Anyone remember why Keith Hill didn't sign him when on trial, as he then signed him for Rochdale 12 months later? was it just Dale were in a lower division?
I saw Hogan play for Stocksbridge against us in a pre season friendly. Mido walked around the pitch in that game too (due to being so out of shape he couldn't even break into a jog). Anyway, Hogan was Streets ahead of any other player that day and thats when Hill took him on trial. I was a bit surprised we didn't take a punt on him to be honest. Good old Hilly. Never thought he'd be worth 10 million plus but he looked handy.
I was at that game too and from memory Hogan played on the wing and had a great game. Mind you, Scott Wiseman was on the pitch so it's all relative.
Only seen him once, at Brentford. I didn't really notice him too much as our centre halves bossed their forwards. I noticed that Brentford were always trying to get the ball in behind for him, which we rarely allowed on the day. Anything high played up to him with his back to goal was a waste of time. If he's worth all that money then Winnalls got to be in the same price bracket, as they're both out of contract at the end of the season according to bloke on radio Sheffield. Sent from my SM-G850F using Tapatalk
First laid eyes on Hogan when he was playing for Stocksbridge reserves against Rotherham U18 in 2011- a friend of a friend was in the Millers academy side. You could see the talent was there but he looked to over complicate things. Very much like a young Ronaldo - same position and move set. Fast forward to the pre-season of 2012 and we took him on trial. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was the same player I'd seen months before as I wondered how such a talent was plying his trade so low down. The game I saw for him in a Barnsley shirt was against Crewe. We lost and deservedly so! Very weakened side and Dagnall was up front with him - no slight on Chris, always rated him. In his post match Hill described him as an exellent player but he spoke of how he needed to impact centre halves more when playing as a striker. When he got the Rochdale job again, one of his first actions in the following pre-season was to sign Hogan. Hill said he wanted to take him to Barnsley but there was complications with the fee Stocksbridge wanted. Sounded like the club didn't want to pay the sum they were wanting for such a lowly ranked player. He also mentioned he didn't give him professional terms when he was at Dale as a youngster becuase "he wasn't ready for the rigors of the professional game".
I remember reading an article not long after Rochdale signed him that explained he'd taken time out of football to bulk up in the gym so he could be stronger on the ball. The rest is history I suppose - started doing the right things on and off the field and the rest fell into place.
The latest as per the Sun is its 9m up front then 6m of add-ons. Whatever, we will get a couple of million and then 25% of add-ons thereafter. These are the deals that have paid off for us overthe years, just not to such a big extent. What Hogan has got which might see him do it in the Premier League is devastating pace. He scares defenders to death on top of being a very good goalscorer.
This was the season he had with us. Quite devastating. The same season we got promoted and Winnall was at S****horpe. I dont do pre seasons but had heard amazing things about this Hogan fella who had apparently been with us as an Academy player but been released. His debut was his 1st goal on this clip and to be honest we were all looking at each other in the stands all thinking the same thing - what is this fella doing here? What was he doing at Hyde Utd and how did we get him for nowt! Certainly the best debut I've seen and I'm so thrilled he's hopefully going to get his chance in the Prem. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6uFOCytCJK4
Very true. Credit to him for doing that. He's got the mental strength to be successful having come back from two serious injuries.