Jimmy McMullan June 1934 - October 1936

In June 1933, McMullan was appointed manager of Oldham Athletic and a year later the Aston Villa directors saw him as the man to take on the role of Villa's first team manager.

Unfortunately his spell at Villa Park was a traumatic affair. Villa were relegated for the first time in their history (at the end of the 1935-6 campaign) and McMullan was held responsible.

He spent over £35,000 on new players, which was a lot of money at that time, but unfortunately it had little or no effect on the team's overall performance, although several of those players signed by McMullan helped steer Villa back into the First Division in 1938.

Jimmy Hogan November 1936 - September 1939

Jimmy Hogan was a coach well in advance of his time and, because of this, his value was largely ignored in England. Born in Nelson, Lancashire, in 1883, Hogan was an average inside-forward who saw service with several clubs including Nelson, Rochdale, Burnley, Bolton and Swindon.

He moved to Fulham in 1905 and won two Southern League Championship medals and played a few Football League games for the Londoners.

He replaced McMullan in November 1936 and immediately blended together a useful Villa team which gained promotion at the end of his second season. He also took Villa to an FA Cup semi-final before World War Two ended his link with the club.

Sadly, Hogan's methods tended to be resented by many English players so the Football League never really saw the best of his work.

After the war he was involved with Celtic, Brentford and Villa again, but his greatest triumphs were once again reserved for the Continent.

Hogan went to coach in Hungary and there contributed towards the great Honved club side from Budapest and, of course, the Puskas-Hidegkuti inspired Hungarians who hammered England for 13 goals in two internationals in 1953 and 1954.

Alex Massie September 1945 - August 1949

Originally an inside-forward with Partick Thistle (where he played alongside another future Villa manager in Jimmy McMullan), Alex Massie's playing career took off with Hearts where, as a wing-half, he displayed a methodical skill, poise and splendid positional sense.

He was capped 18 times by Scotland between 1931 and 1937, skippering his country in 1935. He also represented the Scottish League on six occasions.

After five years with Hearts, Massie signed for Villa for £6000, in December 1935 and was instrumental in helping Villa regain their First Division status in 1938.

His managerial career began in September 1945 when he took over the vacant post at Villa Park. He stayed in the job for five years and, whilst achieving nothing in the way of honours for the club, he did sign some exceptional players, including Trevor Ford, Dicky Dorsett, Leslie G.F.Smith, Colin Gibson and Con Martin.

In November 1950, he became manager of Torquay United and later managed Hereford United who were then in the Southern League. Massie then retired from football and went to live in Welwyn Garden City where he continued to coach in schools and youth clubs. He died on 20 September 1977.