At the beginning of the year 1926, Jimmy Hogan writes an article about some things related to his experiences as a young man and being a coach, too. In a series of interesting comments, Hogan mentions Scottish and English teams and players of the past, continental football, series of mistakes and some basic rules about how players should act.

An article by Jimmy Hogan

The good old days.

It was just 33 years since I was a kid this year that my father took me out to the then-famous Preston North End for the match against Aecrington Stanley. These two teams have since reached the fate of Rome. Preston is now in the second league, and most of his opponents at the time have disappeared from the scene. Sic transit gloria mundi! At the time, however, Preston was a real big team. Even today, I remember every phase of the first match I saw. I will never forget the king of the goalkeepers at the time, Jimmy Trainer, the wonderful Russell, Gordon and Bob Holmes.

I didn’t even take off my children’s shoes when my father took ,e out to see a great team of Corinthians shortly after. They were so strong at the time that they very often defeated the most famous English and Scottish professional teams with colossal goal scores. I remember the names of the Day brothers, Harris, Vassall, and G. O. Smith, among the football giants of the Coirinthians. Already as a professional, I had many occasions to play against the world-famous Vivian Woodward.

When I remember those times, I always say to myself: what wonderful footballers they were, what great artists they were on the ball. For the spectators, these matches were a real celebration, because they saw how unlimited these old footballers were with the ball. It didn't matter to them whether it was a set ball or a ball coming from the air, they scored the goals with the goalkeeper shaking.

Developmental or regressive?

Many people today ask me whether football has evolved since these times and what is missing from football today? If I am allowed to speak from my own experience, then I must say that today the number of truly intelligent football players is very small, rare, like the white raven. There are a few others in Scotland that can be said to be like that. They are the ones who today are amazed by the delicate English demands.

But why should I look so far, to my country. There are also players on the continent that I consider smart players. These include Schaffer, Kálmán Konrád, Braun and last but not least: the king of the continent's footballers, Orth, whose intelligence and ball technique have not been surpassed even in the homeland of football. Not only are these players real ball jugglers, but every move has a self-conscious purpose and that’s why their play is so valuable.

But what about the many thousands of other players who consider themselves football players? What do they think when they are on the field for an hour and a half? How insignificant is the brain work of these during matches compared to their physical work? In fact, I'm going further. I argue that with today’s so-called average player, I have to answer the question of whether he thinks in between with a definite “no”. Most forget even the most basic rules in the game — if they’ve ever known them at all.

The mistakes.

Probably a lot of people respond to this criticism that I judge tulsiguan, but I just don’t see it so dark because in recent years I’ve had to experience the growing amazement that most players only use the greatest human trait in very exceptional cases: their minds. From Sunday to Sunday, I experience the most outrageous mistakes, such as:

1. The inside forward or other player passes the ball to the edge when he is already in a shooting position inside the area.

2. Another player rushes towards his fellow player and eventually gives him the ball briefly, even though he sees that his fellow is absolutely covered by the opponent.

3. The forward pass back and forth in front of the goal and dribble back and forth, which is completely pointless.

4. Then here’s the half-back player who’s constantly stuck with the quarterback and meanwhile forgets that there are strikers in the world who should be supported.

5. Defenders kick the ball without an objective, but they want to kick very risky balls or defend balls with the head that the goalkeeper should pass.

6. The inside forward for all the treasures of the world would not go back for a ball, but wait until the fried pigeon flew into their mouths.

7. There are plenty of right and left wingers forwards who have run into the opponent's cover as a result of a run down or a good pass, and then instead of running further in the direction of the line and centering as soon as possible, they hit and even turn around to deal with the same opponent again. It's almost a boring act.

8. A centre-forward who gets a ball from a tumult falls into the same category and instead of putting the ball somewhere clean, he kicks it exactly into the tumult again.

9. Most forwards are afraid of the responsibility of kicking the ball, and they don't dare break out at the right moment, and by the time they change their minds, the favorable situation is over.

10. To whip the goalkeepers, there are many of them who lose all their science when a defensive player is in front of them.

11. Covering a player at any moment, and that science seems to have been completely lost in football.

The way to improvement.

These would be the main mistakes, followed by a few dozen other minor mistakes. How can these errors be fixed now? Because the reader is right to say that strong criticism alone is worthless. That’s why I’m going to provide some of the directions I’ve experienced in my long career as a player and coach. I start with the elementary rules quite modestly, because repetition never hurts, no matter how smart we consider ourselves.

a) You have to play every match with your whole soul and all your physical strength, because if you really want to play football, you have to devote your whole life to the game.

b) Keep the ball on the ground at all times, or at least slightly above the ground, so that you can best control it.

c) Your objective is always the goal, so think about it every time you pass the ball.

d) Reign over the ball, not the ball over you.

e) If you pass the ball, never pass into the tumult, but to your unique teammate.

f) Try to be clean, to stand free, because if the ball gets to your neighbor, you can easily get to the ball and so the game will be easier and at the same time more beautiful and effective.

g) If you run to the right, pass the ball to the left, and if you run to the left, pass the ball to the right.

h) If you get close to the goal, you must shoot at the goal, unless one of your teammates is in a better position, in which case you must pass the ball to him immediately. But you should only pass in this one case, because never forget that favorable situations are very rare.

i) Don't care about the audience at all, don't talk, don't think about anything, just play for the audience..

j) Practice corner and free kicks diligently, always take time to train because they often smell of goals.

k) Never do it to stay with the same tactic because your opponent will quickly recognize it. On the contrary, always change your tactics. Only then can you always have a tactic, use it if you have a weak opponent where you reach the goal with this tactic as soon as possible.

If players can understand these simple problems, the game will be completely different. Gone are the days when soul and reason reigned in football.

*   *   *

At the end of the article, Hogan indicates that he will provide further advice.