Chris Hogg had no intention of leaving Newcastle United when he received a phone call from an old friend out of the blue. Within a week, his resignation had been accepted and he swapped life in the North East for a fresh start in Milton Keynes alongside Liam Manning.
The future management duo had come through the ranks as players at Ipswich Town, and became close friends during coaching stints at Portman Road a decade later. Manning was appointed as MK Dons manager after Russell Martin's departure on the eve of the League One season, and there was one obvious choice for the role of assistant manager.
Hogg told ChronicleLive: "We played away at Liverpool with the under-23s, and that evening I got a phone call. By the end of that week, I'm arriving in Milton Keynes and getting unveiled with Liam as part of the management team.
"It was a real dash, a real short window where I had to have some really difficult conversations with people I'd developed close relationships within the academy and down at the stadium. It came out of the blue for everybody, especially Newcastle. It was one of those situations where I had to be honest and go with my gut feeling.
"I wouldn't have left Newcastle for anybody else. I wouldn't have even considered leaving my role at the football club. Liam was the only man in football who I would have even entertained the question from."
Hogg's abrupt and unexpected departure was seen as yet another setback in the latest summer of discontent on Tyneside. Newcastle had taken the extraordinary step of releasing a statement to justify their transfer business, defending the club's ambition in the final months of the Mike Ashley era.
It is a far cry from the mood currently surrounding the club, with expectations now sky-high following January's transfer business and the vision outlined by Amanda Staveley. However, one goal which has remained a constant, as the club's ownership changed hands, is the need to improve the pathway to the first-team.
Hogg was appointed as the lead player development coach for the under-23s in February 2020 with this target in mind. The Longstaff brothers and Elliot Anderson are the most recent exceptions to the rule, with Magpies prospects otherwise struggling to make their senior breakthrough.
For Middlesbrough-born Hogg, it was also a 'big opportunity' to return to the North East. He said: "It was a big family move, and one that I was looking at longer term and hoping to stay for a considerable amount of time.
"It was a real transition period for the club. There had been a few changes, and I came up to try and work with the players to not only get better at football, but also develop them as people. I wanted to get well acquainted with the football club and try and give an identity to the academy and the age groups I worked with.
"I think for me, it was more around trying to get some habits and behaviours into the young players around what it took to become professional footballers, especially at a club like Newcastle. It was about trying to open those pathways up with the first team alongside the academy staff, and try to make the young players realise what it took to be a professional and to try and use every day as a window to perform and give themselves a chance to make that step up."
Hogg would spend the next 18 months working closely with academy staff such as former United defender and current under-23s coach Peter Ramage, and professional development coach Neil Winskill. The former Ipswich coach would lead the under-23s programme on a daily basis, working to implement an agreed upon 'set of values and behaviours' required for young footballers to make the 'step up'.
He added: "There was a real willingness to try and push the better younger players through, and for me it was more around working with the age group to try and give them a career in the game. A lot of them will never play for Newcastle United, and it was around having that pathway open to give the better players an opportunity, and try and give them exposure to some of the demands."
Hogg's time at Little Benton coincided with the toxic final stages of both Ashley and Steve Bruce's tenure. Newcastle faced constant criticism and scrutiny from the outside on an almost daily basis, but Hogg insists these 'negative vibes' did not prove a distraction to anyone at the training ground.
The academy is just one of several key areas identified by the club's new owners for substantial overhaul, but Hogg is confident the Magpies already have the right man at the helm. Steve Harper was named academy manager on a permanent basis in July last year, and the former United coach believes this was a 'big step in the right direction'.
Hogg explained: "Harps is a person I've got a lot of time for. First and foremost, he's a real good person and what he did bring to the football club was that drive and desire to improve things, push boundaries, and try and move things forward. I really enjoyed working with him, and I think he's done some very good things at the football club.
"He's someone who really loves the football club. It was quite inspiring to see someone care that much for the football club, and that rubs off on people and helps energise and invigorate them."
One month on from Harper's appointment however, Hogg handed in his notice and swapped Newcastle's academy for the dugout at Stadium MK. It was an abrupt end to the coach's long-term plan to remain in the North East, but an opportunity he could not turn down.
Hogg added: "For me, the only real disappointment was not being able to finish some of the things that we started. I wasn't looking to leave and I thought we were in a really good place in the academy moving into the new season. It was a real difficult moment, and I wind Liam up now with it saying I didn't really appreciate the phone call."
Manning's side have enjoyed a stellar season to date, but must overturn a two-goal deficit tonight in the second leg of their playoff clash with Wycombe Wanderers. The Dons outperformed a host of former Premier League sides over the regular season and agonisingly missed out on an automatic promotion spot, despite a five-goal thrashing of Plymouth on the final day.
Hogg agreed his switch to Milton Keynes on August 13 last year, a day before the Dons' first home fixture of the season. The former academy coach had to hit the ground running, and the demands of his new role as an assistant manager in League One quickly became apparent.
Hogg said: "Coming in to the football club at the time we did, this season has been a really special experience. It's a great group of boys to work with, we've had lots of challenges, lots of good things and lots of things where we need to get better. I'm really enjoying my time, and it's been a really good period in my career.
"The size of Newcastle and the people you've got to manage at times, it's very different to a League One club. We're a real tight-knit unit at MK Dons. With Newcastle, it was more about developing behaviours and habits to try and give players a career. But here, we've got to win football games with our identity and our style."
Hogg has enjoyed watching Eddie Howe's revolution from afar, and remains in touch with Harper and many of his former academy colleagues. The Newcastle he left nine months ago is already a very different club to the one now plotting the latest stage of the rebuild, but the former coach is adamant he harbours no regrets over his choice to leave last year.
Hogg said: "Everything happens for a reason, one pathway opens and the journey we're on in life is meant for us and we learn lessons along the way. I don't look back, I just wish the best to everyone who is there who I was lucky enough to have met and worked with.
"There's some tremendous people there, and I look for Newcastle's results all the time. I follow them and will continue to follow them and the young players' progress as they move on as well. It's a club really once you join it and become a part of it, it becomes a part of you as well. I will definitely look out for everything to do with them."
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