Jimmy Hagan
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James Hagan (21 January 1918 – 26 February 1998) was an English football player and manager. He played between 1938 and 1958 for
Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
and once for
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. As manager he had his greatest successes with
S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...
in the early 1970s.


Playing career

Hagan was born in Washington, County Durham, England. Following in the footsteps of his father,
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, a former Newcastle United, Cardiff City and Tranmere player, Hagan represented England at schoolboy level and after spells with Washington Colliery and Usworth Colliery; he joined the groundstaff of
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
before leaving for
Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...
at fifteen years of age. He stayed at the Baseball Ground until the age of twenty when United's manager
Teddy Davison John Edward Davison (2 September 1887 – 1 February 1971) was an English footballer and manager who had a long and successful association with the football clubs of Sheffield, playing for Sheffield Wednesday for 18 years and later managing She ...
met his Derby counterpart George Jobey and haggled over the £3,000 asking price, eventually agreeing to pay £2,925. With a weekly wage of £7 per week plus a first-team appearance fee of £1, Hagan made his debut two days later on 5 November 1938 in a 2–1 victory against Swansea Town in the
Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
. His first goal came 21 days later at Bramall Lane in a 3–1 victory over
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
. His first hat-trick for the club came in the last game of the 1938–39 season, with United needing to win to gain promotion instead of local rivals
Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...
who having played all their 42 games were one point ahead on 53 with a superior goal average. Promotion was secured with a 6–1 win, Hagan contributing a goal. After the war, Hagan initially refused to re-sign for United, missing the first four games of the 1946–47 season. Having got a job as a trainee chartered surveyor he only rejoined the team on a part-time basis. His solitary
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
cap came in a 0–0 draw against
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in
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on 26 September 1948. He continued to play for United until 1958, as captain between 1946 and 1949, despite United accepting what would have been a British record transfer fee of £32,500 from Wednesday in February 1951. Hagan rejected the transfer and Wednesday were relegated to the Second Division. He finally retired after playing against his former club, Derby County, on 14 September 1957, having scored 117 league goals in 361 league matches. His testimonial game was played on 10 March 1958 between a Sheffield XI and an International XI. In May and June 1958, Hagan joined fifteen Blackpool players on a tour of Australia. He scored 21 goals in his fifteen appearances.Wolstenholme, Gerry (2014). ''By Bus to Wollongong'', Panther Press, 2014 He had previously toured Australia with an FA party seven years earlier, scoring eight goals in a match versus Tasmania.


Managerial career

Hagan started his managerial career with
Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
where he worked between 1958 and 1962. His period in charge saw
Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
promoted to the Football League for the first time, and, in 1960–61, their first season in the league, they won Division 4, scoring 134 goals. This remains a record number of goals scored in the English leagues. After leaving Peterborough, he joined
West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
in 1963 leading the team to the Football League Cup in 1966. Sliding fortunes in the season thereafter put an end to this assignment. His greatest successes were with S.L. Benfica in Lisbon where he led the club between 1970 and 1973 to three successive Portuguese championships and once to the national cup, a record no coach has since been able to repeat at the helm of the ''Águias''. In this period Benfica also attracted Europe-wide attention when the team reached the semi-finals of the European Cup, where the team was only narrowly defeated 0–1 on aggregate by the legendary
Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...
of that era. In 1972–73 Hagan led Benfica to become the first club in Portugal ever to win the championship without defeats and won 28 matches – 23 consecutively – out of 30, drawing the other two. In that year
Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...
also became Europe's top scorer with 40 goals, in what was his penultimate season as a Benfica player. The team scored 101 goals, breaking 100 only for the second time in their history. Jimmy Hagan separated from the club in September 1973 after an argument concerning the line-up for the testimonial match for Eusébio. Eusébio, with whom Hagan enjoyed a lifelong friendship since those days, described the coach as "a strong disciplinarian". "All the players thought his training schedules were too punishing and some were physically sick after the first training session. But after a while, they realised it was worth it as we started winning games. He gave us the extra strength and he is the reason Benfica won three successive championships." In 1975, he managed Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia for the First Portuguese League. In Lisbon he also managed Benfica's local rivals Sporting in the 1976–77 season. He also had spells at Vitoria de Setubal, Belenenses and Boavista where he won the Portuguese Cup.


Sheffield United career statistics


Honours


As a manager

West Bromwich Albion * Football League Cup: 1965–66 Benfica * Primeira Liga: 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73 * Portuguese Cup: 1972 Boavista * Portuguese Cup: 1979


Portraits of Jimmy Hagan

A bronze statue of Hagan by sculptor Kenneth Robertson was unveiled at Bramall Lane on 19 January 2001 by the Portuguese football player/manager Eusebio. A portrait bust of Hagan was also presented to his daughter, Jackie. At the event Eusebio commented: ''Jimmy is still in my heart to this day and I can see exactly why he was so popular with the people of Sheffield. He was my coach at Benfica between 1970 and 1973 and I remember him being a manager who knew how to handle players well. He always offered me good advice and told me where I should be playing to get the best out of me''.


References


Bibliography

*Clarebrough, Denis (1989). ''Sheffield United F.C., The First 100 years''. Sheffield United Football Club. *Young, Percy A. (1962). ''Football in Sheffield''. Stanley Paul & Co. Ltd *Barnard Roger (2007). "The Jimmy Hagan Story", The History Press Ltd.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hagan, Jimmy 1918 births 1998 deaths People from Washington, Tyne and Wear Footballers from Tyne and Wear English footballers Association football inside forwards England international footballers England wartime international footballers Washington Colliery F.C. players Usworth Colliery A.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Aldershot F.C. wartime guest players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. wartime guest players English football managers Peterborough United F.C. managers West Bromwich Albion F.C. managers S.L. Benfica managers Sporting CP managers Boavista F.C. managers Vitória F.C. managers C.F. Os Belenenses managers English Football League managers Manchester City F.C. non-playing staff Expatriate football managers in Portugal