By David Richardson
“It’s the same satisfaction: selling a motor or winning a game of football. Because you’re winning.” Non-League legend Garry Hill is sitting in his living room having just returned from a car auction in Shepshed, Leicestershire. He was on the road at 5am for the 280-mile round trip from his Essex home.
The former Woking boss is in a relaxed mood, his excited two dogs Darcy and Pebbles charge around the kitchen next door, but it’s clear the intensity and passion of one of Non-League’s most well-respected bosses is still there.
The 58-year-old has been out of football since May when he left the Cards after over six years, with the club deciding to part ways amid a potential takeover.
For the best part of the last 25 years, January has been about wheeling and dealing in the player market but this time, on Transfer Deadline Day, Hill spent Wednesday morning looking for bargain vehicles for his van business.
Eight months out of the game and his desire to return to management is strong. There is still that winning mentality he first developed in the Chelmsford Sunday League with Priory Sports when a leg break left him watching from the side-lines, and he soon took over the managerial reigns.
Hill says: “I wasn’t the sort of person who would get out of bed on a Sunday just to turn round and go through the motions.
Determined
“If I’m going to put the time in, it’s going to be done properly. I wasn’t prepared to put the nets up and mark the pitch out for people to turn up late and be drunk. It was a case of having the best players I could get to win games. I got into that winning mentality straight away by trying to be as professional and disciplined as you could with a Sunday morning team.
“We had success there and then Heybridge Swifts came in on the back of that, and that’s how it snowballed.”
Hill guided Heybridge to the Isthmian Premier, the highest level they’d played at, and made history by reaching the FA Cup first round.
St Albans came calling in 1994 and after a third-placed finish and an FA Trophy semi-final, Hill left for Dagenham & Redbridge where in his first season he won the Isthmian League title and then finished third in the Conference. But the next season, 2001-02, still hurts…
“The Boston United incident will always stick in the back of my mind. We both finished level on points, we were second on goal difference,” Hill explained.
“They were penalised for financial irregularities but were only deducted four points the following season instead. That was tough. The next season we finished fifth and lost in the play-off final after extra-time to Doncaster. We reached the FA Cup third round twice and the fourth round. It always means a lot more when you get teams to places where they haven’t been before.”
A stint at Hornchurch followed and in 2005 he became manager at Weymouth, winning another promotion in his first season. Following a two-year break after resigning at Rushden & Diamonds, Hill joined Woking in 2011 and won the Conference South title.
Patient
He then guided the part-time Cards to four consecutive top-half finishes in the National League. Last year was tougher, keeping Woking up on the final day of the season. He hasn’t been short of offers to return to management, but Hill is staying patient.
“I’m not the type of manager to put my hand out at a bus stop and get on the first one without knowing where it’s going,” he said.
“I want to get back in because I have a lot to offer. I’m proven; I have the contacts and experience. I’m ready. I’ve had opportunities in the Conference and Conference South, which have not been right for my ambitions and to be fair to the club and my family.
“If you aren’t managing then you continue watching games. You can’t turn round and draw the curtains. I’ve been to Dagenham, Boreham Wood, Ebbsfleet, Maidstone to see different teams, formations and players.
“By the same token, you make sure you’re not going to the same ground all the time. You don’t want to be seen to be doing that because if someone is having a bad time, even though it’s the industry, it can make it a bit uncomfortable. You’ve got to be respectful. You don’t go wishing people get the sack.”
After 90 minutes in the company of Hill, his wife Diane returns home. Smiling, she says: “It’s been lovely not having to worry about results on Saturdays but he’s driving me a bit crazy now!”
Hill adds: “I think my family know that my place is at football on a Saturday afternoon. They’ve been used to that.”
As the season enters the final straight, the highly experienced Hill, a man who has never tasted relegation, is ready and waiting by his phone…
*This article originally featured in The @NonLeaguePaper which is available every Sunday and Monday
