained promotion to the First Division.
In 1957 he became chairman of the Professional Footballers Association, and successfully campaigned to have the Football League's £20 maximum wage scrapped.
In 1961, he retired from playing and joined Coventry City as manager, and in five seasons took them from the Third Division to the First Division for the first time.
[edit] Broadcasting career
Hill then 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 1967 to 1972. He also fronted their World Cup 1970 coverage which, at his suggestion, used the first panel of football pundits.
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.
In 1999, Hill moved from the BBC to Sky Sports, where he currently presents Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement, a weekly discussion show between Hill and three football journalists conducted over a Sunday breakfast.
[edit] Directorships
In 1975, Hill returned to Coventry City as managing director and then chairman.
Following a spell as chairman of Charlton Athletic, he became chairman of Fulham in 1987, helping his old club survive near-bankruptcy, and blocking an attempted merger with Queens Park Rangers
[edit] Legacy
He has a reputation as an all-round innovator in football - as well as helping to get rid of the maximum wage, he commissioned the first all-seater stadium when at Coventry, and has been credited with the invention of the 3 points for a win system, which was pioneered by The Football Association in 1981.
In one of the odder moments of his career, Hill took over from an injured linesman, Dennis Drewitt, when he had been commentating on a match between Arsenal and Liverpool in 1972.[1]
He has been given lifetime achievement awards by the Royal Television Society and the PFA, as well as being awarded the Order of the British Empire.
[edit] Image
Jimmy Hill has become a cult figure, with many British comedy shows parodying his personality and prominent chin. He was a regular character in the comedy series Stella Street (impersonated by Phil Cornwell).
He was also spoofed in The Goodies episode "2001 and a Bit".
To non-soccer-watching Americans, Hill may be best known for his self-parodying appearance on Monty Python's Flying Circus dressed as Queen Victoria.
Jimmy Hill has been immortalised in the Scottish football chant "We hate Jimmy Hill, he's a poof, he's a poof". He had become unpopular with Scotland fans for describing David Narey's goal against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup as "a toe-poke" during the BBC's live coverage.
The term "Jimmy Hill" is also often used to describe someone as not telling the whole truth. It is likely the linking grew from people suggesting someone is not telling the truth by scratching their own chins, and from the distinct chin feature of Jimmy Hill. A often used phrase is 'are you taking the Jimmy Hill'
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Categories: 1928 births | Living people | English footballers | Brentford F.C. players | Fulham F.C. players | English football managers | Coventry City F.C. managers | English television presenters | British football broadcasters | English football chairmen and investors | Officers of the Order of the British Empire
