Ricky Hill

Ricky Hill (born 5 March 1959) is an English football coach and a former player who is the manager of the Turks and Caicos Islands national team.

He spent most of his playing career at Luton Town FC for 14 years, while representing England at Senior, U21 and U18 International levels.

Hill was the fourth Black player to play for England’s Senior National team and the first British South Asian to represent England at the Senior level.

Ricky Hill was born on 5 March 1959 of mixed ancestry.

While Hill's mother is Jamaican, his father’s family is originally from the city of Lucknow in India.

His paternal great-grandparents moved to Jamaica from India shortly after the turn of the 20th century.

Hill's father Joseph, one of 11 children, eventually moved to London where he married Hill's mother Doris, a Jamaican whom Joseph had previously attended school alongside in Jamaica.

Hill grew up in the London Borough of Brent, in Cricklewood - not far from Wembley Stadium.

A talented footballer in his early years, Hill attended Anson Road Primary and John Kelly Boys School (now known as the Crest Boys Academy) in Neasden.

Whilst at John Kelly, Hill was a teammate of former Arsenal and Brighton Hove Albion player Steve Gatting.

At 15, Hill signed schoolboy forms with Luton Town FC in 1974 after being scouted playing for John Kelly Boys at a game in Hitchin where Luton coaches Roy McCrohan, David Pleat, and Danny Bergara were in attendance.

Ricky Hill joined Luton Town FC in 1975, and made 506 League and Cup appearances, scoring 54 goals in the process from 1976 to 1989.

At 17, one month after signing professional terms, Hill came on as a substitute in a Second Division game (now known as the Championship in the UK) where he scored a goal and made a goal assist in twenty-two minutes in a 3-1 victory over Bristol Rovers FC.

Hill spent 14 years at Luton and played a pivotal role in the club’s promotion to the First Division (now known as the Premier League in the UK) in 1981-1982 as Second Division champions, where he won back-to-back ‘Player of the Year’ awards (1980-1982).

Ricky Hill represented England at U18, U21, and Senior International levels, making his debut under Sir Bobby Robson, coming on as a substitute in the 1982 European Championship qualifier against Denmark in Copenhagen which resulted in a 2-2 draw.

The following month Hill made his full starting debut against West Germany at Wembley in a 1-2 defeat.

Hill missed out on the 1983 Australia tour due to an injury that required surgery.

While being selected to the provisional 26-man squad for the 1986 World Cup Finals in Mexico, Hill was placed on standby after the squad was reduced to a 22-man traveling party.

Hill was the fourth Black player to play for England’s senior National team and the first British South Asian to represent England at the senior level.

He was capped three times in total for England, with his last appearance being against Egypt on 29 January 1986.

Hill was a part of the 1988 Littlewoods Cup final-winning team that won their first – and only to date – major trophy as they beat Arsenal 3-2 at Wembley Stadium in front of 98k fans.

They returned to the final again in 1989, only this time to experience defeat to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest by 3-1.

In 1989, Hill moved on a free transfer to Le Havre in the French Second Division, where he was recommended to the club by Gerard Houllier, former Manager of the France national team, Paris St. Germain, Liverpool, and Aston Villa.

Whilst at Le Havre, Hill played under head coach Pierre Mankowski who went on to become assistant manager to Raymond Domenech with the France national team.

Hill credits his time at Le Havre for providing him advanced insight into sports science and youth development of which the club is renowned.

Young players who came through the Le Havre academy system include Paul Pogba, Riyad Mahrez, Lassana Diarra, Benjamin Mendy, and Dimitri Payet.

In 1990, Hill transferred to Leicester City FC, rejoining David Pleat for a brief spell who had been his manager at Luton Town FC previously.

In 1991, Hill moved abroad to be Player/Coach with the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the US.

Hill began his managerial career as a Player/Coach with the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 1992 and in that season saw the Rowdies appear in both the League Championship final and the Professional Cup final, in addition to Hill also being awarded ‘Coach of the Year’ amongst other notable player accolades such as Best Passer and All-Star First Team.

Spanning 25 years managing various professional clubs across the US, UK, and the Caribbean, Hill made 4 US championship appearances at the professional level, reinforcing his standing as one of the most successful Black coaches in the history of US professional soccer.

Most recently, Hill authored Love of the Game – Ricky Hill: The Man Who Brought the Rooney Rule to the UK which was nominated as a finalist for the 2022 Sports Books Awards in association with The Sunday Times (UK).

1992 to 1996 (USA)

In 1992 Ricky Hill was introduced to Rodney Marsh, then CEO of the Tampa Bay Rowdies, who were part of the American Professional Soccer League (APSL), the only professional soccer league in the US at the time.

The Tampa Bay Rowdies afforded Hill’s first opportunity in coaching where Marsh appointed Hill as Player/Coach six weeks after Hill’s arrival in the US.

That season saw the Rowdies appear in both the League Championship final and the Professional Cup final, in addition to Hill also being awarded ‘Coach of the Year’ amongst other notable player accolades such as Best Passer, All-Star First Team, Second Best Technical Player as voted by press correspondents.

In 1993, Hill played for Chertsey Town FC in the UK with former professionals including Kenny Sansom (Arsenal, Crystal Palace, England), Francis Joseph (Sheffield United, Wimbledon, Brentford) and Terry Rowe (Brentford, Tampa Bay Rowdies).

In 1994, Hill moved back to the US to be the Technical Director/Player Coach with the Cocoa Expos.

Hill returned to the UK briefly before once again heading back to the US in 1994 as the Technical Director/Player Coach of the Cocoa Expos organization in the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL) and as an Assistant Coach at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) from 1994-1996.

During his time with the Cocoa Expos, the franchise won the Southern Regional title before losing to the Richmond Kickers in the USISL Championship finals.

For the 1995 season, the Cocoa Expos held esteemed records of scoring the most goals and conceding the least goals across all USISL professional teams.