We were saddened to hear of the death of our former manager John Hollins MBE, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 76.
An England international, Hollins came to Edgeley Park in 2003, after a fabulous career that had seen him play more that 600 times for Chelsea. He won FA Cup, European Cup Winners Cup and League Cup winners medals whilst at Stamford Bridge and he later managed the club. He also played for Arsenal and Queens Park Rangers.
Hollins is remembered in SK3 for scoring the first Arsenal goal in their 3-1 League Cup victory at Edgeley Park in 1980.
After managing a number of clubs, Hollins came to County at a very interesting time in the club’s history. He arrived at Edgeley Park in the summer of 2003, as the Director of Football under Carlton Palmer, recommending a number of players who were signed to the club.
When Palmer was sacked in September 2003, Hollins was asked to be caretaker manager and led County for 7 games, which included a 3-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park and a memorable 2-1 victory at Swindon, in which current County manager Dave Challinor featured.
Despite not being offered the manager role permanently by County owner Brian Kennedy, Hollins was to play an important role in a remarkable period in County’s history. Having become one of the very first ever football clubs to enter the emerging Chinese market in 2000, County took the extraordinary step to turn a Shenyang based 2nd Division side into an affiliate club called Stockport Tiger Star. Hollins was asked to manage the team, and he moved to the city in August 2004, having signed a two year contract.
Sadly, the project failed to develop as expected and Hollins was to return after a few months. In November 2005, he was announced as manager of non-league Crawley Town.
John was a popular and highly respected figure, and everyone at Stockport County sends their sincerest condolences to John’s family and friends at this sad time.
