Michael Richard Hill (3 December 1947 in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

England – 23 June 2008) was an English-born, Welsh international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Career

Club

-born Hill started his career with Bethesda Athletic and joined

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in September 1965. His first-team chances were limited, making just 37 appearances for the Yorkshire club in four years. He scored nine goals, his second in a Sheffield Derby game at the end of the 1966–67 season. Hill moved to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

for £33,000 in October 1969, where he scored 20 goals in 77 appearances. He was loaned to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

for a month in June 1972 and played in the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup ( it, Coppa Anglo-Italiana, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) is a defunct European football c ...

Final defeat against

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

at the

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian Na ...

. The possibility of his joining permanently was killed off when Ipswich rejected the club's undisclosed offer. Blackpool manager

Bob Stokoe Robert Stokoe (21 September 1930 – 1 February 2004) was an English footballer and manager who was able, almost uniquely, to transcend the traditional north-east animosity between the region's footballing rivals, Newcastle United and Sunderlan ...

commented: "I spoke to Ipswich manager

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

last night, but we cannot come to an agreement at this stage. We went to what we felt we could afford. I appreciate Bobby Robson's gesture in letting us have Mick for a month so that we could assess him." Hill was transferred for £35,000 to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

in December 1973, where he made a further 45 appearances, scoring another six times. In February 1976, Hill moved on to South African football with

Cape Town City A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

. He was a traditional target man for most of his career who earned the nickname 'Mick The Flick' for his propensity to move the ball quickly and with guile when he received it. His first-team career ended with a total of 33 goals in 159 games.

International

In 1971, Hill played twice for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

in the

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

qualifying competition.

Death

Hill died on 23 June 2008, aged 60

Mick Mills Michael Dennis Mills MBE (born 4 January 1949) is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich Town's ...

, his captain at Ipswich, paid this tribute: "Mick was an exceptionally nice lad who everyone liked. He was a decent player with a good touch, but suffered somewhat for taking his off-field approach for life on to the park."

References

External links

*
Mick Hill profile at Ipswich Town Talk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Mick 1947 births 2008 deaths Welsh men's footballers Welsh expatriate men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Ipswich Town F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Footballers from Hereford Cape Town City F.C. (NFL) players Rangers F.C. (South Africa) players Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Welsh expatriate sportspeople in South Africa English Football League players Men's association football forwards Bethesda Athletic F.C. players National Football League (South Africa) players