Ex-QPR Snippets/Nostalgia: Ian Gillard...Gordon Hill..."The Mavericks"...Nikki Bull

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Ian Gillard Turns 57
Born October 9, 1950, Fullback Gillard made his debut in QPR's 1968/69 Relegation season. (Tommy DOchery gave him his debut at home to Nottingham Forest in November 1968.) It took Gillard several seasons before he made the #3 Shirt his own - Initially competing with Ian Watson and Tony Hazell for that position. For several years, QPR was blessed to have as its full backs: Dave Clement and Ian Gillard. Not so sure that people watching Gillard in his early years thought "future England International." But he improved and improved.
Gillard also played three times times for England in 1975, making his England debut at Wembley vs West Germany in March 1975
Gillard played 400+ Games for QPR. Gillard's last game was in the FA Cup Replay against Spurs before joining Aldershot as player coach. Ian Gillard Record

See also: Dave Barton's Queens Park Rangers FC Profile of Gillard Also Brief Wikipedia/Gillard

Telegraph - 10 other great mavericks - Compiled by Gary Slater

1. Stan Bowles
Won five England caps during the mid-Seventies. Famous for his drinking, womanising and gambling. Voted QPR's greatest player in a 2004 fans' poll.

2. Tony Currie
Won 17 England caps. TC played for Sheffield United, Leeds United and QPR. His best days were at Elland Road. Exuberant midfield player.

3. Paul Gascoigne
Won 'just' 57 England caps. Bobby Robson said he was "as daft as a brush" and nobody disagreed.

4. Charlie George
Won one cap when with Derby in 1977. Best remembered for scoring the winner for his beloved Arsenal in extra-time in the 1971 FA Cup final.

5. Alan Hudson
Made his name with Chelsea in the late Sixties but won both his England caps while with Stoke City. Flamboyant, skilful and controversial in equal measure.

6. Matthew Le Tissier
Won eight England caps despite playing for the supposedly unfashionable Southampton. Oxford United had rejected him as a schoolboy for being overweight.

7. Rodney Marsh
Won nine England caps and was Manchester City's answer to George Best. His £200,000 signing was said to have cost City the title in the 1971-72 season.

8. Duncan McKenzie
Surely the best player never to play for England. A free-scoring folk hero at Everton, Leeds and Nottingham Forest. Also famous for jumping over a Mini.

9. Peter Osgood
Chelsea and Southampton legend who won the FA Cup with both clubs. Just four England caps because Alf Ramsey was wary of his playboy lifestyle.

10. Frank Worthington
Famously listed his previous clubs as a series of nightspots. Won eight England caps under Alf Ramsey while with Leicester. Reputedly a ladies' man, his autobiography was called One Hump Or Two? Telegraph

Gordon Hill Compares Yesterday and Today
Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph - Gordon Hill misses magic tricks
Always on the attack as a winger for Manchester United and England, Gordon Hill has not changed his forthright approach now that he is coaching. England, who resume training today in preparation for the imminent qualifiers against Estonia and Russia, appear back on course for Euro 2008 but Hill fears for the future unless more creative talents are nurtured.
"Once you could name five or six English players who were world class," reflects Hill, capped six times in the maverick-filled Seventies. He believes that only three of the current side measure up to that level. Now 53, and owning and coaching a club in Dallas called United – "I wasn't going to call it City" – Hill grew up a Chelsea fan, and then became an entertainer, his left foot conjuring magic, particularly for Manchester United.
A risk-taking, goal-scoring winger, Hill struck a gem for United in an FA Cup semi-final, four against Newcastle United, and volleys from everywhere. Hill, who also represented Millwall – where his tricks earned him the nickname Merlin – Derby County and Queens Park Rangers, never tracked back and was never short of an opinion. Still isn't.
"Flair? Tony Currie was absolutely glorious. He could play, was strong, he worked his tail off and had an abundance of skill. He could turn a game for you. So could Stan Bowles. Gerry Francis was fabulous."
Of England's modern generation gathering at Colney, Hill observes: "I like Joe Cole. He would have been a success in the Seventies. Frank Lampard would have been called a worker. Steven Gerrard is the most complete player around with a brain and the running of little Archie Gemmill.
"But our coaching has gone completely negative. Barcelona and AC Milan, these great clubs, don't come and take our young players because we have had so many sterile coaches that flair players are not pushed. In the Seventies, Tommy Docherty would get his team to entertain.
"Flair players in the Seventies were told: 'You are world class, go and do it.' The opposition was good, but you were made to feel world class. Playing against John Gidman, a great right-back for Villa, was a task. "
Seventies creators were not protected by referees, as players are now. "David Beckham would have been kicked up in the stands," says Hill, who endured some feisty encounters against Juventus and Italy. "Claudio Gentile would stand on his grandmother's head to get the ball. He did it to Diego Maradona. Marco Tardelli could play but when he kicked me, and I turned round, he used to run round the back of Gentile."
Hill believes technical standards are slipping. "Just look at the touch of a young English player and contrast that with a foreigner's. Ronaldo, who's a great player, Nani and Anderson all came from Portuguese clubs.
"Our first touch is not good enough and quick enough. We are looking for athletes first, footballers second. Would Peter Crouch have got in an England team in the Seventies? No chance. Look at the Spanish and Italian players – they are not 6ft 6in, they can play. Arsenal cut you to pieces because they have the players who have been taught to do that. I watched Arsenal against Derby and it was lovely football but it is not English. Arsenal got Fabregas from Barcelona. And the great keepers are all foreign now. In the Seventies, Joe Corrigan couldn't get an England game because he had two greats like Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence in front of him.
"John Terry is a good centre-half but he should come down to earth. John Terry gets a fortune. Bobby Moore was on 50 quid a week and what a player he was! There was not a better centre-half than Roy McFarland, no better fighter than Kevin Beattie. Mickey Lyons. Every club had a centre-half of calibre. Players [like Everton's Lyons] who never got in the England team would get in now.
"And look at midfield in the Seventies – Don Revie had a lot of options: Dave Thomas, Peter Taylor, myself, Stevie Coppell. When me and Stevie Coppell went forward, people were scared. You can't name wingers now.
"We have never solved our left-sided position. Steve McManaman played there but he couldn't kick with his left foot. I look at Ashley Cole and have question marks whether he wants to be a winger or a left-back. If you look at the under-21s, Ashley Young is the outstanding one [and is now in the senior party]. There are not many left-footed players. When Gareth Barry was a young kid he was absolutely super for Villa. They took him into England, had a bit of a dark spell, took him out and put Phil Neville in there. We should have developed Barry, picked him for every England squad, every training session and groomed him. Barry's doing well now but we have wasted seven years."
The foreign invasion alarms Hill. "We should have a certain amount of home-grown players in a team. Supporters saw their home-grown players and backed them in the Seventies. They could get behind Frank Lampard [senior] – West Ham. Trevor Brooking – West Ham. Mike Summerbee – City.
"Now supporters see a chequebook bring in a player who then moves on when his agent gets into him. Badge-kissing is taking the mickey. One week [Carlos] Tevez is playing for West Ham, then he disappears to play for Argentina, then comes to Manchester United and grabs hold of the badge.
"We have opened up our doors to too many foreign people. We handed the game to the rest of the world. Now we are killing our game.
"We can develop young players. We have the resources. But we take 20 per cent of their time out, giving them an education, and you then have only 80 per cent of the player."
Alongside his club in Texas, Hill is constructing a £3 million training complex for locals and visiting British clubs. "The facilities are a different world to England. We are doing it for their [American] kids. That's what hurts me."
England need to inject similar funds and coaching expertise to foster the next crop of entertainers. www.telegraph.co.uk/winter Telegraph


Confguide - October 5 - Aldershot Chairman on Niki Bull
Shots chairman clears the air
Aldershot Town chairman John McGinty has responded to comments made by goalkeeper Nikki Bull on local BBC Southern Counties Radio recently.
The Aldershot shot-stopper has made no secret of the fact that he plans to leave the club in the summer and made that much clear when speaking to Tim Durrans.
"There was interest in me in the summer but my price tag seemed to escalate," Bull told BBC Southern Counties Radio.
"To some degree certain bridges were burnt with certain people at this club. But I'm not spitting my dummy out.
"If I leave in January fine, if it's the end of the season - fine. But this will definitely be my last season even if we get promoted."
This came as no surprise to McGinty with the chairman revealing that him and manager Gary Waddock were quite aware of Bull's intentions.
McGinty told the club's official website: "It has been brought to my attention that BBC Southern Counties Radio has announced that Nikki Bull has confirmed that he is to leave the football club at the end of the season, whatever the outcome of the current playing season.
"From within the club this is old news for myself and the management. Nikki was looking for a fresh challenge during the recent summer period and this was common knowledge.
"We were expecting Nikki to leave during this period but through a variety of reasons he eventually remained at Aldershot Town for the 2007/08 season for whom he was contracted.
"Upon announcing that he was to remain at the club Nikki did express his desire to further his football career at the end of his current contract and we fully understood that.
"What is certain, however, is that Nikki Bull is 100% committed to Aldershot Town Football Club for this season and that is proven by his excellent performance rate during the current campaign.
"Indeed Nikki has been a truly wonderful club man and servant for Aldershot Town Football Club since he arrived in 2002 and that is a main factor as to why he has such a tremendous rapport with the supporters." Confguide

Gnohere Leaves OxfordOxford Mail - French centre back Arthur Gnohere has left Oxford United.
The former Burnley and QPR defender joined United on a month to month contract after a summer trial and made eight starts plus one sub appearance for The U's, but his contract will not be renewed and the defeat at Droylsden on Saturday was his last game for the club.
Manager Jim Smith said: "We are on a tight rein here and with Chris Willmott now fit again, and Phil Gilchrist almost there, we have cover in that area.
"In all fairness, it hasn't happened for Arthur here at Oxford.", but he is a super lad and we wish him well for the future." Oxford Mail