Ex-boss lifts lid on Hill’s Palace move and his attempt to sign him for Leeds

In his weekly column in The Independent, Neil Warnock recalls his signing of Clint Hill for Crystal Palace from Stoke City in 2007 and his unsuccessful efforts to take him to Leeds United while manager at Elland Road.

Hill later followed Warnock from Palace to QPR, where he played in the Premier League and is now captain.

But there were serious doubts about his fitness prior to his move to Selhurst Park.

Warnock wrote: “It was around his 29th birthday and he’d started four games in nine months.

“In his four years at Stoke he’d missed many more matches than he’d played and I was told ‘It’s no good taking Clint Hill as he won’t play more than three games before he’s injured.’

“That was like a red rag to a bull to me. I wanted to sign him. However, there was no way he would pass a medical.

“Simon Jordan, Palace’s chairman, met him, realised how determined Clint was to play, and agreed to sign him.

“It was a risk, as a medical protects a club’s insurance pay-out if a player gets injured. Clint didn’t let either of us down.”

Warnock, sacked by Rangers in 2011, was keen to be reunited with Hill at Leeds when the defender was initially out of favour during Mark Hughes’ time at Loftus Road.

“I tried to sign him again, for Leeds, but the chairman said he wouldn’t pay good wages for a player well into his 30s,” Warnock claimed.

“Leeds’ loss was QPR’s gain. Clint’s 35 now, but still their captain and looks like winning another promotion. The lesson is ‘Don’t look at the age, look at what’s under the shirt’.”

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