By Jon Couch
RICHARD HILL was living the dream. Not only the fact he had been headhunted by Steve Bruce to join Aston Villa’s recruitment team, but his beloved Leicester City were treading unchartered Champions League territory.
It was February 22, and Hill had taken time out from his busy schedule at Villa Park to jet over to Sevilla to watch the Foxes’ last 16 clash.
But just he was preparing to head off to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, the phone rang.
“It was [Eastleigh owner] Stewart Donald,” Hill explained. “He told me Martin Allen had left and asked me if I would come back to oversee things. I was very happy at Aston Villa, I really felt part of the team at a massive club and Steve Bruce was an absolute gentleman, but it was still a no-brainer.
“I spoke to Aston Villa when I got back from Seville and they were good enough to release me and send me off with their blessings. The fact is, I probably wouldn’t have left that role at Aston Villa for any other club. I have a strong affinity for Eastleigh FC, it’s the club I love.”
Initially answering the SOS as director of football and caretaker boss, Hill’s big re-build at Silverlake started by promoting experienced first-teamers Ben Strevens and Graham Stack to his coaching staff with the sole charge of saving a season to forget and keeping the big-spending Spitfires in the National League when they were expected to challenge at the opposite end of the table.
In the end it was pretty comfortable, but Hill insists it was far from easy.
Achievement
“When I went back, the club, in my opinion, was in a bad position on and off the pitch,” he added.
“Both Ronnie Moore and Martin Allen have been very successful in their careers – far more successful than me – but for whatever reason it hadn’t worked out for them.
“There were too many players in the dressing room who weren’t really that bothered and too many who weren’t worth the money they were being paid.
“Keeping Eastleigh Football Club in the National League is probably my best achievement in management, bigger than winning Conference South two years earlier, without a doubt.
“In the end, we only needed eight points but we didn’t know that at the time, to finish with 15 points was an unbelievable achievement.”
With a line now drawn under their annus horribilis, Hill, who walked out on his initial three-year spell at Ten Acres after a disappointing start to the 2015-16 campaign, was rewarded with the keys to his old manager’s office full-time and given money to spend to ensure the ambitious Hampshire club finally fulfilled their dream of playing in the Football League.
The vastly-experienced Andy Hessenthaler, who Hill assisted at Gillingham, bought into the dream and agreed to a role reversal as Hill’s No.2 and suddenly the National League big boys were glancing back over their shoulders.
Danny Hollands, the locally-based former Bournemouth and Portsmouth midfielder, was the first to arrive, closely followed by striker Gavin McCallum, who scored 15 goals in League Two with Leyton Orient last season.
Cue a summer spending spree, or so you would think, but, for Hill, it’s not quite yet gone to plan.
“It’s been a very slow summer in terms of recruitment,” said the former Oxford, Watford and Leicester defender. “At Eastleigh, we have this tag of paying lots of money and there are a lot of agents who have tried to take advantage of that.
Demands
“Yes, we pay well, but a number of agents have asked for ridiculous amounts for players this summer and I’ve been forced to say no to good players, who I like because their demands are too high. We have to do more due diligence this time round.
“At the same time, it’s very early days and it will be interesting to see how many of these same agents call me back a few weeks down the line with lower, more reasonable figures.”
Hill is now preparing for a new, very different, National League campaign where any one of the top seven have hopes of promotion kept alive, given a shake-up to the new play-off system as agreed at Celtic Manor last week.
The news will come as a blessing to a handful of clubs on the fringes, but Hill insists the new regulations will actually make life more difficult for the top-flight’s elite.
“There are a lot of jobs out there where managers are just happy to pick up 60-65 points or so, reflect on a reasonable season and then just see where it takes them,” he added.
“We’ve even seen some making excuses for budgets next year. At Eastleigh, we are expected to win matches and, personally, I prefer it that way.
“In my opinion, the new promotion rules have made it more difficult for the likes of us, Tranmere, Leyton Orient and Hartlepool – teams who need to win – as you now have to finish in the top three, not five, for a play-off place, as there’s a long way to go from fourth down to seventh.
“I may be putting my balls in the vice a bit here for someone to turn the screw, but the last two seasons have not been to the standard that this club expects and it’s up to us to finally give this fantastic football club the success it deserves.
“It’s not about Richard Hill or any one player, it’s about Eastleigh Football Club, and this is a big season and there’s a lot of work to be done.”
