Western Daily Press (Saturday)
It’s my job to challenge the boss, reveals Hogg
CHRIS Hogg jokes it was not exactly “love at first sight” when he first met Liam Manning, and providing analysis of their watertight working relationship is not straightforward, but their shared ideas on how the game should be played and the best means to get there, has created a bond that forms the bedrock for Bristol City in 2024 and hopefully beyond.
When Hogg joined Oxford United as Manning’s number two last year the head coach commented at the time that his appointment was “non negotiable”, and you get the impression was the same when the Middlesbrough-native, who returns to the North East this afternoon at Sunderland, followed him to the West Country in November.
Hogg and Manning go back more than 20 years as the then-teenage prospect and England youth international Hogg was signed by his now father-in-law George Burley to Ipswich Town from York City, but never made a first-team appearance.
A year below him in the Portman Road academy at the time was Manning, who had a few experiences of training with the first-team but never made the professional breakthrough.
As Manning elected to begin his coaching journey in his early 20s, Hogg moved on and enjoyed a prosperous eight years in Scotland with Hibernian before retiring at the age of 28 and switching to a career in the dugout himself.
It was back at Ipswich where their relationship was rekindled, or if anything kick-started, as Manning to some extent took Hogg under his wing in the academy, opening the doors and giving him opportunities to work in the younger age groups.
Manning then departed for West Ham as Hogg forged his own career before leaving for Newcastle United, but on a trip to New York to see his pal, an agreement seemed to have been made that whoever received a full-time managerial job first, the other would serve as deputy.
“I was up at Newcastle, taking their 23s, and got a phone call and he asked me to go to MK with him,” Hogg said. “It was a time where I wouldn’t have done it for anybody else, I was forging my own way in my coaching career and enjoying my time at Newcastle, at a really good club.
“For me, on a human level, we share similar values and like to treat people in the same way and sing off the same hymn sheet on a lot of stuff. But, from a friendship point of view, I know we can challenge each other and we have regular debates, or however you want to frame it; I’ll push him to try to make him better and I know he pushes me every day to try and make me better.
“I try and test him on his ideas to push him to new levels and I definitely get that the other way. I know how good he is, and we’re quite aligned in terms of how we like things done. Life’s about experiences, and it was one of them where, ‘Why not? Let’s have an experience’ and no matter what I would learn something from the experience and here we are today.”
Having worked together at MK Dons, Oxford and now City in less than three years it has been a varied experience, and not just in terms of locations, but has established a bond to the point where Manning has kind of indicated Hogg can essentially read his thoughts.
The two are constantly in close communication on the sidelines as, while Manning adopts his position in the technical area to try to conduct matters in-game, Hogg takes the more backseat role to then relay messages and information, further assisted by James Krause in the stands and with an earpiece between the two coaches.
Manning is far from a dictator and Hogg’s thoughts and opinions help drive everything, from substitutions to tactical tweaks, while he is a regular source of advice, information and guidance at the training ground in the build-up to matchdays.
“The trust in each other,” Hogg added, when asked as to what makes them tick. “He knows I’m team-first and I’ll do everything I can to help in terms of his messaging and how he works and, likewise. On a personal level, the amount of respect we have for each other is quite high. It’s not all plain sailing, it’s not a friends thing, my job is to push him and try and challenge things and sometimes that ends up in quite heated debates. It’s a good working relationship and one that has grown over the years we’ve worked together.
“It was his openness to let me in. He was the first coach to say, ‘Come in and work with me’ with the 16s for a bit, so that’s how that started, even though I’d been coaching previous to that at Under-18s levels at Hibs.
“It wasn’t love at first sight, but just two people who enjoy life and want to do the best we can.”