Former Fulham player and manager, Jimmy Hogan is to be honoured this week in a special ceremony, where a fresh headstone will be unveiled at his burial place.
More famous as a European coach than an English footballer, Jimmy Hogan played for and managed Fulham during his long career. Born in Nelson on the 16th October 1882, Hogan played for Rochdale, Burnley and Nelson before joining Fulham in October 1905.
The highlight of his playing days was appearing for Fulham against Newcastle United in the 1908 FA Cup semi-final at Anfield. However, Jimmy had an ineffectual match as they suffered a 6-0 defeat. Hogan later played for Swindon Town and Bolton Wanderers before injury forced him to give up playing to concentrate on his coaching career. He was interned Hungary for a short time during World War One.
He coached in Holland, Austria (including the national side), Hungary, Switzerland, Germany and France. Hogan formed a famous partnership with Hugo Meisl in Austria and these two were given much credit for the development of the game in Europe to the point where, technically, it outstripped the British game.
He is credited with laying the foundation for the great Hungarian team of the 1950’s which featured the likes of Ferenc Puskas. Hogan returned to England to manage Fulham in May 1934, but the players were not ready for his new methods and training routines, and he was sacked whilst lying in a hospital bed, recovering from an appendicitis operation in March 1935.
Hogan was way ahead of his time and involved himself in every aspect of the players’ routines, ball skills and diets as well as fitness and team tactics, preferring the close passing game he saw at the Cottage in his playing days. Hogan had more success at Aston Villa, who employed him as manager in August 1936 and he took them to the Second Division title and an FA Cup semi-final in 1937/38. From 1940-1959 he coached at Burnley, Brentford, Celtic and Villa producing many fine young players.
The ceremony has been arranged by the Turf Moor Memorial Garden. The unveiling of the headstone will take place at Burnley cemetery on Friday, October 8th.
Representatives of many of Jimmy’s former football clubs, including MTK Budapest, Burnley, Aston Villa, Bolton Wanders, Celtic and Fulham will be in attendance this Friday, along with many of the patrons and groups that made the project happen. Members of Jimmy’s family will also attend.
Peter Briggs, Chairman of the Turf Moor Memorial Garden, and project lead for this event commented:
"This project has brought together a large number of individuals to support the memory of a footballing great.
"Too many people still haven’t heard of Jimmy Hogan and what he did for football, however this small token may go some way to bring his story to more people and thank him for his efforts."
The project to create a lasting marker on Jimmy’s grave is being financed by the Turf Moor Memorial Garden, Burnley Former Players Association (BFPA), Burnley FC Supporters Group, Aston Villa Football Club, Fulham Football Club, the Celtic Grave Society, MTK Budapest, György Szöllősi, President of the Hungarian Sports Journalists' Association, former Burnley Football Club directors Clive Holt, Martin Hobbs, Terry Crabb, Brendan Flood and Barry Kilby, along with current Burnley Football Club director John Banaszkiewicz and members of Jimmy Hogan’s family. Stevenson Memorial have also provided funds and have donated a plaque which has been mounted next to Turf Moor stadium within their Memorial Garden.
Anyone that would like to support the endeavour can donate to the project via Peter Briggs on 07966 424188 or email peter@claretsmuseum.com
JIMMY HOGAN PLAYING CAREER:
St. Bees College (Manchester)
1900: Burnley Belvedere
1901: Rochdale cs
Oct 22 1902: Nelson
16 Aug 1903: Rochdale Town
Nov 1903: Burnley
15 Sept 1905: Nelson
9 Oct 1905 (£100): Fulham
4 July 1908: Swindon Town
28 Oct 1908: Bolton Wanderers
1910-1911: Dordrecht (Holland) (Coach)
May 1911: Bolton Wanderers
JIMMY HOGAN MANAGERIAL CAREER:
11 May 1911-1914 (when interned): Austria national team
1916-1919: MTK Budapest
9 May 1922-1924: Young Boys Berne
1925-1926: MTK Budapest
1 March 1927-1930: Germany Central FA
1930-15 Aug 1932: Dresden (Germany)
15 Aug 1932-1933: Racing Club de Paris
1933: FK Austria & Austria national team
1933-1934: Lausanne Sports (Switzerland)
15 May 1934-15 March 1935: Fulham
June 1935-Nov 1936: Austria national team
9 Aug 1936-4 Oct 1939: Aston Villa
1940-1946: Burnley (Coach)
Aug 1946: Southend United (Coach)
2 Sept 1947-June 1948 & 1950-May 1952: Brentford (Coach)
27 June 1948-1950: Glasgow Celtic (Coach)
15 Oct 1953-July 1959: Aston Villa (Youth Team Manager)
