Richard Wilfred Hill (born 20 September 1963) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and manager who was most recently manager of

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...

. He is also a former

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 lea ...

who played for

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. He has been assistant manager at six different clubs, including

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

, and had a difficult but successful stint as manager of

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in EFL League One, the third level of the Engli ...

before taking

into the

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

for the first time in their history.

Playing career

During his playing days Hill played for Nuneaton Borough, Christchurch United in New Zealand,

and

. In his time at Northampton, Hill scored 33 league and cup goals in one season, winning the golden boot for finishing as the club's top goal scorer. Hill was transferred from Northampton Town to Watford for a Fourth Division record fee of £258,000. He was the last signing made by

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln ...

before his departure from Watford to manage

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

at the end of the 1986–87 season. He did not feature in the plans of incoming manager Dave Bassett and consequently, his stay at Vicarage Road was brief only appearing 4 times: he was transferred to Oxford United for £260,000. Hill had to finish his playing career early due to a serious knee injury, but having amassed 69 goals from just 171 Football League games.

Managerial career

Since retiring from playing Hill has been assistant manager to John Gregory at both

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

and

Brian Little Brian Little (born 25 November 1953) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, Little was a striker who spent his entire career for Aston Villa in a career that spanned from 1971 to 1980. He made 247 league appearances, ...

Martin Wilkinson Martin Wilkinson is an English football manager. He has managed the following clubs: *Peterborough United: 29 June 1982 – 1 February 1983 *Íþróttabandalag Ísafjarðar: 1983 *Carlisle United: 25 June 1999 – 10 May 2000 *Northampton Tow ...

at Northampton Town,

Andy Hessenthaler Andrew Hessenthaler (born 17 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player who is head of recruitment at club Gillingham. He began his career in non-league football and did not turn professional until he joined Watford at the ...

at Gillingham,

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

and was first-team coach at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. He has also coached at

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

, scouted for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

and managed

. In June 2010, Hill was appointed technical advisor to the

Ethiopia national football team The Ethiopia national football team (Amharic: የአትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ እግር ኳስ ቡድን), nicknamed Walia, after the Walia ibex, represents Ethiopia in men's international football and is controlled by the Ethiopian Football ...

and worked with them during

African Nations This is a list of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa. It includes fully recognised states, states with limited or zero recognition, and dependent territories of both African and non-African states. It lists 56 sovereign states ...

qualifying games. In June 2011, Hill was appointed assistant manager to

FC Kairat Football Club Kairat () is a professional football club based in Almaty, which plays in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. Founded in 1954 as Lokomotiv Alma-Ata, they became Urozhay in 1955 and Kairat in 1956. ...

in the

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

. On 12 September 2012, Hill was appointed manager of

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

club

. In his first season, he led Eastleigh to the Conference South Play Off Semi Finals. At the start of the 2013–14 season Eastleigh were big favourites to win the league. Under Hill's guidance he led Eastleigh to the

title and promotion in the 2013–14 season. The 2014–15 season saw Eastleigh in the Conference Premier, the highest level of football the club had ever competed at, with Hill taking Eastleigh to the Play Off Semi Finals at the end of that season. During his initial spell as manager of Eastleigh, Hill achieved a win ratio of 62%. Hill resigned at Eastleigh on 23 September 2015 after just over 3 years in the job, following a run of five games without a win, culminating in a 5–2 defeat to

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the , the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1983 afte ...

. Leaving the club, Hill said it felt like a break-up, and it was time for a change for both himself and the club. On 9 September 2016, Hill returned to management, replacing

Pablo Asensio Pablo Asensio (born 3 January 1973) is an Argentinian former professional footballer, most recently first team manager at National League South side Whitehawk. Playing career Asensio was an attacking midfield player who played in Argentina, ...

as boss of

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

club

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originall ...

. On 29 November 2016 Hill left Whitehawk and joined

to be part of Steve Bruce's recruitment staff. Following the departure of Martin Allen as manager at

, after a run of seven games without a win, Hill returned to The Spitfires as Director of Football and caretaker manager on 23 February 2017. Between May 2018 and July 2020, Hill held the position of Head of Football Operations at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. He came under criticism from supporters of the club on account of what was perceived as poor transfer business, however received support from owner

Stewart Donald Stewart Donald is an English businessman and football administrator. Based in Witney, Oxfordshire, he is the chairman and majority shareholder of Eastleigh and former CEO of Bridle Insurance. Career As of 2018, Donald has worked in the insuran ...

whom Hill had previously worked with at Eastleigh. In March 2023, Hill once again returned to Eastleigh in the role of Club Director. Following the departure of

Lee Bradbury Lee Michael Bradbury (born 3 July 1975) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Dagenham & Redbridge. A versatile player, he primarily played as a striker and scored 105 goals in 572 league and cup games in ...

in August 2023, he was once again placed in temporary charge of the first-team. On 28 September, he was given the job on a permanent basis.

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 1986–87 Fourth Division

Career statistics

Club

References