Ernie Hannigan – SkyBlueArchive

Position

Forward

Nationality

Place Of Birth

Glasgow

Date Of Birth

January 23, 1943

Date Of Death

May 21, 2015 (72)

Games Played

Per Game

Games Started

0.9

Per Game

Minutes

4235

78.4

Per Game

Goals

0.1

Per Game

Assists

0.04

Per Game

Noel Cantwell paid Preston £50,000 for the goal-scoring right-winger in November 1967 soon after arriving as manager. A fast-raiding winger with excellent ball control and a vicious shot, he was not dissimilar to Quintin Young who followed him to Coventry some years later and had been one of the best players in the Second Division that season. His debut, on the same day as Gerry Baker, was a depressing 0-3 home defeat to Fulham but a week later at Elland Road Hannigan scored his first goal, a spectacular volley, to earn City a valuable point in a 1-1 draw. In 23 games that season he scored five vital goals including the winner in the only away win at West Brom, and a searing shot to beat Chelsea at home.
After three games of the following season Hannigan was dropped and thereafter was never a first choice player. He made 13 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. He was left at home as the team flew off to the USA for a tour and that summer moved back to Scotland with Morton. He spent one season at Cappielow, had one game the following summer with New York Cosmos, spent some time in South Africa, before brief spells at Queen of the South and Raith Rovers.
He emigrated to Australia around 1973 and landed in Perth to join 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. He is 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’.

Football League First Division (England)

1969-1970

586′

1968-1969

1188′

1 (0)

1967-1968

2018′

5 (0)

3792′

6 (0)

FA Cup (England)

1968-1969

20′

1967-1968

270′

1 (0)

290′

1 (0)

League Cup (England)

1968-1969

153′

0 (0)

Totals:

4235′

7 (0)