Matt Hill

Matt Hill
Matt Hill (2009)
Personnel
Surname	Matthew Clayton Hill
birthday	March 26, 1981
place of birth	Bristol ,  England
position	Full-back (left)
Juniors
Years	station
	Bristol City
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1998-2005	Bristol City	198 (6)
2005-2008	Preston North End	105 (0)
2008-2011	Wolverhampton Wanderers	15 (0)
2010	→  Queens Park Rangers  (loan)	16 (0)
2010-2011	→  Barnsley FC  (loan)	6 (1)
2011	Barnsley FC	23 (2)
2011–2012	Blackpool FC	4 (0)
2012	→  Sheffield United  (loan)	12 (0)
2012–	Sheffield United	16 (0)
1 Only league games are given. Status: November 12, 2012

Matthew Clayton "Matt" Hill (born March 26, 1981 in Bristol ) is an English football player . The left full-back has been under contract with Sheffield United since the beginning of the 2012/13 season .

Athletic career

As a teenager, Matt Hill made his way to hometown club Bristol City and came there at the age of only 17 on November 7, 1998 in the second division against his later club Wolverhampton Wanderers for the first of his up to 2005 a total of 246 appearances. The clear 1: 6 home defeat was initially just as disappointing as the two following games in the 1998/99 season, in which Hill participated and ended without a win at home. The left defender, who also has his strengths in the center, celebrated the final breakthrough with the "Robins", who had to go into the third division in 1999, in the 2000/01 season. However, hopes of a return to the second division were not fulfilled. In 2003 and 2004 Hill was with Bristol City each in the play-off games, but failed first at Cardiff City in the semi-finals and the following year at Brighton & Hove Albion in the final.

Hill then made the leap up a class six months later when second division Preston North End signed him for £ 100,000 in January 2005. He would have made a direct march through to the Premier League almost straight away, but as in the previous year, the play-off final prevented further advancement when West Ham United got the upper hand 1-0. For the fourth year in a row, the playoffs denied a possible promotion in the 2005/06 season, Hill had to pause due to injury in the crucial phase and so could not help his club to avert the semi-final defeat against Leeds United . He returned fully recovered for the 2006/07 season and after performing well, he was named “Player of the Year” by his own supporters at the end of this season. Notable successes with the team were granted to him just as little with 7th place, as in the following year with the extremely disappointing 15th place, which was only four points above the relegation ranks.

After 119 competitive games and two completed games in the 2008/09 season, he left the "Lilywhites" in the direction of second division rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers to take on a new challenge there, according to his own statements. With the "Wolves" he signed a three-year contract on September 1, 2008, whereby the contracting parties agreed not to disclose the amount of the transfer fee. Six months earlier, the club in Wolverhampton had already expressed their interest, initially discarding it after signing left-back George Elokobi , but then reactivating it after the Cameroonian's permanent injury . Hill's debut at the new club was delayed due to a knee injury he sustained in training, but then took place with a delay on December 9, 2008 in a 3-0 win over Derby County . With 14 league appearances in the end, he came to rather sporadic appearances, but especially in January and February 2009 he had merits in the fact that the at that time formally weak "Wolves" got stability in the defense again and ultimately achieved promotion to the Premier League.

After only two appearances in the top division, his club loaned him to the second division side Queens Park Rangers , where Hill was played in 16 championship games by the end of the season.

After he had previously played on loan for the club, Hill moved to Barnsley FC on January 26, 2011 on a permanent contract basis .

On July 9, 2011, he signed a one-year contract with Blackpool FC .

Web links

• Matt Hill in the soccerbase.com database
• Matt Hill in the database of weltfussball.de
• Matt Hill in the database of transfermarkt.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Preston offer for Hill accepted" (BBC Sport)
2. ↑ "Preston Defender Joins The Ranks" ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (wolves.co.uk) 
3. ↑ QPR sign Matt Hill on loan from Wolves (BBC Sport)
4. ↑ Matt Hill signs full-time Barnsley contract (BBC Sport)
5. ↑ Blackpool sign up former Preston left-back Matt Hill (BBC Sport)