1. John William Hollins was an English football player and manager.
26 Facts About John Hollins
1. 2.
John Hollins initially played as a midfielder, before becoming an effective full-back later in his career.
3.
John Hollins made 592 appearances for Chelsea over two spells from 1963 to 1975 and from 1983 to 1984, making him one of six players to have made over 500 appearances for the club.
4.
John Hollins subsequently played for Queens Park Rangers and Arsenal, and made a total of 714 First Division appearances, an English top division record for an outfield player and second only to goalkeeper Peter Shilton.
5.
John Hollins moved into football management and took charge of Chelsea in 1985, winning the inaugural Full Members Cup in 1986, but was sacked in 1988.
6.
John Hollins later managed Swansea City, Rochdale and Crawley Town.
7.
John Hollins joined Chelsea as a youth player and made his debut for the Blues against Swindon Town in September 1963 aged only 17.
8.
John Hollins played 592 games, and scored 69 goals in his first spell at Chelsea, and was part of the successful Chelsea sides of the mid-1960s and early 1970s.
9.
John Hollins was Chelsea's player of the year two years running.
10.
John Hollins was with QPR for four seasons, playing 183 matches in total, In his first season with the club, QPR notably finished behind Liverpool by just a single point.
11.
John Hollins made his Arsenal debut versus Liverpool at the 1979 FA Charity Shield.
12.
John Hollins played 172 matches and scored 13 goals, and was part of the Arsenal side that lost the Cup Winners' Cup final in 1980, coming on as a substitute and then scoring in the penalty shoot-out.
13.
John Hollins did miss out on a place in the squad for the same season's FA Cup final, which Arsenal lost.
14.
John Hollins retired at the end of that season, having played 939 first-class matches in total.
15.
John Hollins later had spells as manager of Swansea City, Rochdale and as caretaker-manager of Stockport County.
16.
John Hollins resigned following disagreements over tactics and team selection with Anelka.
17.
On 21 November 2005, John Hollins was announced as manager of Conference National side Crawley Town after the departure of Francis Vines.
18.
John Hollins remained with the club during the financial crisis that saw them docked ten points for going into administration, but left the club on 30 October 2006 after Crawley had been beaten by Lewes in the final qualifying round for the FA Cup.
19.
In 2007 when Kenny Jackett left Swansea City, John Hollins re-applied to become the manager of Swansea City for the second time.
20.
John Hollins did not get the job as it went to Spaniard, Roberto Martinez.
21.
In January 2008, John Hollins took over as manager of Conference National side Weymouth.
22.
John Hollins was joined just days later by Alan Lewer who filled the role of Hollins' assistant for the second time as they were together at Crawley Town.
23.
On 13 November 2008, John Hollins was suspended from his duties by Weymouth, while the Football Conference launched an investigation into whether there had been a breach of contract.
24.
On 3 December 2008, Weymouth announced that John Hollins had been sacked.
25.
John Hollins was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to football in the 1982 Birthday Honours, and made a memorable anti-smoking commercial for television in the same year as part of a Government campaign entitled Look After Yourself.
26.
John Hollins died from a heart condition on 14 June 2023, at the age of 76.