Seeing as it's Mr. Hill's birthday today, I thought I'd go ahead and make a thread that I'd been meaning to make about him. Many appreciate him, including his performances this season yet I still feel he's underrated. It's no secret that Dunne is having a blinder of a season so far but I think he's unfairly stealing the show here. This season I have watched closely and the both of them have dominated the air in defence and they've both made some great saves. But what Clint should get extra credit for is for making some of the most audacious last gasp saves at a stretch, putting his body on the line. I cannot see anyone else in the side with his level of commitment. He absolutely plays with his heart and obviously gives a hell of a damn about playing for us. He's always involved in the game heavily, no matter what position he plays and, as I've said, he has kept us in games. Not to mention he seems like a great guy! Dunne is receiving a lot of praise (rightly so), more than Clint at the moment. But if anyone deserves more than him it's Hill. If you switched the two players performances so far, so that everything Clint has done was done by Dunne (confusing, I know), and vice versa, Dunne would still be getting the higher level of praise due to us basically having wet dreams about him at the moment and because he's our new heavy artillery machine. Anyway, I'm just raising the glass for our great player Clint Hill and sharing my gratefulness for having such a character in our team. Cheers!
Sadly, I don't think he will go down as a legend and will be forgotten relatively quickly, even though he deserves to be remembered for a long time, especially as an example for commitment.
Great post. Well said awjm. I remember focusing on him at the M'boro match. His positioning, skill and reading of the game belied that of a player who is often labelled a 'journey man' footballer.
Aye. Put it in this context: He was our player of the season (both players' and fans') over the last two seasons. He absolutely dominated a lot of top class Premier League attackers over those two seasons. Sadly this alone was not enough to make us a good team altogether.
It is no accident that Mr Hill has been the only near-ever present member of the side since that promotion winning season. When we've rued the shortcomings of Connolly, the departure of Nelsen, the injury to Onuoha or celebrated the performances of Dunne, he has generally been there too, giving his all, setting examples and acknoledging his mistakes. There can be few players in the famous Hoops today with greater commitment. If there was an all-time Rs team consisting of those that most gave a damn, Mr Hill would be there somewhere. Happy Birthday, Clint. Hope you get to open three little boxes around 4:45pm today, each with a point in them.
I remember being totally underwhelmed when Warnock signed him, but he has since shown that the old fashioned virtues of determination, desire and character can outweigh natural ability and highly trained technique. In his own words he has been written off more times than a car crash, but he is not only still fighting off all comers for a place in the team, he is leading it. Redknapp is going to have a massive problem when Onouha returns to full fitness.
Love the bloke. One of my favourite players of the last decade. He'll continue to serve us well for another while yet.
Hope he had a great day... A great club captain but if we go up (big IF)..I dont know how much we will see of him in the Prem ?
You sentimental wuss. Hill, like all the others, should be binned the second they put a foot wrong. Seriously, Clint's career over the last few years has been nothing short of a miracle, because he really isn't very good, but clearly has used his experience as well as his character to maximum effect. Still sits well behind Nelsen and Dunne in my eyes,purely because he has to concentrate so hard on his own game I don't see him leading the back line like the other two. But they can't all be organisers. This could be a glorious last season for him at what is his natural level, even getting away with it at left back sometimes.
