Jimmy Hill statue to be unveiled tomorrow...

[LBNo11]

...I have been reminded in an e-mail from a study group who have been in contact about the Johnny Haynes statue that Jimmy Hill's statue will be unveiled tomorrow at Coventry's Ricoh stadium.

The 7ft high statue will be the 50th one to a footballer in Britain and was paid for entirely by teh fans and local businesses in honour of what Jimmy Hill did for their club...

[The Equalizer]

Will they be willing to do a swap for one of ours?

[finnster01]

That's great news for them as I heard they had run out of bronze trying to build the jaw.

[FFCcravencottage]

He did plenty for Fulham in my eye's.

Personal life

Hill was born in Balham, London, the son of Alice Beatrice (Wyatt) and William Thomas Hill, a World War I veteran, milkman, and bread delivery worker.[1] He was a pupil at Henry Thornton Grammar School, Clapham (1939–45), and is now President of the Old Boys' Association. He currently resides in Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex.[2]
[edit]Football playing career

Hill first came into football as a fan, regularly watching football at local club Crystal Palace, but, despite this, he started playing in 1949 with Brentford, before moving to Fulham in March 1952, for whom he played over 300 games. He scored five goals for Fulham in an away match 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 (PFA) and campaigned to have the Football League's £20 maximum wage scrapped, which he achieved in January 1961,[3] when Fulham teammate Johnny Haynes became the first £100 player.
[edit]Football management

In November 1961, after retiring as a player aged 33, Hill became manager of Coventry City. His time at Coventry was marked by great changes to the club, nicknamed "The Sky Blue Revolution". He changed the home kit's colours to sky blue, coining the nickname "The Sky Blues". He also penned the club song "The Sky Blue Song", sung to the tune of the Eton Boating Song. Among his other innovations were the first full-fledged match programme in English football, and organised pre-match entertainment to encourage fans to arrive early. His partnership with the chairman D H Robbins also led to a redevelopment of the stadium, Highfield Road, with two new stands being built.
After winning the Division Three championship in 1963-64, and the Division Two title in 1966-67, Hill quit the club shortly before the start of the 1967-68 season as the club entered the top flight for the first time.
[edit]Broadcasting career

After leaving Coventry in 1967, Hill 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. As a broadcaster with the BBC he was present at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, whilst covering the game for Match of the Day.
In 1999, Hill moved from the BBC to Sky Sports,where he featured on Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement, a weekly discussion show between Hill and three football journalists conducted over a Sunday breakfast. In 2007, he was replaced by his co presenter Brian Woolnough and the programme was renamed Sunday Supplement.
[edit]Directorships

Despite his surprise departure as manager in 1967, Hill returned to Coventry City as managing director in April 1975 before becoming the chairman. As chairman, at a crucial relegation match at home to Bristol City at the end of the 1976-77 season, Hill delayed the kick off by 10 minutes for fans still outside caught in the heavy traffic. Relegation rivals Sunderland, playing at Everton kicked off on time. Sunderland eventually lost the game 2-0. Knowing that all Coventry needed to stay up was a draw, the Sunderland result was flashed up on the scoreboard. Hill made his players pass the ball around in their own half for the last 10 minutes of the game, saving Coventry from relegation at the expense of Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City. Hill was never forgiven by Sunderland fans. In 2008 at a Fulham vs Sunderland game, Sunderland supporters spotted him standing yards away and reacted angrily with boos and abuse. When Hill waved and blew kisses, their anger escalated and he had to be led away by police for fear of starting a riot. Hill is still considered a legend by Coventry City fans. When Coventry played their last ever match at Highfield Road in 2005, he received a post-match hero's welcome from the capacity crowd, and led them in a rousing chorus of "The Sky Blue Song". In 2007, fans voted for a bar at the new Ricoh Arena to be named "Jimmy's" in his honour. Sculptor Nicholas Dimbleby has been commissioned to build a statue of Hill at a cost of £150,000. The statue will be located at Coventry's Ricoh Arena ground and is to be built and unveiled in time for the start of the 2011-12 season. The money to build the statue is being raised solely by public donations will little or no contribution from the club itself. However, at time of writing, the fund raising is still short of the required target.
Following a spell as chairman of Charlton Athletic, Hill became chairman of Fulham in 1987, helping his old club survive near-bankruptcy, and blocking an attempted merger with Queens Park Rangers
Hill is a trustee of the Stable Lads' Association.
Like Roger Swinfen Eady, 3rd Baron Swinfen, and Allen Parton and Endal, Hill is a patron of Labrador Rescue South East and Central.[4]
Hill is currently the President of non-league team Corinthian Casuals.
[edit]Footballing 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.
[edit]

[The Bronsons]

That's a pretty impressive career. You can understand why Sunderland fans might feel differently, though.

[richie17]

his autobiography (which he wrote himself, rather than through a ghost) is thoroughly recommended.  Hilarious, sometimes deliberately so, sometimes not.  Amazing man who didn't always get everything right but always gave about 800%. 

Also, here he is with the first ever Fulham Review.  Happy days...

[HatterDon]

I also enjoyed him on Match of the Day and my ex mother-in-law always bought the Jimmy Hill Football Weekly for me, even going so far as to mail it to me in Vietnam.

I must see if I can find his autobiography since I never heard why he worked so hard to get Coventry in the top flight and then resigned once promotion had been secured.

[Rupert]

I was one of the lucky winners of the weekend at Bill Muddyman's chateau near Nice, which was sixth prize in the old Cottage Chance draw. For those of you who can't remember that far back, we paid in something like £10 a month, they drew the winners once a month at half time in a match. First prize was £1,000 (the old man got that once), second £100 (or something) down to £10 for fifth, the sixth prize was added after it had run for a couple of seasons to boost interest, boy was I glad not to get fifth prize.

Anyway, when we arrived at Bill's gaff, who was waiting to meet us, but JH, which was hilarious as my mate had spent the last twenty minutes or so saying, "thank goodness Jimmy Hill isn't here." We spent the weekend sunbathing, swimming, drinking some very palatable wine and talking football.
I found JH to be very strongly opinionated, but willing to both explain why he held the views he did and was happy to listen to opposite views and our reasoning (which he occasionally then demolished, admittedly). I think he would find a spiritual home on this forum, were he so inclined.
I can't say we left having agreed on everything, but I had an increased level of respect for the man and his life after that fantastic couple of days.

The only downside was, I got sunstroke.

Oh yes, and on the flight home there was a bufoon from U2 (one of the guitarists) who got very offended when I didn't recognise him (my mate did but kept schtum about who it was until we got back to Heathrow) and fawn all over him, a pity because I didn't like the group or their music and would have told him so. A chance missed.