He’s Clive from Houston to most of you, he’s Uncle Clive to me and to my dad, he’s simply known as his best mate.
As a kid, most times you’re forced to make pleasantries with your parents’ friends is greeted with reticence, reservation and actual resentment. (After all, they’d only ever wheel you out to prove that eloquence runs in the family, before the awkward charade would begin, right?!)
But in Uncle Clive’s case, that couldn’t be further from the truth, as I’d leg it down the stairs on the occasions he’d drop round to see dad. Seeing him was an event; a happening to indulge in, as he’d make me feel like a grown-up. One of the lads.
A whopping great personality, a big bushy beard and a belly full of laughs whenever he’d make the hour long journey to say hello. That’s the thing with Clive Hill. He’d always make the journey because he was always there for Dad unconditionally. And he’d always be laughing.
While I’d only be 12 or so at the time, he could still roll out a line about me fingering my non-existent girlfriend in my living room and get away with it, as Dad would stifle a giggle when he knew he should be telling him off.
‘Grow-up Clive?!’ Fat chance! He was a big saft kid whose refusal to take life seriously was the very reason why I loved him so much. (Wolves’ Wembley jester in 1974?!)
I distinctly remember his last visit before he embarked on a new life in Houston, Texas. He was my old man’s buddy, not mine, but I felt a genuine sense of sadness when I knew he wouldn’t be around, precisely because I knew those visits to see me and ‘Scooped’ would be a thing of the past.
We had a late summer sojourn in Vale Park in August 1990 me, Clive and Dad. It would be a memorable final hurrah before the airport departure gates. ‘They’ve got a good team, Uncle Clive,’ I remember saying, thinking of Darren Beckford and Robbie Earle.
Unlike Dad’s common sense and reason, Clive didn’t care for fate, tempting fate, or any respect for the opposition whatsoever. (nothing changes there then?!).
‘They’re a load of shit, Ben, trust me. Bully is 10 times the player on one leg.’
In mingled awe and disbelief, I watched Darren Beckford score after 7 minutes, before Bully scored the winner in the 44th minute. In between, I almost got thrown from the back of the stand to the front of it when Gary Bellamy equalised in between – as Uncle Clive raised me above his head and hurled me towards the pitch like I was a paper aeroplane on a collision course with the corner flag. I LOVED IT!
Mingled awe and disbelief was about right when it came to my feelings for Uncle Clive.
Nothing has changed today, albeit from a 4,700 mile distance.
Being there for Dad through his darkest days is something I’ll never forget (seldom few were), nor his inclination to jump on a plane to see him at 24hrs notice if he could sense he was feeling a bit down (Clive has done this and would do it again tomorrow if he could, I know).
We’re all a bit more weathered now, and the innocence of youth makes way to a different way of seeing the world.
But not when it comes to Clive. One look at any given blog post reminds me that growing old – never mind gracefully – is something that happens to other people, rather than he.
An acerbic, amusing and amazing uncle endures, who tickles and troll within the flick of his keyboard. A literary talent, I’m sure you’ll agree.
I hope you can all say a prayer to Clive from Houston and his wife Marla, and leave a comment if you can.
Don’t be offended if he doesn’t give a shit though, as he never did when he was on here!
(And if you’re reading Clive, dig in and stay strong…Me and the Bald Eagle will be flying soon xx)
Cheers Ben
First thing I did upon hearing about Clives predicament was to throw a prayer up for him and his family.
A true character ?
Thank you Ben. You’ve brought Uncle Clive to life, or should I say, larger than life…
I can only repeat what I said earlier:
Special thanks to Stuwolf for the news about Clive. I’ve never met Clive but I feel like I know him well. He’s just that rare sort of bloke. His personality almost literally jumps off the page (OK, my iPad screen) when I read his messages. You always know what he really thinks. I don’t suppose he’s ever sat on the fence in his life. My heart goes out to Clive and his wonderful lady Marla. Here’s hoping for better news to come.
We all have good days and bad days … but yesterday was a very bad day …
To receive the news about Clive via Stuwolf was welcomed (in one sense) yet it has left me and her ladyship shell shocked since. ..
We spoke to Clive just a few days prior with FaceTime and although he didn’t look his best .. it was all perfectly understandable, given how he’s completely overcome his previous serious illness and subsequent course of treatment…
he was still cracking his jokes and .. well .. making us both laugh…
He would only talk to Lilian if I wasn’t in the room …. and that’s because at times he’s a ladies man … and needed a bit of him and Lilian time … all in good taste btw.
I’ve found Clive to be such a true friend and all round good egg… and I’ve only got to know him through this blog and via Ben (above) and Scooped….
As Ben alludes … he’s just Wolves through and through.. never having any filters..(as Marla puts it). … he just says it as it is… like it or not .., that’s CfH…. but what Clive is (imo) … is an extremely intelligent and knowledgeable guy…. oh .. and completely bonkers when it comes to having a laugh. (as the Jez Moxey captions illustrates).
I could honestly write pages about Clive … but I’m waiting till Saturday to open my birthday card from him… titled..
Lord Twix
TWIXFIX Towers..
Stafford…
Luv you mate .. (Marla too)
Stay strong , fight on …. we’re rooting for you…
Ben, thank you for your capturing Clive so well, understandably so.
I have posted on here before that as the written word cannot be heard it can be hard to understand. As Clive’s posts may be misinterpreted by a number of bloggers it is not until you actually meet, hear and see him that you fully appreciate the true character of the man.
Those that know me and those that have visited, know that I live in a house in a nice village in Brompton on Swale in North Yorkshire. Clive even got me starting to believe that I lived in a tent on the M62 ! Don’t ask me why, and even Clive doesn’t know. He just thought it funny at the time.
I was surprised when I first met him at one of the earlier blogger gatherings, as I could not relate to the man I was talking to being the same person posting on the blog. A gentleman and a truly nice guy, a pussycat.
I did not sleep well last night and I really hope that he pulls through, as there are not many human beings that I know that has as much character as he.
Stay strong mate.
Brompto/Chalkie/Steve
Clive you are my mate. You are funny. You are cuddly. You pretend to be a potty mouthed aggressive so and so but really you are a teddy bear. You were brilliant to Julie and I when Julie was ill. You were equally brilliant to me when I lost Julie. My fridge is bedecked with Texas fridge magnets. The Texan flag blanket you sent that Julie used to snuggle under on the sofa on cold nights when she was feeling low is still a prized possession. One day Wolves WILL win 5-1. One day we will meet again. Love and prayers are with you. x
Hang in there Clive, you to Marla.
Thanks for the insight Ben, I to found him an absolute charmer, not to much like his blog pesonona.
Five for Clive on Sunday would be fantastic.
Clive is a one off.
They broke the mould when they made him. Some might say, just BEFORE they made him… I couldn’t possibly comment.
A true friend; generous, thoughtful, compassionate… and a bloody good all round bloke.
He has supported many bloggers who have gone through shit in the years that I have known him, and deserves our support now.
I don’t see him as ‘Uncle Clive’, he’s the brother I never had. I keep thinking what we might have got up to when we were lads if we had been bloods.
Probably best left.
Keep going mate, we’re behind you all the way.
The PMDG’er and I send you more love than any one man has a right to be given.
Here’s to The Wolves’ Wembley Jester 1974!!!
Have had a few run ins with Clive on the blog over the last couple of years but that’s just football.
Bill Shankly once made the following outrageous statement “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that” .
Well needless to say it’s bloody well not. Not funny and showed a lack of decency and sensitivity beyond belief.
Genuine good luck to Clive and best withes to to all his nearest and dearest.
Best wishes Clive, UTW!
Only met Clive via the zoom call set up by Matt LWL for the W%A game and his musings on this blog. Always struck me as a top bloke. He even sent me over a Houston Wolves sticker and Xmas card, despite not knowing me. Says it all about the man.
Fingers crossed for a full recovery. All my score predictions going forward are for the man. KTF
Last game of the season a few years ago, home to Sheffield Wednesday, me and Sue were staying at The APV. After checking in I could here that there were quite a few Wolves fans drinking outside so we went for a wander. I had my “Newark Wolves” top on and the first thing I heard was someone saying – is that Newark, New Jersey ? I had never met him before and never even heard of the Wolves blog but Clive made us feel part of the crowd straightaway. We were invited to the bloggers do that night but being light weights we went to bed early. Now, correct me if I am wrong but the next morning Clive had vanished ? Why, because he missed Marla that much that he got an earlier flight home. That is the loving caring person that he is. We met up at some of the bloggers get togethers and also at Mark Davies’ hotel a few years back. Had some lovely emails from him usually signed off with FONF instead of his customary FOWB. Stay strong mate, you still owe me a pint for the books and programmes so we had better see you soon.
Love to you both
Ian & Sue
Thank you for the write-up, Ben. Clive is certainly a larger than life character.
I have to say, I still haven’t recovered from reading yesterday’s message on the Blog from Stuwolf and Marla.
We are all rooting for Clive and just hoping he stays strong. There will be a lot of Clive-five forecasts for Sunday!
Oh SHIT
I’ve on;y been off the Blog for 24 hours and now reconnect to read all of this horrible news via Stu ….and now Ben’s testimonial.
My Wolf Christmas card from Houston takes pride of place each year.
I don’t pray, but if I did it would be for a miracle for Clive and Marla.
The least our team can do now is win their remaining games 5-1 to guarantee that CFH finishes streets ahead of the Prediction League. It would also result in our winning the PL of course but that is a a minor consideration at this time.
Stay strong my friend ….or as strong as you can. My thoughts are with you both.
I’ve not met Clive but feel I know him after several years of enjoying his blog posts. Like all on here, devastated for Clive and his family, there is a lot of love flowing from this side of the pond. He is, after all, ‘one of our own’. Got to be a 5-1 on Sunday.
I have never met Clive, but wish him all the best. From what I understand he is a character with a great sense of humor.
Life is more about the journey than the destination, and I believe that Clive has enjoyed his journey to date, and is still planning for the future!
Best wishes Clive.
1 lv from the Rasta family.
Best wishes Clive and your family
Thanks Ben for such a caring and informative write-up about Clive who a number of us only know through his posts on this blog. I certainly want to join everyone else in sending best wishes to him and Marla and to assure them that they are and will continue to be in my prayers.
StuWolf again.
I have a further update on Clive, not good as we all hoped but life is not a given, we have to fight for every day, and boy does Clive do that.
Just before I post the update, please understand, Clive is in an induced coma, he is sedated with anaesthetics to help his body fight this episode he’s enduring. So please unless you are in constant contact with him, limit your good wishes as Marla is receiving all the calls on his phone. Clive is not receiving any of it, so please wait until he is fully conscious awake and can answer back.
I posted the news on the blog and gave Marla the link, so she knows exactly the level of support you guys give fellow bloggers when it his the fan.
Obviously there are those of you who do talk to him as regular as myself, for you guys you make your own mind up how you contact Marla, Dog knows she needs your help and support.
My Clive story,
I love the guy unconditionally, (in a manly, deep voiced way) just in case he reads this afterwards. When I made the decision to leave the blog, Clive and I have been in constant contact every single week, FaceTime, WhatsApp and every fooking time we play, I spend more time reading text messages than watching the game.
He has shared his deterioration over the course of his horrible journey through Chemo, Doog knows what thats like, Marin, Dave Bedfordwolf and too many others know that journey to with loved ones.
I have funny stories, great moments and fond memories of Clive that will live on for me, a nicer guy there never was, a funnier 1 liner there never was.
“The strength is in the pack”, this blog has many characters, some good, some bad, but that’s what make folk read the bloody thing. To both sets, both good and bad I say, a fellow blogger needs your support, get behind him, wish him well and be grateful that you met the guy, my life is richer for having him in it.
StuWolf
Update from Marla, Thursday 25th Aug.
He has been totally sedated since Monday and has been unresponsive. He gets extremely agitated with the tubes and lines and straps and all the things that are attached to him. The neurologists are fairly sure now that he has ALS. Probably caused from the chemo toxins. So he beat cancer only to get ALS. It makes no sense! There have been no changes for a couple of days now and he is still intubated, on a ventilator and a feeding tube. They will try to remove his tube for the third time after he is weaned off all sedatives and we will pray that he will be able to breathe on his own, or with the help of a BiPAP machine. The odds are against him though. That only leaves a tracheotomy as a breathing solution for him. That coupled with the progressive ALS, things don’t look good. After beating the cancer, over a period of five months he went from a large 200 pound proud man to 150 pounds, using a walker, bent at 90°, slurred speech, zero strength, stopped driving, falling asleep mid-sentence, but he still remained the crazy wacky lovable obnoxious Clive that we all love and he never complained once. He has been a trooper! I don’t know what the next few hours, days, weeks or months will be like, but I hope he gets a chance to enjoy life and all of his friends a bit longer.
Share whatever you think is appropriate. Sometimes I share too much information.
Hi stu , good to hear from you again ( although the circumstances are awful).
It’s hard to imagine this blog without Clive tbh, his was the post that I’d scroll down to when I first started reading it because he was controversial, sometimes edgy but always made me laugh so I’m going to convince myself, for now, that I haven’t read his last one.
Best wishes and thoughts from perth WA to all his family and close friends.
Great blog Ben, memories last forever.
Hope you and yours are all good stu ?
Now, stop feigning Clive, get up, we got the penalty and we need you in extra time .
Utw
Thank you for sharing Stu, you are a good man.
StuWolf,
I just found out that Clive is no longer of this world. At least he’s no longer suffering.
James Barnes
Houston
The first time I came on here, Clive accused me of being rude when I responded to his comment that nothing but **** came out of West Bromwich ( I believe that I pointed out Messrs Bull, Thompson and Robertson).
Fight on Clive, we want to experience your belligerence time and time again.
My thoughts and prayers are with uncle Clive and Marla.
I can only echo all the sentiments about him on here, always such a joy to be around and amazing to see his friendship last with so many for so long!
This is for you Clive, FOWB!
I only met Clive a couple of times but from the off I realised here was a guy you can’t help but like.
Genuine warmth. You can’t fake it. Clive exudes it from every pore. My life has been enriched by meeting him and I want more.
C’mon Clive. So many need your wit and wisdom to lift their spirits through the depths of the winter. The blog is already poorer through your absence. Get back to your keyboard.
All thoughts and best wishes to his family.
All the best Clive and lovely post Ben x
Just wanted to add my best wishes to Clive. I’ve been reading and commenting on this blog pretty much since it started but mainly due to the busy-ness of life don’t regularly interact with other bloggers (apart from the odd heated debate about the merits of Adama Traore and Morgan Gibbs-White perhaps…) so Clive is someone I’ve been aware of for years now. All the best to him and his family.
I always remember when Big Ron Atkinson was commentating on a Liverpool game a fair while ago. David Burrows was left back for Liverpool and got clattered by an compromising defender. Burrows was born and bred in the Black Country and he just got up from the nasty tackle, no histrionics and resumed play. Big Ron’s immediate comment after the tackle was ‘ he will be ok. They breed them tough in the Black Country’. Like me Clive (Cloive) is Black Country born and bred. “Yo con tek the bloke out of the Black Country but yo cor tek the Black Country out the bloke’. Clive will be allright. He needs to get well soon because I reckon we are gonna get The Sh*t in the FA Cup and hand out a 5-1 thrashing. And Clive can go visit his mate the Albion fan who owns the chip shop over there and engage in some well chosen ‘banter’. So to Clive and Marla I say stay strong . The strength of the Wolf is in the pack. We are with you.
I don’t know Clive other than his ‘5-1’ posts, but he is certainly larger than life when he’s here.
Best wishes Clive!
5-1 win tomorrow in his honor mate.
It was 2008. I was in a Delhi hospital after just having Open Heart Surgery. Lying in bed, not sure what to do, I googled Wolves & Wolves Blog came up. I clicked on it. We had just beaten Forest 5-1 & this chap Clive was eulogising on it. Somehow it gave me a sort of motivation & sense I would survive.
It is 14 years later & am very sad to hear what has happened, for I have often thought, that without that victory & Clive’s acerbic comments, I might not have survived..
Thank you mate, what ever form you now take….
Wolves 5 – Newcastle 1
Its funny what stimulates us in the tough moments this life throws at us.
One thing is true though…we need each other don’t we.
Its one thing that the last 3 years has shown me.
We know that you are in a dark place just now Cloive but the Wolves Bloggers are right beside you mate.
I got the sad news of Clive’s passing from Border Wolf last night just after finishing what had been nearly a perfect steak. God did that news change the taste.
I met Clive a couple of times at the APV, as others have said a nicer bloke you could not wish to meet. On the blog, controverstial, sometimes rude, always blunt and honest but in person a pussycat..
I consider it a privilege to have met him and known him, one of life’s nicer guys.
RIP Cfh and deepest condolences to Marla.
Just seen your post mate…
Gosh….
That is tough
Life is so very precious isn’t it?
Been away from the blog as family has taken up so much of my time over the last few months, and I come back to this blog post and find out the heartbreaking news 🙁
I never met Clive, but wish that I had.
No doubt we would have “agreed to disagree”” on a few points, but there was always respect for someone who shot straight from the hip (like a Texas gunslinger!)
My sincerest condolences to Marla, and all of the family and multitude of friends that Clive had. He will be missed not just on the blog, but in life in general!
RIP Clive
🙁
I looked for this blog as I knew how much it meant to my big bruvver and just wanted to check that everyone knew the sad news.
I won’t bother to bore you with all the stories that I have over my nearly 60 years of being his kid brother other than to say Wolves was his life and he was even offered school-boy trials with them only to have our father block it. School was more important.
Reading all your lovely comments only goes to prove just what a larger-than-life figure Clive was and he will leave a very large hole in all our lives.
I will sign-off by saying Thank You for being his friends and and please raise a glass of Bonks’s in his memory.
Regards,
Stuart (the kid brother)