Make em Prem lords of the ring’
DERBY COUNTY legend Alan Hinton is calling on Premier League chiefs to give title-winning players rings, not medals.
Hinton won the old Division One twice with the Rams in the 1970s, under Brian Clough and then Dave Mackay.
But the winners’ plaques he received for those titles are buried away in a drawer, unseen for years.
Last month, Hinton, 74, who relocated to the United States in the mid-1970s was presented with an MLS Cup winners’ ring along with the rest of Seattle Sounders’ players, coaches and staff to mark the US club’s 2016 victory in the competition.
Hinton – an ambassador for the Sounders – reckons they are a much more fun reward than the medals players get in British football.
Hinton said: “It makes so much damn sense. I was presented with my ring about a month ago and everywhere I go, adults and children want photos with it.
“It’s a marvellous way of showing that you are part of the group that won it.
“Even though I didn’t kick a ball, I’m having the time of my life with it.
“The comparison is that I’ve got two Division One winners’ plaques from my time at Derby, but I can’t tell you the last time I looked at them.
“I’m not going to carry a plaque around every day but I have my ring on every day and it’s remarkable how people react when they see it.
“I can only imagine Manchester United fans, Liverpool fans, Arsenal fans, Tottenham fans, whoever, seeing their players wearing these rings – they would love it.
“The players would love it as well. Here in the States, the basketball, American football, ice hockey and baseball players all get rings for winning.
“Whenever I bump into Seahawks players in Seattle they have their rings on from winning the Super Bowl two years ago.
“I’d love to turn the clocks back and have been given rings instead of my two plaques at Derby – because I’d have had so much fun wearing them!”
Hinton, who won three England caps in the mid-1960s, began his career at Wolves before joining Nottingham Forest and then Derby, where he made 250-plus league appearances and played in the semi-finals of the 1973 European Cup.
He finished his playing career in the US and managed several teams there, including two spells with the Sounders.
He added: “It was out of the blue when they presented me with this ring. I said, ‘What are you giving me this for?’
“And they said, ‘With all the history you have with the club and the things you have done for it, we wouldn’t be where we are today without people like you’. It was marvellous and I’m touched by it.”