The Coventry City Former Players Association is very sad to report that former Sky Blue winger Ernie Hannigan passed away yesterday morning in Australia aged 72 after losing a battle with cancer.
Born in Glasgow, Ernie was discovered at St Roch’s juniors before joining his first senior professional club, Queen of the South in 1961 where he totted up 132 appearances in all competitions and scored 8 goals. A move south of the border to Preston North End followed and at Deepdale the popular outside right really made his mark over four seasons, scoring 31 times in his total of 108 appearances. His success at PNE brought him to Highfield Road for over £50k in November 1967 at a tricky time for the Sky Blues as they faced their first season in the top division under new manager Noel Cantwell, the Club’s managerial driver of the Sky Blue Revolution (now CCFPA member) Jimmy Hill having shocked the City by departing for a media career.
The Sky Blues all Scottish forward line; Ernie; Ian Gibson; Neil; Gerry Baker & Willie Carr
Ernie quickly established himself and made his Division One debut on 11/11/1967 in a 0-3 home defeat against Fulham and helped CCFC survive relegation that season. The Sky Blues side contained many fellow countrymen in those days and Ernie was pleased to resume a playing partnership with centre-forward Neil Martin in particular. Over three seasons with CCFC Ernie clocked up 7 goals in his 53 appearances in total plus another couple of outings on loan with Torquay United in December 1969 before being transferred to Scottish outfit Greenock Morton for the start of the 1970-1 campaign. The following season Ernie tried his luck in both South Africa and the USA with Elizabeth FC (New Jersey) and New York Cosmos returning back home to Queen of the South and then Raith Rovers in 1972.
After a short sojourn in Hong Kong, Ernie emigrated to Perth, Australia in 1973 and took the job of player-coach at Stirling City FC and other clubs . He also played a dozen times for the Western Australia team and later was inducted into their all-time Hall of Fame. Ernie built up an Industrial Cleaning business in Perth to sustain his retirement from the game. The last Coventry saw of Ernie was when he returned in 2010 to help us celebrate at the Ricoh the 40th Anniversary of the only Sky Blues squad to play European football in the EUFA Cup in 1969-70.
The Association sends its sincere condolences to Ernie’s family and friends at this sad time. A fuller appreciation of Ernie’s life and career will appear in due course on these pages as will details of his funeral arrangements when we have them available.