David Hillier

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David Hillier
Personnel
birthday 19th December 1969
place of birth Blackheath , London ,  England
size 178 cm
position midfield
Juniors
Years station
1985-1988 Arsenal FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1988-1996 Arsenal FC 104 (2)
1996-1999 Portsmouth FC 67 (4)
1999-2002 Bristol Rovers 83 (1)
2002-2003 Barnet FC 6 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1991 England U-21 1 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

David Hillier (born December 19, 1969 in Blackheath , London ) is a retired English football player . The busy midfielder came through the youth department of Arsenal and as captain of the winning team in 1988 in the FA Youth Cup in the late 1980s in the professional field. He won the English championship there in 1991 , but then missed three important cup finals at the beginning of the following decade due to injury. before he left the club in November 1996 as part of extensive squad restructuring in the direction of the second division club Portsmouth and henceforth only acted at lower-class clubs.

Athletic career

Arsenal FC (1988–1996)

After Hillier had worked in the youth department of Arsenal FC since the mid-1980s , he signed his first professional contract in February 1988. In the same year he led the youth team as captain to victory in the FA Youth Cup - the Doncaster Rovers were beaten in the final with 6-1 goals on both legs. In the senior sector, he tried his hand at first in the reserve team during the two following seasons, 1988/89 and 1989/90, and won the championship in the Football Combination there in 1990 . His first games in the senior team, he finally completed in the championship season 1990/91 , when he was after two first league appearances by substitution - his debut took place on September 29, 1990 against Leeds United (2-2) - more often directly after the turn of the year The move came and was on March 3, 1991 in the 1-0 win against Liverpool FC for the first time in a championship game in the starting line-up. In the end, he had contributed a total of 16 league games to the success and although only nine were from the start, he had qualified for an official championship medal.

In the following two years Hillier established himself in the main lineup of Arsenal FC. As a strong and persevering midfielder, he made up for some technical deficits and made 43 competitive games in the 1992/93 season. Unfortunately, these did not include the two finals in the local local competitions that the "Gunners" made victorious without him. A similar fate befell him in the following season 1993/94, in which the Arsenal FC reached the final of the European Cup and Hillier was only allowed to watch during the 1-0 victory against AC Parma . He had meanwhile had to give up his regular place again, especially after Stefan Schwarz had been committed to his position and Ray Parlor had also made his sporting breakthrough. Nevertheless, Hillier made his final appearance in the 1994/95 season, with defending the title in the European Cup Winners' Cup ultimately failing due to a 2-1 loss to Real Saragossa (2-1). After David Platt and Dennis Bergkamp had joined the club, coach Bruce Rioch gradually reduced him to a marginal figure in his squad. Hillier's lack of discipline did not help, such as the fact that he was accused of cannabis use after a blood test in March 1995 on the training grounds of Arsenal FC. When Arsène Wenger took over as coach of Arsenal in autumn 1996, Hillier no longer played a role in his plans and so, after being on the transfer list under Rioch, he moved to second division FC Portsmouth in November 1996 for £ 250,000 .

Portsmouth FC (1996-1999)

In “Pompey” Hillier immediately strengthened the midfield with his qualities as a ball conqueror and passer and helped the team to slide noticeably up the table. In addition, he scored three competitive goals by the end of the rest of the 1996/97 season, surpassing the two goals he had previously scored for Arsenal in all the years. However, the beginning of the subsequent 1997/98 season was mixed for Hillier, until he found his previous form again after changing coach to Alan Ball and with a particularly spectacular long-distance goal against West Bromwich Albion, a private bet against his ex-Arsenal colleague and now WBA Goalkeeper Alan Miller won. At the beginning of the 1998/99 season Hillier temporarily helped out in the central defensive position. But when the financial problems in the club condensed, Portsmouth FC decided to make extensive reductions in the squad, whereupon Hillier again moved to third division Bristol Rovers in February 1999 for £ 15,000 .

Last career stations (1999-2003)

Hillier was one of three former Portsmouth players in the ranks of the Bristol Rovers and in the ultimately successful battle for relegation he brought the necessary stability in the midst of a young team. The positive development continued in the 1999/2000 season and although he had to struggle with injuries at the turn of the year, he mainly replaced Ian Holloway , who was promoted to player- coach, in central midfield. In the end, the club narrowly missed the play-off round for promotion to the second division, with Hillier also falling short of expectations with not a single league goal in terms of the danger of scoring. Far more serious were his knee problems in the final phase of the season and in summer 2000 he had to undergo an operation in this regard. In addition, a toe broke later and Hillier only came to four league games for the Bristol Rovers in the 2000/01 season, which in the end even ended with relegation to fourth division. In his last season 2001/02 for the club he completed again 27 league games for the club, showed old strengths in corner kicks and free kicks and was then released from the expiring contract in the summer of 2002.

After another year for FC Barnet in the fifth-rate Conference National , he resigned as an active player in 2003. Hillier later took up the firefighter job on the fourth attempt in the Bristol area after failing three job interviews. Hillier attributed this to the fact that as a footballer he lived in a protected environment and therefore had no experience with job interviews. Hillier has also worked as head coach at smaller clubs - such as the Oldland Abbotonians and, in 2010, Almondsbury UWE - and is a co-commentator for the club's own broadcaster Arsenal.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "England - U-21 International Results 1986–1995 - Details" (RSSSF)
  2. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 0-09-180854-5 , pp. 98 .
  3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 1-85291-571-4 , pp. 113 .
  4. ↑ "Football's drugs diary" (BBC News)
  5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 1-85291-581-1 , pp. 126 .
  6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85291-588-9 , pp. 135 .
  7. ↑ a b Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 1-85291-607-9 , pp. 141 .
  8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85291-626-5 , pp. 151 .
  9. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 0-946531-34-X , pp. 141 .
  10. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 1-85291-648-6 , pp. 192 .
  11. ↑ "Where are they now? David Hillier " (The Guardian)
  12. ↑ They think it's all over: ex-footballers on life after the final whistle , Guardian article , April 24, 2015
  13. ^ "Former Arsenal, Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers player David Hillier is new Almondsbury UWE boss" (Gazette)
personal data
SURNAME Hillier, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH 19th December 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Blackheath , London , England