N/A: David Hillier, Arsenal, Subbuteo Squads 1995/96

I saw my parents for the first time in nearly six months the other day – the first time since the Covid-19 lockdown and therefore the first time since I started this blog. Whenever I see my folks I’m presented with a bag of stuff ranging from post that I probably should change my address on (it has been nearly eight years) to suggested reading or listening. This time though I was presented with a tin of random football cards from some of the less established series that graced the 1990s including a wad of Pro Match cards and a deck of the questionable attempt by the table football legends at Subbuteo to enter the trading card market: Subbuteo Squads.

I have some distinct memories related to these cards. First of all getting in trouble in Year 3 for knocking a wad of them out the hands of a kid in the year above (it was in self defence I promise) and secondly my Dad and I trying to get our heads round the game during a three hour train journey between Westport and Dublin. Dad fell asleep after about twenty minutes. He might have been on to something there.

The website oldfootballgames.co.uk describe Subbuteo Squads as “a large scale, well backed card collectable based game…that totally and utterly failed to take off.” Nearly a quarter of a century after their release it’s quite easy to see why Squads didn’t match the success of its parent company’s more famous game. It takes seven cards worth of instructions to explain how to ‘get ready’ to play the game before introducing nine more cards of complex maths that, providing you have a decent grade at A Level or above, outline how you score a goal. That’s before the ‘incident cards’ come into play. Suddenly I don’t feel so bad about not getting this at the time…

It wasn’t all bad though. Credit has to go to Subbuteo for their somewhat random choice of players to feature on the cards such as David Hillier. Hillier came through the ranks at Arsenal and made nearly 150 appearances for the club over eight years but often found himself on the peripheries of the first team. Nevertheless he did manage to pick up a First Division winner’s medal in the 1990/91 season but injury ruled him out of the club’s domestic cup double wins in the 1992/93 season and the UEFA Cup victory over Parma in 1994. He narrowly avoided punishment for a failed drugs test in 1995, stating that cannabis was only in his system as a result of passive smoking, but saw his playing time limited following his court appearance and fine in the same year for the attempted theft of another passenger’s luggage at Gatwick Airport. He was transfer-listed by Bruce Rioch and was eventually moved on to Portsmouth by Arsene Wenger in 1996.

Following his retirement Hillier has been a regular on the after-dinner speaking circuit owing to his inside knowledge of the antics of the Arsenal side of the 1990s and has dipped his toe into managerial waters with non-league teams Oldland Abbotonians and Almondsbury UWE. He has also provided commentary for Arsenal TV and worked as a fireman in the Bristol area. Clearly there is more to the man than being an overlooked squad player in North London.

David Hillier’s story is an interesting one that has a lot more in common with other players from this era such as Gary Charles and Peter Fear rather than the likes of Thierry Henry and Ashley Cole from Arsenal’s 2003/04 ‘Invincibles’. It’s also fair to say that it’s stood the test of time better than the card he featured on.