Jimmy Hill Quotes
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There was a time in my life when I was travelling to football grounds five days a week. Combined with TV work and the hours spent driving to different venues as well as watching the game, it took up an enormous chunk of my life. But I'm getting older, and those days are long gone.
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In 1967, London Weekend Television asked me to head up their sports coverage. I got to work with guys like Brian Moore and Dickie Davies. We were the first ones to come up with the idea of the pundits' panel. Although, since I was one of the pundits, it's debatable how good an idea that was.
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They're still in the game, and they're trying to get back into it.
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I get on so well with lots of Scots, and a man who had a big influence on my career and was a great mate, Johnny Paton, was Scottish. But I became a hate figure in Scotland because of my views on football. That always made me chuckle, and it still does.
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Tradition means nothing. It's about what you do tomorrow as a football club, not what you did yesterday.
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Not a lot of people know I wrote the lyrics for the Arsenal club song, 'Good Old Arsenal'. We had a competition on ITV for it, and none of the entries were any good, so I approached their manager, Bertie Mee, and asked him if he would let me have a stab. He did, and within a few weeks they were singing it at Wembley on the way to the 1971 double.
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I'm delighted when Scotland qualify either for the World Cup or the European Championship. I always take a vested interest in Scotland's result, and it creates the opportunity for a drink in our house when they do well.
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I played a trial game for Reading against Brentford. Then the coach told me that they couldn't afford to take me on. So I went to see Brentford. I couldn't believe it when they signed me - they were in the league above Reading.
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I've been a director and chairman of three good, modest clubs - Coventry, Charlton and Fulham - and the abuse you get can be cruel and shameful. I've had a wonderful life and wouldn't change a moment of it professionally - except that I should never have become a director.
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In the media, I always seemed to come across as someone who was poking fun at the Scots and their football. I guess the Scottish public needed someone to blame for their international defeats, and I fitted the bill perfectly.
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I was brought up in the Boys' Brigade and grew up not swearing. It's so lovely to behave decently, civilly.