John Hollins RIP
Phil Brennan pays tribute to County’s former manager who sadly passed away this week
Friday 16 June 2023
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Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and anyone else joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Friday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
Following the sad news earlier this week that John Hollins had passed away, today we pay tribute to the former County manager with this lovely piece from Phil Brennan.
Today’s edition is sponsored by Thorneycroft Solicitors. A big thank you to Mark, Natasha and all the team.
Des Junior
When I was a kid the FA Cup final was a huge part of any football supporter’s life. No matter who you supported, everyone spent the whole day glued to the telly.
The build-up started very early in the day, and through a series of interviews we got to know the players of both teams contesting the final. We would also be treated to an insight into their lives away from football thanks to interviews with a combination of parents, wives, and family.
There were always “celebrity” fans of both teams interviewed; we even got to share the team’s coach journey to Wembley. By the time the game started, if we didn’t already have a favourite, we would choose which side we wanted to win.
The first FA Cup final that I remember watching was when Everton beat Sheffield Wednesday in 1966. As my mum was from Sheffield, we were obviously wanting her hometown team to lift the cup. When the Owls went 2-0 up in the second half things were looking good but unfortunately for our household the Toffees came back to win 3-2.
Four years later the final between Leeds United and Chelsea was the first that I had seen go to a replay. Leeds were everybody’s favourites to win the cup that year but there was something about that Chelsea team that made you want them to win. Leeds were undoubtedly the better team, they were a machine, but Chelsea had swagger about them.
They had Charlie Cooke, Peter Osgood, Ian Hutchinson (who could throw the ball further than anyone I had seen) and they had John Hollins, who more than matched Johnny Giles and Billy Bremner, even laying on Hutchinson’s late equaliser as the game ended 2-2.
The replay on the following Wednesday night was played at Old Trafford and as usual was live on the television. Leeds were again favourites, and though the game didn’t quite live up to the first match, they were leading at the break. As the game appeared to be drifting away from them Chelsea found a leveller through Osgood and then in extra time David Webb headed home from a Hutchinson long throw to win the cup for the London team.
Legend has it that Webb held the FA Cup out of the window as the train carrying the team back to London crossed Stockport viaduct the following day, although I have never seen any images to back up the claim.
The first time I saw Hollins play against my team Stockport County came 10 years after that FA Cup final victory. By now he was in his early 30s and having played for QPR for four years after leaving Chelsea he was now part of the Arsenal team that came to Edgeley Park for a League Cup third round tie.
County had created history by becoming the first Fourth Division side to win at a top tier club when knocking Sunderland out of the competition in the previous round, Tommy Sword scoring the winning goal at Roker Park.
Arsenal were a team full of big names but it was veteran Hollins who opened the scoring, with Frank Stapleton and Alan Sunderland adding goals to put the visitors in control, before Les Bradd grabbed a consolation for County.
It was over 20 years later when Hollins next came to my attention as he was appointed Stockport County’s director of football to work alongside Carlton Palmer in 2003.
Following Palmer’s dismissal in the September, Hollins stepped into the caretaker manager role.
Having lost at home to Blackpool in his first game, Hollins took his County team to Goodison Park for a Carling Cup second round tie against Everton.
The home side’s forward line featured a young Wayne Rooney and Scottish international Duncan Ferguson, who would grab two goals, with future County striker Nick Chadwick completing the scoring.
As a volunteer at the club, I spoke to Hollins on several occasions during this period, and he was generous with his time and advice on each occasion. It was clear to me that he was keen on taking on the manager’s role on a full-time basis and his run of two wins, two draws and just one defeat in the next five games showed that he had the ability to many of us.
History shows us that Sammy McIlroy was given the role of manager at Edgeley Park, but Hollins would remain a part of the Stockport County family as he was installed as the manager of the club’s Chinese team.
County had earlier become one of the first English football clubs to enter the emerging Chinese market and had worked with a Shenyang-based football club to become an “affiliate” club, with the Chinese team changing their name to Stockport Tiger Star.
Having visited the country with County director Mike Baker, Hollins moved to China in August 2004, having signed a two-year contract to manage Tiger Star.
During his time in China, Hollins’ team played host to County as the Hatters made another trip to strengthen their ties in the country.
Hollins was happy to see some familiar faces and was quoted at the time: “It’s tough. Before the group from Stockport arrived this last week, I don't think I'd spoken directly to another Englishman or woman in the last two months. The language barrier is the hardest one to overcome. Everything I say to the players they hear second hand through my interpreter.
"Another problem is with discipline. They are all good boys who respect me as the coach, but if I am not there to lay down the law they slip. It's definitely the toughest job I've taken on. The players had been chosen before I arrived, and I'm not allowed to bring anyone new in.
"I only have 21 players for the entire season, there'll be no transfers in, and we're not allowed any foreign players because we're not a First Division side."
Earlier in the year Hollins had brought his team over to England for a pre-season tour during which his hopes had been raised with an undefeated run against Woodley Sports, Cheadle Town and Hyde United.
"I was excited because in those three games we played such good football. But since we have got back to China, I've been extremely disappointed by the way things have gone."
County ran out comfortable 4-0 winners in the first encounter between the two “sister” clubs, with Hollins taking some positives about his and his team’s situation after a much-improved performance in the second game saw Tiger Star draw 2-2 draw against the Hatters.
After the draw Hollins said: "It was much better today. My players are a lot better than they looked last Thursday."
Sadly, the project failed to develop as expected and Hollins returned to the UK. In November 2005, he was announced as manager of non-league Crawley Town.
John Hollins was an England international, an FA Cup winner, a European Cup Winners Cup winner, a League Cup winner, and played well over 700 games before turning to management. He may have only made fleeting visits into my life, but I will always cherish them. A player I really admired as a youngster and more importantly someone who always had time to chat when he returned to my life in adulthood.
God bless you John xx
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Great piece that . Really well put . I forgot that he went to china to manage them . RIP John