Name Ron Hillyard Years Team | Height 1.78 m Playing position Role Football player | |
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Full name Ronald William Hillyard Date of birth (1952-03-31) 31 March 1952 (age 63) | ||
Ronald William "Ron" Hillyard (born 31 March 1952) is an English former football goalkeeper. He spent seventeen years playing for Gillingham, for whom he holds the record for the most matches played in all competitions.
Career
Born in Brinsworth, Hillyard began his career with York City as a junior, and was thrust into the first-team in October 1969, when the club was facing a goalkeeping crisis. Although he made 61 Football League appearances over the next five years, he was unable to establish himself as a first-team regular and was loaned out to several other clubs. Finally in 1974, Gillingham manager Len Ashurst, who had been attempting to sign the Yorkshireman for his former club Hartlepool United for three years, was able to secure his transfer to his new club.
For almost the entirety of the next seventeen years, Hillyard was the Kent club's first-choice goalkeeper, until a back injury forced him to retire in 1991. Two years earlier he had been appointed assistant manager by Damien Richardson, a post he continued to hold until 1992 when both he and Richardson were sacked.
Hillyard was expected to break John Simpson's record for the most league appearances for Gillingham but ultimately his career ended 8 matches short of Simpson's tally of 571. Nonetheless, Hillyard set a new record for appearances for the club in all competitions with a total of 657, during which he kept 202 clean sheets.
Hillyard was appointed goalkeeping coach of Ebbsfleet United in 2002 and held a dual-role position of goalkeeping coach with Gillingham during the 2011 season.