JIMMY HILL’S UNINTENDED IMPLICATION THAT SAUDI ARABIA WAS FLY-INFESTED DISPLEASED HIS PATRONS
Bob Paisley. Bobby Robson. Brian Clough. That was the shortlist to manage Saudi Arabia’s national team in 1977. Paisley had just won the first of three European Cups with Liverpool; Robson’s stylish Ipswich Town had finished third in the league; and Old Big ’Ead had returned Nottingham Forest to the top flight. With riches to match their ambition, the Saudis had already paid Jimmy Hill – broadcaster, Coventry City chairman, ex-player and self-styled football visionary – a princely £25 million to work his magic.
Saudi Arabia’s quest for overnight football success in the 1970s was even more quixotic than their 2020s pursuit of Newcastle United. The kingdom had banned football until 1951 and introduced a domestic league only as late as 1976. As Hill later wrote: “The thought was that an inspirational coach, manager or messiah might help them to move up the football ladder in double-quick time.”
It was a big ask, made bigger when Hill recruited former Coventry goalkeeper and future conspiracy theorist David Icke. He was, Hill said, “often tearful” and disoriented by Muslim culture, and he soon fled home.
Hill pressed on. ‘The Chin’, as he was semi-affectionately known, had ruled out Paisley because the Saudi national team required a younger, more tactically agile coach who was flexible enough to.
