56 in 76.....not bad, but forgotten now

[lancs blue]

you just had to spill the beans didn't you - poor show

Sorry, mind you I think anyone who was interested had sussed it as the OP was 4 hours ago. ;-)

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Yes, they were - I remember one Boxing day DK, Murray & Matt Gray put eight past Scunny at Maine Road.

And there was a 6 and a 4 v Rotherham twice. Eighteen goals in three games!

 

[xgorton]

And there was a 6 and a 4 v Rotherham twice. Eighteen goals in three games!

8 and 4 v Scunny and 6 v Rotherham Dave.

 

[petrusha]

As I recall, he left because, as he put it, he couldn't "sit around waiting for City to become great". He went to Palace (I think) and sank without trace, and City did become great. Stupid, but what a goalscorer.

I think this supposed reason for leaving may just have been DK trying retain his pride. He was actually shown the door, I believe, based on what I've read (probably in David Tossell's excellent biography of Allison).

He was the biggest name in the squad that Joe and Malcolm inherited, having been an England player a few years previously, and had an excellent scoring record, as noted. This is a bit before my time, but I assume that fans would have expected the new management to make DK a key part of their plans. However, Mal had concerns over whether DK would fit in with the style of play he wanted to introduce. I'm not sure how people referred to that back then, but in today's football argot, it would probably be termed playing at a higher tempo.

Mal supposedly thought that DK wouldn't work hard enough, so tested him out in training and found his hunger lacking. Thus Joe and Mal decided to sell him. And having already brought in RB from Scotland as their first signing, getting a decent fee from Palace for DK allowed them to spend a fair wedge by the standards of the time (GBP 35K when the British transfer record was still GBP 115K, if memory serves) on another new signing - a west country boy, MS.

Turned out to be a half decent piece of transfer business in the end, didn't it?!

 

[silverback]

I always thought that a knee injury was the reason he moved on (or was moved on). We did not have the plethora of constant news flashes in those days so any information coming out of the clubs was usually stale by the time we heard it. Classic example being Dave Wagstaffe, his move was done and dusted before we had any idea.
Back to DK, his move to us was a brilliant piece of business and it was a pleasure to watch the lad.

 

[patrickblue]

I think this supposed reason for leaving may just have been DK trying retain his pride. He was actually shown the door, I believe, based on what I've read (probably in David Tossell's excellent biography of Allison).

He was the biggest name in the squad that Joe and Malcolm inherited, having been an England player a few years previously, and had an excellent scoring record, as noted. This is a bit before my time, but I assume that fans would have expected the new management to make DK a key part of their plans. However, Mal had concerns over whether DK would fit in with the style of play he wanted to introduce. I'm not sure how people referred to that back then, but in today's football argot, it would probably be termed playing at a higher tempo.

Mal supposedly thought that DK wouldn't work hard enough, so tested him out in training and found his hunger lacking. Thus Joe and Mal decided to sell him. And having already brought in RB from Scotland as their first signing, getting a decent fee from Palace for DK allowed them to spend a fair wedge by the standards of the time (GBP 35K when the British transfer record was still GBP 115K, if memory serves) on another new signing - a west country boy, MS.

Turned out to be a half decent piece of transfer business in the end, didn't it?!

That's the gist of what I thought happened. I read it in "Worst of friends" a book about Joe and Mal's time at City. The name of the author escapes me, but it was an excellent read.

 

[petrusha]

That's the gist of what I thought happened. I read it in "Worst of friends" a book about Joe and Mal's time at City. The name of the author escapes me, but it was an excellent read.

'Worst of Friends' is by Colin Shindler. It's fact-based fiction, isn't it? Along the lines of 'The Damned United', David Peace's book about Brian Clough's short but turbulent reign at Leeds in 1974.

I think Gary James - Mercer's biographer - as suggested that the Mercer family was a little upset with Shindler's book because, though their professional relationship came to a close, they did regain a warm personal relationship which lasted until Joe died. Anyway, I bought the book on Kindle this morning and will give it a read.

 

[IanBishopsHaircut]

I've got to be honest...even though he was before my time that's not an excuse...I take a bit of pride knowing our history before my conception...but I'd never heard of him until now

That's a phenominal goal record in sky blue

How come he's not talked about?

Is it because he wasn't here for long?

 

[patrickblue]

'Worst of Friends' is by Colin Shindler. It's fact-based fiction, isn't it? Along the lines of 'The Damned United', David Peace's book about Brian Clough's short but turbulent reign at Leeds in 1974.

I think Gary James - Mercer's biographer - as suggested that the Mercer family was a little upset with Shindler's book because, though their professional relationship came to a close, they did regain a warm personal relationship which lasted until Joe died. Anyway, I bought the book on Kindle this morning and will give it a read.

It certainly was written in the style of the damned United, but I'm amazed that CS wrote it.

 

[Gary James]

'Worst of Friends' is by Colin Shindler. It's fact-based fiction, isn't it? Along the lines of 'The Damned United', David Peace's book about Brian Clough's short but turbulent reign at Leeds in 1974.

I think Gary James - Mercer's biographer - as suggested that the Mercer family was a little upset with Shindler's book because, though their professional relationship came to a close, they did regain a warm personal relationship which lasted until Joe died. Anyway, I bought the book on Kindle this morning and will give it a read.

First on the Shindler book - yes, the Mercer family were very unhappy about it. Total misrepresentation of Joe in their eyes and - this must be remembered - it was a piece of fiction not fact. My biography of Joe tells the truth and is based on interviews I personally performed (including indepth interviews with Allison about the relationship). My biog came out in 1993 originally and when I updated it (with more detail and content, not simply a republish) one reviewer suggested I'd only written it to cash in on Shindler's work! Hmm! Who did the research into Mercer's life in the first place? I took the unusual step of writing to the reviewer to explain and he accepted he was incorrect (no correction in print though!).

On Derek Kevan - this was the first challenge for Mercer when he arrived. Here's some wording from my biography of Joe:

Also, Joe surprised many fans when almost immediately he sold the previous season’s top scorer, Derek Kevan, to Crystal Palace. Kevan had suffered from a knee injury and had missed the last 15 games of the season, and Joe doubted whether he could regain full fitness and his old goal touch. Joe told journalist Alec Johnson: “A manager has to make decisions and often quickly. I decided we would be wise to let Kevan go. As I saw it Kevan didn’t fit into the pattern of things. Only time will tell whether it was wisdom or folly to sell Kevan.”

Apart from a behind closed doors reserve game with Bury’s second string, the first real chance for Joe to assess the strengths and weaknesses of his squad came in a pre-season friendly against Scottish First Division side Dundee at Maine Road on 7 August. Joe did not like what he saw, nor did the 10,000 fans in attendance. City were terrible. Mistake followed mistake and City lost 2-1. Many fans questioned the wisdom of selling Kevan without first finding a replacement, and in the second half they made their feelings known. Journalist Ronald Kennedy: “The humiliation of a pounding slow handclap in the 65th minute must have been hard for the City’s hot seat occupier, Joe Mercer. While Mercer must be given time to sort out a bumper bundle of problems, the paying public has a notoriously short temper.

“I can recall no ground in twenty years of sports writing where a ‘friendly’ curtain raiser has got this sort of crowd treatment.”
This shows the significance of researching and portraying things accurately as few ever talk of Mercer (and Allison) struggling to win over fans. People often suggest it all worked well from the start, but selling Kevan was a big issue and Mercer had a task to face to win us over. Anyway, there's much more of course that will interest fans in my biog of Mercer. It's available in hardback and as a kindle here: or