JAMES Hird's admission to hospital comes after several turbulent years in the shadow of the Essendon supplements saga.
2010
August/September: Essendon sacks Matthew Knights as senior coach, replacing him with club legend Hird.
2013
February 5: Following weeks of speculation, Essendon holds a media conference to announce it had self-reported to the AFL and ASADA over supplements use at the club.
April 12: AFL boss Andrew Demetriou says Hird has to consider standing down as the investigations continues into the supplements saga. Hird is adamant he will not step aside.
May 6: An internal review of club governance by Essendon finds "a disturbing picture of a pharmacologically experimental environment never adequately controlled or challenged or documented within the club".
May 22: Essendon CEO Ian Robson resigns.
August 13: Following the release of an interim ASADA report, the AFL charges Hird, assistant Mark Thompson, club doctor Bruce Reid, football manager Danny Corcoran and the club itself with bringing the game into disrepute.
August 21: The AFL releases details of the charges it has laid. Hird and Bombers chairman Paul Little hold a media conference at which they blast the league.
August 27: After behind-the-scenes legal wranglings, the AFL hands down a series of penalties. Essendon is kicked out of the 2013 finals, fined $2 million and stripped of draft picks. Hird is suspended for 12 months.
2014
March 20: Hird's wife Tania, known to be furious at how her husband has been treated in the saga, claims in a TV interview that Demetriou tipped off Essendon before the supplements investigation started.
June 13: Essendon and Hird launch Federal Court action against ASADA, saying the joint investigation into the Bombers was unlawful.
September 19: Federal Court Justice John Middleton rules in favour of ASADA.
October 2: Hird appeals to the Federal Court, but Essendon does not, straining the relationship between coach and club.
2015
January 30: The Federal Court rules against Hird's appeal.
March 31: The AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal hands down a not guilty verdict, with chairman David Jones saying the panel was not satisfied any player had violated the AFL anti-doping code.
August 18: With Essendon's season in free fall following WADA's decision to appeal the anti-doping tribunal verdict, Hird and the Bombers part ways.
2016
January 12: The Court of Arbitration for Sport hands 12-month bans to 34 current and former Essendon players after WADA appeal. Hird describes the decision as a "miscarriage of justice".
May 3: Hird is left facing legal bills of almost $700,000 when the Victorian Supreme Court dismisses his bid to have Essendon's insurer pay for his failed legal challenge against ASADA.
2017
January 5: Hird taken to hospital.
