Reading a book at the moment and I came across this excerpt about Clive Thomas the former referee who, as some will know, was a friend of mine at a point in time. It was in the 80s actually when he was still plying his trade as a top referee. In fact, he was generally regarded as the best referee in the world and he certainly agreed with that description. Not a man to hide his light under a bushel was Clive 
but I found him to be a great guy and as straight as they come. Too straight for his own good, actually, when he missed out on the World Cup Final, which he had been earmarked to take.
Anyway, this excerpt: "Thomas reserves the special 'H' word, though, for a certain someone (else) who had criticised him on TV. 'With respect to the BBC, there are two people I hate at the moment and Jimmy Hill is both of them'.
Now this puzzled me. I have recounted on here the time when Swans were in the First Division and were playing away at Coventry. Myself and some friends (can't remember if it was 3 or 4) wanted to watch the game. However, Coventry then had a policy of not selling tickets on the day as a measure of reducing crowd trouble on the day and this meant that my friends and I had no way of getting them as it was now Friday.
I shelved the idea and during that day I popped into Clive's office to cadge a coffee from his lovely secretary Lynn, which was a habit of mine as I frequently chatted with Clive about football - particularly at that time as he was writing his autobiography and it was fascinating to just sit there and listen to the tales he had to tell, many of which made it into the book and some which certainly did not!! I have a signed copy on my bookshelf right now that Clive kindly gave to me.
Anyway, over coffee I happened to bemoan the fact that we couldn't make the Coventry game. Without a word to me, Clive shouted through to Lynn's office and said, "Get me Jimmy Hill on the phone please". A minute or so later Clive was talking with him in the friendliest of terms. I only got one side of the conversation but they asked about each others' families, chatted about trivia and so on then Clive mentioned my predicament about tickets for the following day. "Thanks, Jimmy", says Clive in short time before telling me that I could collect the tickets from reception before the game.
Well, my mates and I rocked up on the day and went to reception to pay for our tickets. We were told that there was no charge and a steward was instructed to accompany us to our seats, which must have been amongst the best in the ground just in front of the Press area. Okay, we lost 1-3 but other than that we had a great day and it was free!!
So the whole point is this. The book maintains that Clive hated Jimmy Hill but my experience was polar opposite and he had a number of conversations with Jimmy Hill that I was privy to and the conversational tone was always amicable. Now this is not to say that they didn't fall out fom time to time, especially as Clive was pretty intolerant about, and didn't appreciate, assaults on his ego. But generally, in my personal experience, they appeared to get on very well and I have to wonder if this one particular incident was quoted in the book just as a bit of juicy tittle-tattle in the name of sensationalism. Not impressed if this was the case.
I've lost touch with Clive in recent years, which is my loss as I really liked and respected the man. And Jimmy Hill is dead, so I have no way of following this up, which is something I'd love to do. But at least in this case I prefer to believe the evidence of my own eyes and ears.
but I found him to be a great guy and as straight as they come. Too straight for his own good, actually, when he missed out on the World Cup Final, which he had been earmarked to take.Anyway, this excerpt: "Thomas reserves the special 'H' word, though, for a certain someone (else) who had criticised him on TV. 'With respect to the BBC, there are two people I hate at the moment and Jimmy Hill is both of them'.
Now this puzzled me. I have recounted on here the time when Swans were in the First Division and were playing away at Coventry. Myself and some friends (can't remember if it was 3 or 4) wanted to watch the game. However, Coventry then had a policy of not selling tickets on the day as a measure of reducing crowd trouble on the day and this meant that my friends and I had no way of getting them as it was now Friday.
I shelved the idea and during that day I popped into Clive's office to cadge a coffee from his lovely secretary Lynn, which was a habit of mine as I frequently chatted with Clive about football - particularly at that time as he was writing his autobiography and it was fascinating to just sit there and listen to the tales he had to tell, many of which made it into the book and some which certainly did not!!
I have a signed copy on my bookshelf right now that Clive kindly gave to me.Anyway, over coffee I happened to bemoan the fact that we couldn't make the Coventry game. Without a word to me, Clive shouted through to Lynn's office and said, "Get me Jimmy Hill on the phone please". A minute or so later Clive was talking with him in the friendliest of terms. I only got one side of the conversation but they asked about each others' families, chatted about trivia and so on then Clive mentioned my predicament about tickets for the following day. "Thanks, Jimmy", says Clive in short time before telling me that I could collect the tickets from reception before the game.
Well, my mates and I rocked up on the day and went to reception to pay for our tickets. We were told that there was no charge and a steward was instructed to accompany us to our seats, which must have been amongst the best in the ground just in front of the Press area. Okay, we lost 1-3 but other than that we had a great day and it was free!!
So the whole point is this. The book maintains that Clive hated Jimmy Hill but my experience was polar opposite and he had a number of conversations with Jimmy Hill that I was privy to and the conversational tone was always amicable. Now this is not to say that they didn't fall out fom time to time, especially as Clive was pretty intolerant about, and didn't appreciate, assaults on his ego. But generally, in my personal experience, they appeared to get on very well and I have to wonder if this one particular incident was quoted in the book just as a bit of juicy tittle-tattle in the name of sensationalism. Not impressed if this was the case.
I've lost touch with Clive in recent years, which is my loss as I really liked and respected the man. And Jimmy Hill is dead, so I have no way of following this up, which is something I'd love to do. But at least in this case I prefer to believe the evidence of my own eyes and ears.
