Ernie
Hannigan, who has died aged 72, was Noel Cantwell's first signing as
the Coventry City manager in November 1967. He was a key figure in
the Sky Blues survival in that momentous first season in Division One
but struggled to win a place in the team thereafter.
Born
in Glasgow during wartime Ernie's teenage talent on the football
pitch was spotted by Queen of the South when Ernie was playing for
Celtic's nursery club, St Roch's in Glasgow. He signed for the
Dumfries club as an 18-year old & quickly became a regular. Soon
after his arrival in 1961 the club signed centre-forward Neil Martin
from Alloa Athletic & Ernie became the provider of many of Neil's
goals as the team won promotion to Scottish Division One. In 1964,
after 147 games for the Doonhamers, Ernie joined Second Division
Preston North End for £15,000 & had three good seasons at
Deepdale playing 108 games and scoring 31 goals including a hat-trick
in a 9-0 thumping of Cardiff in 1966. That season he came on to
Cantwell's radar when North End had a good FA Cup run with Ernie
scoring the winner in a Fifth round tie with Tottenham & giving
Cantwell's team, Manchester United, a shock in the sixth round,
holding them to a draw at Deepdale before losing the replay. Hannigan
was one of Preston's stars & although Cantwell wasn't playing he
probably watched the tie.
Noel
Cantwell had taken over from Jimmy Hill as City manager at the end of
October 1967 & chairman Derrick Robins had promised the new
manager funds to strengthen the side which was struggling in the top
flight. Ernie's arrival from
Preston for a fee of £55,000 (just short of the club's record fee at
the time) was followed the same week by Gerry Baker & Maurice
Setters. At the time Ernie was described as a
goal-scoring winger and 'one of the trickiest wingers in
Division Two'. A fast-raiding right winger with excellent ball
control and a vicious shot, he had a interesting running style with
his chest puffed out making him look larger than his 5 foot 8 inch
frame. Hannigan's debut was a depressing 0-3 home defeat to Fulham
which pushed the Sky Blues to the foot of the table, but a week later
at Elland Road Hannigan scored his first goal, a spectacular volley,
to earn City a suprising but valuable point in a 1-1 draw. Nemo in
the Coventry Telegraph described the goal as: 'only a half-chance
executed with power & grace. He moved into Leeds' box for a
(Ronnie) Rees pass and, in one movement, controlled the ball, turned,
and hit it on the volley leaving (Gary) Sprake powerless.'
After only a handful of
games however Ernie was involved in a bad car crash and for a few
days his playing career looked in jeopardy but it turned out to be
bad bruising & he was sidelined for just three games.
In 26 League & Cup
games that season he scored six vital goals including the winner in
the first and only away win at West Brom, and a searing shot which
proved to be the winner over Chelsea at home. In that Chelsea game he
was reunited with Neil Martin who had been signed from Sunderland &
the club named an all-Scottish forward line for the first time with
Baker, Willie Carr & Ian Gibson making up the front line. In the
final game of that season with City needing a point at Southampton to
avoid the drop he was one of the eleven heroes who chased &
harried all afternoon to secure safety with a 0-0 draw. He could
however be frustrating, able to dribble past defenders, seemingly at
will & then pass the ball to an opponent. On more than one
occasion Nemo described him as a 'bewildering player'.
Ernie's stunning goal against Chelsea.
His former team-mates
Willie Carr & Dietmar Bruck have fond memories of Ernie &
both remember the night of a Soccer Ball at the Hotel Leofric when
Ernie, slightly worse for drink, decided to get a taxi to Glasgow.
The taxi-driver took him to his mother's house, he had a cup of tea,
then got the taxi-driver to take him back to Coventry. Willie knew of
Ernie from his Glasgow days: 'He played with my older brother in
Glasgow schools football & immediately made friends with me when
he came from Preston. He was the life & soul of the party, a very
funny man who could make the whole dressing room laugh'.
Dietmar remembers
playing against Ernie before he came to City & admits he was a
fast & skilful winger who could beat most full-backs – but
honours were even between them! He remembered City's game at the
Hawthorns in 1968 when Ernie scored the only goal: 'Before the match,
while we were having lunch, Derrick Robins came in & offered us
all £100 a match each if we could stay up. With sixteen games to go
that meant potentially £1600, a massive amount of money in those
days. The incentive worked that day! John Tudor played at centre-half
& didn't give Jeff Astle a kick and Gibbo put Ernie away with a
fabulous pass & he scored the winner'.
After
three games of the 1968-69 season Hannigan was dropped and made
available for transfer and thereafter was never a first choice
player. He made 15 starts that season and only seven the next season,
as Cantwell’s team headed for Europe. He had a brief loan period
with Torquay United and was recalled to first team action in early
1970 for impressive performances against Arsenal (2-0) and West Ham
(2-1). In the latter game he tied Bobby Moore up in knots with his
direct running style but two weeks later his City career was over and
he was left at home as the team flew off to the USA for a tour. In
total he made 54 appearances for the club and scored seven goals.
That summer he moved back to Scotland and spent one season at Morton,
then had one game the following summer with New York Cosmos, before a
brief spell in South Africa & rounding his British career off in
1972 at Queen of the South and Raith Rovers.
He
emigrated to Australia around 1973 and after a short stay in Sydney
moved to Perth to play for Stirling City. His skill won him many
admirers in Western Australian football and he made the first of
twelve appearances for the State in May 1974 against touring Scottish
side Aberdeen at Perry Lakes Stadium. In 2012 he was made a member of
the Western Australia Football Hall of Fame and a local internet site
describes him as: ‘one of the best outside-rights Western
Australian fans had seen during the mid-to-late seventies’. At the
induction ceremony, an old friend of Ernie's from Glasgow, Sir Alex
Ferguson sent a moving message about their friendship.
Off
the field Ernie became a successful businessman, setting up an
industrial building cleaning business in Perth and it is believed he
contracted asbestosis during this time. In 2010 he returned to
Coventry for a reunion of former players & although he was a
lifelong Celtic fan he kept abreast of City's fortunes from
Australia. His health deteriorated over the last few months & he
died peacefully.
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