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Six years into a 12-month stay, Hill bids sad farewell — Column
Wednesday, 11th May 2016 21:50 by Clive Whittingham

Clint Hill, a shining light of consistency, honesty and integrity during an often rotten period of QPR’s history, is sadly leaving the club after six years.

Big mouth

This is a very similar signing to Shaun Derry in many ways. It’s a player at the wrong end of his career age wise, somebody who has not impressed when we have played against him in recent times and a limited footballer even in his prime. He is however very experienced at this level, known and liked by our manager, covering an area of the team that we’re lacking in, and cheap.

As with Derry, and Leon Clarke, I cannot help but feel that we could and probably should be doing better than Clint Hill.

That's Clint Hill, as assessed by this site way back in 2010, on the day he signed from Crystal Palace. Don't ever say we don't roll out the red carpet for new arrivals. Or know what we're talking about.

There was little indication of the glorious season to follow at the start of that summer. Neil Warnock had turned things around in 2009/10 having arrived from Crystal Palace but the quickfire acquisition of Hill, Shaun Derry and Leon Clarke didn't exactly scream ambition and promotion. Hill and Derry, in particular, were both the wrong side of 30 and had been part of a Palace side that itself was almost relegated the year before — albeit with the considerable handicap of a points deduction and Paul Hart in charge for their final dozen games — and totally outplayed by Warnock's QPR at Selhurst Park in April. Derry had a particular nightmare that day, again with the caveat that he was trying to keep hold of Adel Taarabt and Akos Buzsaky.

Hill, 31, was only given a 12 month deal because he had an ankle "like a cement mixer". He was signed to play at left back, despite growing up at Tranmere and Oldham as a centre half, instead of Dusko Tosic, who'd impressed on loan from Portsmouth at the end of the previous season and was available on a free.

When Warnock first arrived at Crystal Palace he'd swapped his starting centre half, Leon Cort, for Hill from Tony Pulis' horrible Stoke side. Cort, who I quite rated, Warnock joked hadn't been booked yet that season and that would never do for his centre back. Typical bloody Warnock anti-football, signing a clogger from Stoke to kick people instead of a more talented, younger player. And now here it was happening to us.

Indeed it was typical Warnock, we were right about that at least. Team over individuals, footballers over names, leaders across the park, dressing room spirit… by the end of 2010/11 QPR were champions, the seventh time Warnock had won a promotion from the second tier. Giving a speech in the dressing room at Watford's Vicarage Road ground after a 2-0 win in the penultimate match sealed the elevation, Warnock said Hill was a "fucking hero" after starting 45 matches that season.

The team had genuine ability, with the likes of Ale Faurlin, Adel Taarabt and Wayne Routledge better than anything else in the league in their positions. But it had a heart as big as a dustbin as well, with Derry, Hill, Paddy Kenny and Jamie Mackie absolutely key in Warnock's dressing room.

The wily old boss knew full well what it took to win promotions. It took people like Clint Hill.

Disservice

It is easy to slip into the trap of talking about Clint Hill the leader as if that's all he is.

Vocal on and off the pitch in all the right ways, he went on to be an outstanding captain of QPR. As the club lost itself in piles of Malaysian and Premier League money, and lumbered itself with one self-absorbed footballer after another - interested only in the disgusting wages the club was forking out and not at all bothered whether they played or not, whether the club won or not, or what those who did care about that thought of them - Hill was a beacon of light. He carried himself with dignity, represented the club superbly, spoke with honesty and passion about the place and engaged with the supporters at a time when the club as a whole and most of his colleagues were moving away from those who cared most. Neil Warnock's wife Sharon said she hoped their son would grow up to be like Clint.

But that does a disservice to his playing ability, which quickly became apparent to the initial doubters and remains at a deceptively high level to this day.

Clint Hill is, first and foremost, a good footballer with a very decent left foot for a centre back, an undiminished ability to win the vast majority of the balls he competes for in the air and a reading of the game far superior to most centre backs in this league which always meant he could be relied upon for a timely interception and block. That, coupled with the leadership qualities, meant the defence was always more secure with him in it, right up until his final match against Bristol City on Saturday.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink may come to regret writing him off as a player who can't be a regular starter for him next season, and therefore somebody who can be allowed him to leave the club. For Hill has been written off before at QPR, several times, including that summer when he first arrived, and always proved doubters wrong. If he does so again this time, it'll be in another club's colours.

Even Neil Warnock, surely one of his biggest fans, felt Hill was only going to be good for one more year, and contracted him accordingly. After promotion Rangers started chasing the so-called bigger names and better players, and Hill — who'd been sent off in an opening day thrashing by Bolton - actually spent the initial part of Rangers' return to the top flight out on loan at Nottingham Forest while Arsenal's Armand Traore settled into that position.

But after a 6-0 shellacking by Fulham, he was recalled, and put back in the team for a daunting visit from soon-to-be European Champions Chelsea. He was, of course, magnificent in a 1-0 win, and kept his place for the rest of the season, even when Warnock was replaced by Mark Hughes.

The spending only got more excessive, the names only bigger, the egos only more unbearable, when Hughes started moulding his team the following season. Hill and Derry joked that they'd know QPR were in trouble if either of them got back in the team. And so it proved. When the toads from Kia Joorabchian's client log sold Hughes, and QPR, down the river the Welshman turned to first Hill, then Derry, and finally Jamie Mackie as well as his reign fell apart. All three were better than the con artists and mercenaries that went before them, and Hill further endeared himself to the support by talking about his sadness at the direction the club, and the dressing room, had taken.

Relegation, apparently, prolonged Hill's career another year, back at "his level". But when QPR won promotion again in 2014, that surely would have to be that. Now 36, and only meant to stay for a year in the first place, another Premier League season would be beyond him. Of course it would. And besides, Rio Ferdinand was on the horizon. Arguably the nadir of QPR's shambolic, shameful approach to top flight squad building.

Needless to say, once again, it didn't go well and Hill, once again, was called for and, once again, turned in an outstanding effort. He even, finally, got the first Premier League goal of his career, a thumping header in a 3-3 draw at Villa Park. Although, as we know, he’d had a perfectly legitimate one ruled our by rank bad officiating in a crucial game at Bolton in 2012/13.

One torturous afternoon at West Brom, after which Hill himself admitted he couldn't handle left back any more and would have to be played at centre half from now on or not at all, and an afternoon of brutal schooling by Luis Suarez at Loftus Road apart, Hill has never looked his age, nor fitted with the perception of him.

He's that rare example of a modern day QPR player you felt cared about the result and how the club was progressing as much as we did, and we loved him for that. But more importantly, he is still the best all round centre back at Queens Park Rangers even now, as he's written off by the club for the final time.

Steps

Clint Hill had played at Wembley before. It had not gone well.

As a 21-year-old he’d been a defender learning his trade in a Tranmere Rovers team managed by John Aldridge which punched above its weight in the First Division, and was renowned for lengthy cup runs. In 2000 they went all the way to the League Cup final at the old Wembley to face Martin O’Neill’s Leicester City, beating Premier League Middlesbrough and Bolton on the way.

Leicester won 2-1. Matt Elliott twice came up from the back to head home at set pieces. Clint was sent off on the hour for a second bookable offence.

Hill was denied a redemption of sorts, albeit at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, in 2002/03 by the club he would later go on to serve with such distinction. It’s often forgotten that the loveable Scouser was part of Iain Dowie’s Oldham side beaten by that Paul Furlong goal on one of the greatest ever nights at Loftus Road.

He’d left Stoke City long before they started troubling Wembley occasions — the Potters lost to Manchester City in the FA Cup final of 2011 — and the Palace side he was part off lost a fractious 2008 play-off semi-final to Bristol City.

It seemed like it wasn’t meant to be. Palace are serial play-off competitors — their four promotions the joint most achieved through the end of season knockout along with Blackpool. If Hill couldn’t banish his demons at Selhurst Park, surely he wouldn’t find much more luck at Loftus Road. QPR, after all, had only been to Wembley four times in their history — twice for the same final — and won once, in 1967.

In 2013/14, despite the signing of Richard Dunne at centre half, and the addition of Benoit Assou Ekotto on loan from Spurs at ghastly expense to play left back, Hill completed another 46 matches. When Assou Ekotto, persistently half-arsed in his efforts for the club, once again cost QPR a goal through pisballing about in possession in a dangerous area at Brighton, followed by the traditional collapse and demand to be substituted with some mysterious injury or other, even Redknapp couldn’t tolerate him any longer and Hill was back in at left full back.

Along with Dunne, Danny Simpson and Nedum Onuoha he formed an impenetrable wall in the semi-final away leg at Wigan. One of the worst games in the short history of the play-offs, but a tie successfully killed which is what Rangers had set out to do. The home leg was no Oldham, but there was electricity in the Shepherd’s Bush air. Trailing by a goal after half time, it was Hill who was sacrificed - at the time, it was said, at his own insistence — to get the more attacking Yun Suk-Young on down the left side. Rangers won 2-1 in extra time.

At Wembley, Hill insisted on being removed. This time it was Gary O’Neil who saw red at the national stadium and that compounded a situation of Rangers’ own making. Harry Redknapp’s team selections, throughout the season, had often seemed to have been made with no regard for the opposition whatsoever, and frequently needed one, or sometimes two, substitutions at half time to get the side into the shape and system it should have been in to start with.

That was no different on the big day, where Redknapp’s insistence on picking his golden boy Niko Kranjcar despite his lack of first team action and hamstring injury meant the first change came after 23 minutes and saw left back Armand Traore come on. Another odd idea, playing Kevin Doyle wide, ended before the hour which meant that when O’Neil went off a short time later two substitutions had been used, and one attacking left sided player had already been brought on. Redknapp had worked himself into a position where either he had to take Bobby Zamora off three minutes after bringing him on, or take off top scorer Charlie Austin.

Hill’s demand that he be replaced instead, allowing Traore to come to left back, was self sacrifice on the highest stage, and helped swing the final dramatically into QPR’s favour despite the numerical disadvantage. One only hopes he'll be standing on that touchline himself one day, making those decisions as manager, with the QPR badge on his chest once more.

Hill, choked, said afterwards: “13 years ago I let a lot of people down here, I got sent off and didn’t get a chance to go up those steps. I’ve regretted it throughout my career. These lads have made me a very proud captain today, by giving me a chance to get up them steps and rectify an error I made. I got a chance to lift a trophy at Wembley Stadium, something I never thought I’d do.”

In the process, Hill followed Mike Keen as the only QPR captains ever to have walked our team up the steps at Wembley Stadium. If there’s never another, the honour couldn’t have gone to anybody more deserving.

In numbers

2015/16
15 starts, 0 sub appearances, 15 goals conceded
Scoring — 1 goal (Cardiff H), 0 assists
Discipline — 2 yellows (foul, ungentlemanly), 0 reds
Man of the Match Awards — 2, (Derby H, Bristol City H)
LFW Ratings — 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 7 = 6.4
Fan Ratings — 6.57

2014/15
15 starts, 4 sub appearances, 36 goals conceded
Scoring — 1 goal (Villa A), 0 assists
Discipline — 4 yellows (foul, foul, foul, foul), 0 reds
Man of the Match Awards — 0
LFW Ratings — 6, 7, 4, 6, 6, 6, 4, 6, 4, 5, 5, 6, -, 6, 6, 6, 7, 3, 5, 3 = 5.31

2013/14
Appearances: 46 starts, no sub appearances
Scoresheet: 1 goal (Leeds A), 3 assists (Bolton A, Ipswich A, Wigan H league), 42 goals conceded, W24 D10 L12
Discipline: 5 yellows (foul, foul, dissent, foul, foul)
LFW Ratings: 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 7, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 = 6.26
Fans’ Average Rating: 6.80
Man of the Match: 3 (Burnley A, Blackburn H, Everton A)

2012/13

34 starts, 0 sub appearances, W5, D11, L17
Out of Ten: 3,4,7,7,4,3,7,7,7,6,7,6,6,3,8,6,7,7,7,8,6,3,6,7,7,5,2,6,5,3,6,6,6,6= 5.70
Interactive Match Ratings - 6.03
0 goals, 0 assists
Man of the Match Awards — 0
Cards — Eight yellows (foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, repetitive fouling)

2011/12

Key Facts — 22 starts, three sub appearances, no goals, two assists, three Man of the Match awards.
Fan Rating — 6.77
LFW Rating — 6.625
Rating breakdown — 5 8 -7 6 6 6 7 6 5 6 7 6 6 7 8 6 8 8 8 7 8 2 7 9
Discipline — One red (violent conduct) and four yellows (foul, foul, foul, foul).

The Twitter @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

Photo: Action Images



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sexton added 22:57 - May 11
Magnificent
1

RedbourneR added 23:44 - May 11
Great piece of work, Clive. Watching that little clip of Clint being interviewed on the pitch at Wembley also shows his generosity, mentioning Zamora like that. Let's hope he does come back
1

WilloW4 added 00:33 - May 12
Superb . A joy to read, not for the first I shed a tear thinking about Clints departure from W.12.
0

texasranger added 05:35 - May 12
Great reading Clive and I am so pleased you identified the common factor between Clint and the great Mike Keen.
0

Phildo added 07:57 - May 12
Actual tears came out at the end reading that. Tremendous.
0

JohnMacQPR69 added 09:33 - May 12
I've blocked out the 1986 Milk Cup Final too!

I'd also genuinely forgotten that Rio Ferdinand played for us, so little was his contribution. Clint Hill, however, will never be forgotten by me, for all the reasons above, and more besides.
0

terryb added 09:47 - May 12
Thank you Clive.

The tributes from yourself & Simon are superb. I hope that somehow or other, Clint get's to read them both.
0

jonno added 10:19 - May 12
Clint Hill - that rare thing these days, a proper footballer. Great article.
0

Myke added 10:55 - May 12
Brilliant piece Clive, Thank You. I wonder though have we seen the last of Hill and Fraulin? It wouldn't surprise me if both were offered a one year contract later in the summer - assuming they haven't been snapped up by someone else in the meantime!
0

Antti_Heinola added 10:58 - May 12
Lovely Clive. Hope Clint reads it because I think it sums up how we all feel.
0

francisbowles added 11:20 - May 12
When we say professional we mean PROFESSIONAL!
0

simmo added 11:34 - May 12
I would be devastated if he moved on not realising what he's come to mean to us. He's been a shining light in a fog of mercenary shite and I won't hear a bad word said about him from anybody. Proper modern hero.
0

Kensal_Ranger added 11:40 - May 12
Clint Hill, an absolutely superb role model and a professional of the truest form. Very disappointed, like everybody else, to see him released but you can't keep a good man down - get those badges sorted Clint and help us back to the Prem, you know we want you to!
Thanks for that perfect piece, Clive.
U Rs!
0

isawqpratwcity added 12:06 - May 12
Beautiful article, Clive.

Fck, I'm disappointed he's going.

All the best, CH, in whatever you do; you are so well loved here.
0

QPRski added 13:17 - May 12
I admit that I did not feel inspired when we signed Clint in 2010 - but what an error of judgement!

Clint Hill has proved to be the ideal professional footballer. A consistent performer, a leader, mentor, coach and "warrior".

I am sure he will be a great football manager, as already demonstrated when he "demanded" that he be subbed in the Playoff final. It was a key moment that dramatically turned the match into our favour despite the numerical disadvantage.

I wish him well and hope that he may one day return as our manager.
0

FurryHoop added 14:00 - May 12
Superb write up on one who always played for the shirt and gave 100%. We need more like him and none of the p*ss-taking mercenaries that used to get picked before hi - he will be very much missed. Top bloke.
0

Gaztastic added 14:03 - May 12
I hereby propose a LWF sponsored Clint Hill Day to be celebrated annually in a manner and on a date to be agreed. My suggestion : 22nd February, the date in 2011 when he broke the deadlock in a tense game vs Ipswich and then skipped through the defense to play provider for Helguson.
0

Scarecrow added 14:10 - May 12
Hi Clive- saving the best to last is very apt here. That detail on Clint Hill is awesome! If there's any way we can have a means of thanking Clint that would be appreciated. Contributions like his and yours over time don't go unnoticed and is really apprciated. Let's enjoy the summer and see what our beloved club provides us moving forwards. Thank You
0

SimonJames added 16:50 - May 12
Excellent tribute to an outstanding team player and consummate professional. I hope he goes on to have a great career as a manager.
0

YorkRanger added 21:37 - May 12
A fitting tribute
0

AgedR added 23:27 - May 12
How many times have we gone back to Hill after another 'fancy Dan' failure?

No Clint to fall back on now Jimmy.

By Christ I hope your judgement is right.
0

phegarty added 01:18 - May 13
Excellent tribute. Thanks. Total respect and best wishes to Clint and Ale, they'll always be a part of QPR for me.
0

tsbains64 added 15:50 - May 13
nuff said
0

snanker added 10:11 - May 14
Done Clive a great write up on an old Pro who kept on keeping on. They don't make too many of them like Clint Hill anymore the personification of the footballer you want representing your club. I hope his value is recognised by the board and he is kept on in a contributing capacity for the next important period. Thank you Clint Hill and I hope you read all the admiration we fans have for you in your outstanding time at Queens Park Rangers.
0

merseyhoop added 10:33 - May 14
Great write up.

Clint, the man is a legend and hero, the last few years we have been lumbered with so called better players but every time Hill has had to put on his Superman act and come to the rescue. One of my favourite players ever to wear the hoops for his sheer grit, determination, passion, organisation and he can play a bit as well.

My son and I met him on the Liverpool tube a few years back and were fortunate to have his attention for 5 minutes, my son just stood there speechless looking up at him as we talked football, QPR etc. He was more than happy to give us the time of day.

Clint Hill, we just like watching Clint Hill.............
0


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