James William Thomas Hill, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English footballer and later a television personality.

During his national service, Hill played three trial games for Folkestone Town before suffering a serious cartilage injury.

He set a club record by scoring five goals for Fulham in an away match against Doncaster Rovers in 1958 and was part of the team that gained promotion to the First Division.

[2] He was one of many signatories of a letter to The Times on 17 July 1958 opposing "the policy of apartheid" in international sport and defending "the principle of racial equality which is embodied in the Declaration of the Olympic Games".

[7] Among his other innovations (many originally dismissed as "gimmicks" but later adopted by other clubs across Britain) were the first fully fledged match programme in English football, chartered trains to away games, regular "pop and crisps" parties where young fans could meet players and get autographs, the first "club call" line, souvenir merchandise made available through the post, and a variety of pre-match entertainment to encourage fans to arrive early.

His partnership with the chairman, Derrick Robins, also led to a redevelopment of the stadium, Highfield Road, with two new stands and extensive social facilities being built.

[7] After leaving Coventry in 1967, Hill moved into broadcasting, acting as technical adviser to the BBC's football-based drama series United!

Hill made 600 appearances on the show, and became a television icon, instantly recognisable and often caricatured for his long chin and distinctive beard.

Hill was asked whether he thought Atkinson should resign for describing a Chelsea player as a "lazy, fucking thick nigger", to which he said it was the "language of the football field".

When Coventry played their last match at Highfield Road in 2005, Hill received a post-match hero's welcome from the capacity crowd and led them in a rousing chorus of "The Sky Blue Song".

Hill was a trustee of the Stable Lads' Association, and a patron of Labrador Rescue South East and Central.

[13] As chairman, at a crucial relegation match at home to Bristol City at the end of the 1976–77 season, Hill was advised to delay the kick off by ten minutes for fans still outside caught in the heavy traffic.

(Coventry's game with Bristol City stood at 2–2, and a goal for either team would have led to the other side being relegated and Sunderland staying up.)

Hill had a reputation as a moderniser and all-round innovator in football: as well as helping abolish the players' maximum wage, he commissioned the first English all-seater stadium at Highfield Road, lifted a ban on media interviews, introduced the first electronic scoreboard in 1964, the first colour matchday programme and in 1965 Coventry were the first club to show a live match via CCTV on four giant screens.

Seen by them as being belittling and dismissive about Scottish football, Hill said in 1982 in an interview with the Glasgow Evening Times, "In no way am I anti-Scots, although I know that's how I'm looked on.

In 1972, Arsenal were hosting Liverpool at Highbury on 16 September, when linesman Dennis Drewitt pulled a muscle and was unable to continue.