Dirty Harry Hill
FOR a brief moment the fiery rage in his eye is less Clint Hill and more Clint Eastwood. Or, if you prefer, a sort of Dirty Harry Hill.
Shoulders pulled back, chest puffed out with a hint of a snarl across his gunslinger features.
Don’t try telling him that Rangers are mentally fragile or he might just blow your head clean off.
Richie Foran did it and got away with all three points last Friday night. Now St Johnstone’s players are making similar noises ahead of tonight’s trip to Ibrox.
But ask Hill if his team-mates lack the fibre and fortitude to fight their way out of trouble and watch him reach for the 44 Magnum.
“I’m not going to answer anything like that, I’m not going to dig out my players who stand next to me on a Saturday,” he said with a snarl as his spine stiffened in his seat.
“You won’t get that from me. Not one bit. I’m with them.
“So I won’t have any of that nonsense said about them.
“In fact I’d defend that accusation with my life.
“It’s nonsense, no- ne goes out there to do badly or make mistakes. We’re human beings who try to do well.”
For some months now this gnarled veteran has been attempting to stand in the way of the crisis which has slowly but surely been engulfing his dressing room.
Aged 38, Hill has taken on the roles of enforcer and protector as he attempts to prevent a team from caving in on itself under serious pressure.
But, despite his best efforts, it has been a losing battle.
The manager who brought him here last summer has been eaten up and spat back out by it, leaving Hill attempting to help a vaguely panic-stricken Graeme Murty hold the fort for road trips to Dundee and Inverness. That hasn’t worked either. And St Johnstone are the latest side to be feeling lucky as they head towards the storm clouds over Govan.
Before setting off down the A9, striker Stevie MacLean agreed publicly with Foran’s stinging assessment. He’ll have the chance to tell Hill in person tonight. Or not.
Because right now Hill and fellow thirtysomething Kenny Miller appear ready to fight the world. Hill added: “I don’t think it’s just me and Kenny – everyone is hurting with the way we have performed and the results.
“It is fine margins that are killing us at the moment. Have we had chances to win games? Yes. Have we been sloppy in conceding goals? Yes. Those are the fine margins that get you a point or three points.
“The higher you go in football, the margins are finer. If you make half an error you get punished for it. If you don’t take a chance that you normally would then you get punished at the other end.
“That’s what’s hurting us at the moment. It’s a big game against St Johnstone and we need to turn it around quickly.”
The irony here is that Hill and Miller are going the extra yard for a club which shows no signs of extending their contracts beyond the end of the campaign.
But Hill shrugged those shoulders and said: “As everyone knows, the club has more important things to look at just now, which is finding the right people to come in and do the job. I’m sure I’d be down the list of things to do.
“But I want to help as best as I can. That’s your job. You are a professional footballer