- Jimmy Hill (Northern Irish footballer)
Matthew James "Jimmy" Hill (born
October 31 ,1935 ) was a former Northern Irish footballer and later aplayer-manager .Hill was a goal-scoring winger who caught the eye with hometown club
Carrick Rangers before joiningLinfield F.C. in the mid-1950s. AtWindsor Park he picked up anIrish League title as well as Inter-League honours, promptingNewcastle United to sign him in part-exchange forJackie Milburn in 1957. They were big boots to fill atSt. James' Park , and perhaps unsurprisingly, Hill failed to impress the Magpies' faithful.It was at
Norwich City F.C. that Hill'sFootball League career really took off. In 1959 he was the creative force (along with former Irish international forwardBobby Brennan ) in the team that reached theFA Cup semi-final, despite theirThird Division status; and the following season he top-scored with 16 goals as the club finished as runners-up and clinched promotion to the Second Division. In 1962 Hill was part of the Norwich team that won their first major honour, scoring in the 4-0 aggregate win overRochdale AFC in theLeague Cup final. With 66 goals he still ranks amongst the Canaries' top goalscorers, sitting in joint-seventh position with Ron Davies andTed MacDougall .With
Billy Bingham 'sEverton F.C. career drawing to a close,Harry Catterick was perhaps excited by the prospect of replacing one Irish winger with another and consequently stumped up £25,000 for Hill's signature in the summer of 1963. Once again Hill failed to make an impact on the English top-flight, and hampered by injury, he made just seven appearances in two seasons. Early in the 1965-66 season Hill left Goodison forPort Vale F.C. , once again attempting to fill in where Bingham had left off.Jimmy Hill returned to the Irish League as player-manager of
Derry City F.C. in 1968, guiding them to runners-up spot in the City Cup and Irish League in his first season and to theIrish Cup final in 1971. He also added further Irish League caps to his collection. In 1971 he once again replaced Billy Bingham, taking over the role of Linfield manager, but he lasted just a season at Windsor Park before resigning for personal reasons.Hill remained outside the game for almost twenty years, running a sportshop in his native
Carrickfergus , before taking the job as Carrick Rangers manager in November 1988. With Carrick struggling in the Irish League, he resigned in February 1991.He was capped on 7 occasions by his country.
External links
* [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2006/12/jimmy-hill.html Hill on Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats]
ources
*"Canary Citizens" by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7
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