Jimmy Hill facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Jimmy Hill
OBE

Hill (left) with former Fulham team-mate Maurice Cook
Personal information
Full name	James William Thomas Hill
Date of birth	(1928-07-22)22 July 1928
Place of birth	Balham, England
Date of death	19 December 2015(2015-12-19) (aged 87)
Place of death	Hurstpierpoint, England
Playing position	Inside right
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1949–1952	Brentford	83	(10)
1952–1961	Fulham	276	(41)
Total		359	(51)
Teams managed
1961–1967	Coventry City
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

James William Thomas Hill (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was a famous English footballer and later a television star. He did almost everything in football! He was a player, a leader for players' rights, a coach, a manager, a club boss, and a TV presenter and expert.

He started playing football for Brentford in 1949. Three years later, he moved to Fulham. As the head of the Professional Footballers' Association, he helped get rid of the rule that limited how much footballers could earn. This happened in 1961.

After he stopped playing, he became the manager of Coventry City. He made many changes to the team, even changing their kit colours! He helped them move up from the Third Division to the First Division. In 1967, he started working in TV, talking about football. From 1973 to 1988, he was the main host of the BBC show Match of the Day.

Jimmy Hill's Early Life

Jimmy Hill was born in Balham, London. His dad, William Thomas Hill, was a soldier in World War I and worked as a milkman. Jimmy went to Henry Thornton Grammar School. After school, he joined the army for his national service. He worked as a clerk and became a corporal.

Playing Football: Jimmy Hill's Career

Jimmy Hill loved football from a young age. He often watched games at Crystal Palace. While in the army, he tried out for Folkestone Town. He then joined Reading as an amateur player.

In 1949, he joined Brentford, playing 87 games. In 1952, he moved to Fulham. He played nearly 300 games for Fulham and scored 52 goals. In 1958, he scored five goals in one game against Doncaster Rovers. He also helped Fulham get promoted to the First Division.

In 1957, Jimmy became the head of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA). He worked hard to get rid of the £20 weekly maximum wage for players. This rule meant players couldn't earn more than £20 a week, no matter how good they were. In January 1961, he succeeded! His Fulham teammate, Johnny Haynes, became the first player to earn £100 a week.

Managing Football Teams

In November 1961, Jimmy Hill stopped playing football at age 33. He then became the manager of Coventry City. His time there was called "The Sky Blue Revolution" because he made so many big changes.

• New Colours and Song: He changed the team's home kit to sky blue, which gave them the nickname "The Sky Blues". He also helped write the club's song, "The Sky Blue Song".
• New Ideas: He created the first full match programme in English football. He also started pre-match entertainment to get fans to come to games earlier.
• Stadium Changes: He worked with the club's chairman, Derrick Robins, to improve the Highfield Road stadium. They built two new stands.

Coventry City won the Third Division title in 1963–64. They then won the Second Division title in 1966–67. Hill left the club just before the 1967–68 season. This was when Coventry City entered the First Division for the very first time!

Jimmy Hill's Television Career

After leaving Coventry in 1967, Jimmy Hill started working in television. He helped the BBC with a football TV show called United!. From 1968 to 1972, he was the Head of Sport at London Weekend Television (LWT). He also helped cover the 1970 FIFA World Cup. He suggested using a group of football experts, called pundits, to talk about the games. This was a new idea at the time!

Jimmy Hill also helped change two other important rules in English football:

• Goal Difference: In August 1976, he suggested changing how teams were ranked if they had the same points. Before, they used "goal average," which meant fewer goals scored was better. Hill argued that scoring more goals should be rewarded. So, they changed to "goal difference" (goals scored minus goals conceded).
• Three Points for a Win: In August 1981, he suggested giving three points for winning a match instead of two. He believed this would encourage teams to try harder to win games instead of just settling for a draw.

After working at LWT, Jimmy joined the BBC to present Match of the Day. He appeared on the show 600 times! He became very famous and was known for his long chin and beard. He worked on every major international football championship from 1966 to 1998. He was even at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, covering the game for Match of the Day.

In 1999, Hill moved from the BBC to Sky Sports. He had his own weekly show called Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement. On this show, he talked about football with three journalists.

Leading Football Clubs

Even after leaving as manager, Jimmy Hill returned to Coventry City in 1975 as a managing director. He later became the chairman.

In 2005, Coventry played their last game at their old stadium, Highfield Road. Jimmy Hill received a huge welcome from the fans and led them in singing "The Sky Blue Song". In 2007, fans voted to name a bar at the new Ricoh Arena stadium "Jimmy's" in his honour.

After working as chairman for Charlton Athletic, Hill went back to his old club, Fulham, in 1987. He became chairman there and helped the club avoid going bankrupt. He also stopped a plan for Fulham to merge with Queens Park Rangers.

Jimmy Hill's Personal Life

Jimmy Hill was married three times and had five children. He wrote his life story, The Jimmy Hill Story, in 1998. He also wrote other books about football.

In 2013, it was shared that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2008. This is a condition that affects memory and thinking. Jimmy Hill passed away on 19 December 2015, at the age of 87. A special event to celebrate his life was held at Coventry Cathedral in 2016.

He was the president of a non-league football team called Corinthian Casuals. He lived in Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex. Jimmy Hill is also credited with writing the words to the Arsenal football song "Good Old Arsenal" in 1971.

Statue of Jimmy Hill

The statue of Hill outside Coventry's Ricoh Arena

A sculptor named Nicholas Dimbleby created a statue of Jimmy Hill. It cost £150,000, and the money was raised by public donations. The statue is located at Coventry's Ricoh Arena stadium. Jimmy Hill himself unveiled it on 28 July 2011. Many former Coventry City players who played under Hill were there for the ceremony.

Jimmy Hill's Football Legacy

Jimmy Hill is remembered as someone who brought many new ideas to football.

• He helped get rid of the maximum wage for players.
• He helped create the first English all-seater stadium at Highfield Road.
• He allowed media interviews for players.
• He introduced the first electronic scoreboard in 1964.
• He created the first colour matchday programme.
• In 1965, Coventry was the first club to show a live match on giant CCTV screens.
• He is also credited with the idea of the three points for a win system, which started in 1981.
• He suggested using a panel of football experts (pundits) for the 1970 World Cup.

Jimmy Hill was a well-known face on TV football in England. In 1972, something unusual happened during a game between Arsenal and Liverpool. A linesman got hurt and couldn't continue. Football rules said the game couldn't finish without two linesmen. The stadium announcer asked if any qualified referee in the crowd would help. Jimmy Hill, who was watching as a fan, was a qualified referee! He quickly put on a tracksuit and stepped in to be the linesman, helping the game continue.

Memorial Garden

A special garden was opened in Jimmy Hill's honour in 2006. It was located outside Coventry City's Ricoh Arena. A new, larger memorial garden was opened on 30 April 2016, before a game against Sheffield United.

Honours as a Manager

Coventry City

• Third Division: 1963–64
• Second Division: 1966–67

Managerial Statistics

Images for kids

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See also

In Spanish: Jimmy Hill para niños