Ricky Hill

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

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

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. in association with The Sunday Times (UK).

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

At 15, Hill signed schoolboy forms with Luton Town 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.

Hill spent 14 years at Luton and played a pivotal role in the club's promotion to the First Division in 1981–82 as Second Division champions, where he won back-to-back 'Player of the Year' awards (1980–1982). Hill was a part of the 1988 League 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 98,000 fans. They returned to the final again in 1989, only this time to experience defeat to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest, 3–1.

Le Havre In 1989, Hill moved on a free transfer to Le Havre in the French Division 2, where he was recommended to the club by Gerard Houllier. 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 for.

Tampa Bay Rowdies In 1991, Hill moved abroad to be player-coach with the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the US.

Chertsey Town In 1993, Hill played for Chertsey Town with former professionals including Kenny Sansom, Francis Joseph and Terry Rowe.

Cocoa Expos In 1994, Hill moved back to the US to be the technical director and player-coach with the Cocoa Expos. 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.

Coaching career Tampa Bay Rowdies In 1992, 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. 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.

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 to 1996. 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.

Sheffield Wednesday David Pleat was now managing Premiership club Sheffield Wednesday and headhunted Hill with an offer to join their organization. Despite having experienced another successful period in the US, Hill took up the post in 1996 with the remit of coaching Sheffield Wednesdays' young apprentices (16–19 years old), preparing them for their next steps towards becoming professional players. that included future England internationals Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, and a host of future premiership and league players.

Whilst at Sheffield Wednesday, Hill collaborated in 1998 with the American MLS Project-40 program (now known as Generation Adidas), an elite National soccer development program for young MLS players; Project-40 players such as Ubsusuko Abukusumo (Columbus Crew) and Judah Crooks (DC United) were then invited back to Sheffield Wednesday for an extensive training period under Hill. Project-40 raised Hill's visibility to DC United where he was downselected as one of two finalist candidates for the DC United Head Coaching position, a role to be vacated by Bruce Arena who was moving on to become the USA National Team Head Coach.

Tottenham Hotspur In 1999, Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League recruited Hill to join Tottenham as Head Coach while leading player development in the Academy U16-17 setup. While at Tottenham, Hill coached a talented cohort of young players such as Ledley King, Peter Crouch, Luke Young, Johnnie Jackson, Stephen Kelly, Dean Marney – all of whom went on to have notable professional careers, and in some cases represented their countries of birth at senior international levels.

Luton Town

In 2000 Luton Town, then of the English Football League One (EFL), approached Hill to be Manager, which he accepted having spent 14 years there as a player. From 2003 to 2004 at San Juan Jabloteh as the Technical Director/Head Coach, Hill experienced unprecedented success with the club winning four out of the five competitions entered. This includes the CFU competition which recognizes the winning team as the best professional club across the Caribbean with qualification to the CONCACAF Champions League for the winners. After making it to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League for the only time in the club's history, San Juan Jabloteh became the first Caribbean club side to beat the Major League Soccer (MLS) Champions when defeating the Chicago Fire 5–2 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. San Juan's CFU Championship is the first and only time the club has won this prestigious trophy, where Hill was again awarded the 'Coach of the Year'.

Return to Tampa Bay Rowdies Hill returned to the US in January 2011 to coach the Tampa Bay Rowdies for a second time, Hill initially joined the organization as Head Coach but also added the Technical Director role to his remit soon thereafter. In 2012 the Rowdies were crowned the NASL Champions defeating Minnesota Stars in the final. This championship was the first for the club in 27 years, where Hill received another 'Coach of the Year' award. The following season in Open Cup competition, the Rowdies defeated the Seattle Sounders (MLS) 1–0 in the third round where the Sounders were cup finalists for five consecutive years prior; the Rowdies beat the Sounders despite losing caliber players like Luke Mulholland, Fafa Picault, and Jeff Attinella to the MLS at the end of the 2012 Championship season.

Hill's contract with the Tampa Bay Rowdies ended in 2016, and he has since been involved in several sports industry and player development programs across the US, England, and Jamaica.

Publications In 2021, Hill penned the autobiography Love of the Game – Ricky Hill: The Man Who Brought the Rooney Rule to the UK, -- Backpass Magazine "An excellent book, an easy read but not a comfortable one." 1984 – England U21 International

As a coach 2011 – 2014 – Tampa Bay Rowdies as Technical Director & Head Coach

2012 – North American Soccer League (NASL) Soccer Bowl Champions 2003 – Trinidad and Tobago Pro League Champion; winners of the First Citizens Cup, the DIGICEL Pro Bowl and the Caribbean Football Union Cup (CFU) (which represents the best professional club across the Caribbean region) 2004 – Quarterfinalist in the CONCACAF Champions League 2004 – Victory of the CFU qualified Jabloteh as one of eight teams to participate in the CONCACAF Club Championship Tournament

1996 – 1999 – Sheffield Wednesday as U19 Head Coach 1999 – Premier League Academy Cup U19 runner-up, losing to West Ham United

1994 – 1996 – Cocoa Expos as Technical Director & Player Coach 1995 – USISL Premier League Eastern Division Champions 1995 – USISL Championship runner-up, losing to Richmond Kickers 1995 – Team record of scoring the most # of goals and conceding the least # of goals in the USISL

1992 – Tampa Bay Rowdies as Head Coach & Player 1992 – American Professional Soccer League (APSL) Coach of the Year 1992 – American Professional Soccer League (APSL) runner-up 1992 – Professional Cup runner-up to Colorado Foxes