Peter Hodge (18 June 1871 – 18 August 1934) was a Scottish football manager who managed

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and spent most of his career with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

(over two spells). He gained promotion while in charge of all four clubs.

Career

Early Career and Raith Rovers

Hodge began his career playing for a local youth team in 1890 then soon became secretary of

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

's junior side whom he took to the final of the Scottish junior cup in 1897. He then became a fully qualified referee and spent a 10-year stint refereeing matches in the Scottish league and also became honorary secretary of Dunfemline in 1906." He was hired

' first manager in 1907 and led them to the Second Division title in his first season in charge. Raith were then elected to the First Division in 1910, he was ousted by an "ambitious director" in October 1912.

Stoke

In June 1914,

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

hired him as a replacement for Alfred Barker. He guided the club to the Southern League Division Two title and successful re-admission to

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, but his chance of management in the higher leagues vanished with the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the suspension of competitive football. Hodge returned to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

where he combined a job as a military recruiting officer with managing Raith.

Leicester City

Leicester as a club had spent most of their pre-war history with a lowly reputation of lower league obscurity, getting small crowds and having had to, on a couple of occasions, apply for re-election. The club also often found itself financial troubles, having entered administration just before the war. However, Hodge began to change the infra-structure of the club becoming the club's first full manager, as opposed to the secretary/managers before him, disbanding the "selection committee" at the club and taking over full control of player and staff recruitment, team selection and tactics. He built the club up over several seasons, instilling the traditional "Scottish passing style" into the club, finally winning 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 ...

in 1924-25 (only the second ever time the club would be playing in the top flight). He brought in players, several from has native Scotland, such as Arthur Chandler, Johnny Duncan,

Adam Black Adam Black (20 February 178424 January 1874) was a Scottish publisher and politician. He founded the A & C Black publishing company, and published the 7th, 8th and 9th editions of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Life Black was born in Ch ...

Hugh Adcock Hugh "Hughie" Adcock (born 10 April 1903 in Coalville, England – 16 October 1975) was an English footballer. Career Club Adcock played for Ravenstone United, Coalville Town, Loughborough Corinthians, Bristol Rovers, Folkestone and Ibstoc ...

Arthur Lochhead Arthur William Lochhead (8 December 1897 – 30 December 1966) was a Scottish association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), centre forward. Having served in the Royal Garrison Artillery during World War I, Lo ...

and

Ernie Hine Ernest William Hine (9 April 1901 – 15 April 1974) was a professional association football, footballer who played for Barnsley F.C., Barnsley, Leicester City F.C., Leicester City, Huddersfield Town A.F.C., Huddersfield Town and Manchester Unit ...

, all of whom would go on to become key players in the club's history and by the end of his stint average attendances had almost trebled from their pre-war averages. This eventually culminated finishing in its highest ever league finish as runners-up in the 1928-29 season, though now under the stewardship of

Willie Orr William Orr (20 June 1873 – 26 February 1946) was a Scottish football player and manager. Playing career Orr began his career at Airdrieonians before moving to Preston North End in 1894. It was at Celtic though where he made his name. He ...

, Hodge is generally regarded as the "primary architect of eicesterCity's rise to First Division respectability." and that "though it was Orr who took the club to its greatest ever league finishes, odgebuilt up many of the systems and much of the side which saw the club go so close to its grail".

Manchester City

He later became

manager, where he once again guided a side to the

title in 1928 and took the club to 3rd in the First Division two years later in 1930. During his time at Manchester City he reputedly signed on

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...

as a trainee.

Return to Leicester and Death

He again joined Leicester in 1932, leading the club reach its first ever

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-final in 1933-34. Though he left on 31 July 1934 after suffering an illness during preparations for the 1934-35 season and died 18 days later in his home town of Perth. He was held in such high esteem by both the club and the players at Leicester that six of his players past and present: Arthur Chandler,

Jim McLaren James McLaren (12 July 1897 – 16 November 1975) was a Scottish professional footballer. He played as a goalkeeper. Career Born in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, McLaren was Scotland's goalkeeper in their first ever schools international mat ...

and Roger Heywood were

pall-bearer A pallbearer is one of several participants who help carry the casket at a funeral. They may wear white gloves in order to prevent damaging the casket and to show respect to the deceased person. Some traditions distinguish between the roles o ...

s at his funeral.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a manager

;

Scottish Football League Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SF ...

Champions: 1907–08 ;

* Southern League Division Two Champions: 1914–15 ;

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

Champions: 1924–25 ;

Champions: 1927–28

References

External links

Stoke City managers
at stokecityfc.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodge, Peter 1871 births 1934 deaths Leicester City F.C. managers Manchester City F.C. managers Stoke City F.C. managers English Football League managers Raith Rovers F.C. managers People from Leith Scottish football managers Scottish football referees Dunfermline Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League managers Footballers from Edinburgh Association footballers not categorized by position Association football players not categorized by nationality Scottish Football League referees