loz Posted July 4, 2009 Posted July 4, 2009 John Hollins (1985-1988) Written by Plokoon13 in September 2009 In the team so rich in flair and skill which Tommy Doherty built in the 60s, one player who very often does not receive the credit he deserves is John Hollins. In comparison with some of his team-mates of the time such as Peter Osgood and Charlie Cooke, he was not necessarily a naturally gifted player, however his hard graft and no-nonsense football were the perfect contrast with the rest of the team (save Ron “stepover†Harris, of course); the glue which held the team together. Although this is somewhat of a rarity nowadays, Hollins is Chelsea through-and-through. He started his career with us in 1961, joining as a youth player, and making his debut in 1963 aged 17 against Swindon Town. He very quickly became a regular, and his commitment and work ethic made him a fan favourite. He was an ever-present in the late sixties and early seventies, playing in both legs of the 1965 FA Cup Final. He carried on his excellent form under Dave Sexton, appearing in our 1967 FA Cup Final defeat to Tottenham as well as our far more important 1970 FA Cup win over Leeds, getting the assist for Ian Houseman’s goal in the first game at Wembley. He also played the first game of the 1971 UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup against Real Madrid, as well as scoring 17 goals that season. Although he was renowned for his wicked right-foot strike, he was never exactly the most prolific of goalscorers, making this achievement all the more impressive. He also started the 1972 League Cup Final, which we unfortunately lost to Stoke City. After Dave Sexton’s systematic destruction of Tommy Doherty’s team, he was sacked after a poor start to the 1974/75 season, at the end of which we were relegated to the Second Division. He took a number of players with him after he was appointed manager of QPR, Hollins being one of them, along with David Webb. After eight successful seasons away from Chelsea with QPR and Arsenal, helping QPR to getting within a point of the title in his first season, and helping Arsenal to a UEFA Cup Winners Cup Final of their own in 1980, Hollins returned, aged 37 as player-coach, and put in a solid show at right-back at the beginning of the season, before he was replaced by Colin Lee, adapting from his usual role as striker as Hollins needed to concentrate more and more on his coaching role towards the tail end of the season. At the end of the season, following an out-of-this-world performance and a complete thumping of Leeds United, we were finally promoted back into the First Division. John Neal decided to retire, and his immediate replacement as manager was John Hollins. Hollins got off to a flier, and with Neal’s cheaply-assembled team managed to get the Blues top of the First Division table by February, empowered by the lethal, if not always co-operative, front three of Speedie, Nevin and King Kerry Dixon. However, following the trend of previous Chelsea managers, Hollins and his assistant Ernie Walley fell out with a number of key players, most notably the ever-cool and collected David Speedie. As a result, the team fell into somewhat of a slump, and finished the season sixth. Hollins’ Chelsea began to decline in following seasons, and we began to struggle in the First Division. This continued until he was finally sacked halfway through the 1987/88 season, following a run of four months without a victory in the league. He finally returned to his old club QPR in 1993 on the coaching staff, before leaving in 1997. He later had unglamorous spells in charge of lower league clubs Rochdale (despite getting them into the playoffs) and Stockport County, but was successful at Swansea City, leading them to the Division Three title in 2000, but sadly failing to keep them in Division Two. He was unfortunate enough to be Claude Anelka (brother of our very own Nico)’s assistant manager during his brief and comical time in charge of Raith Rovers, and had equally disappointing reigns in charge of Conference clubs Crawley Town and Weymouth, lasting less than a year in both. Unfortunately I wasn’t alive for the more spectacular and trophy-laden (and most importantly of all, Blue) part of John Hollins’ long football career, but after hearing other Chelsea fans speak of him, and reading about his achievements, I decided to investigate further, and came to the conclusion that Hollins, recipient of an MBE for services to football in 1981, is a true Chelsea legend.
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