Last Sunday marked the 25th anniversary since the death of Joe Mercer, who passed on the 9th of August, 1990 at age 76.
One of the true giants of English football in the 20th Century, Mercer was a former player for Arsenal and Everton, and manager for Sheffield United, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Coventry City and the England national team.
A native of Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, Mercer joined Everton in 1932 at the age of 18. With the Toffees among English football’s leading outfits, he would become a vital cog in the half-back line (at a time when the 2-3-5 formation had progressed to 3-2-2-3) which hit its stride just prior to World War II, winning the League Championship in 1938-39, with such players as Ted Sagar in goal, Tommy “TG” Jones, Norman Greenhalgh, Gordon Watson, Torry Gillick, Wally Boys, Alex Stevenson, Sten Bentham and Tommy Lawton. League football ceased three games into the 1939-40 season, however, due to the outbreak of World War II.
When the competition resumed seven years later, most of the squad was still intact, save for Lawton and Gillick, who joined Chelsea and Rangers respectively. New faces included names who would be important for Everton in the following decade, including Peter Farrell, Tommy Eglington, Eddie Wainwright and Wally Fielding. But Mercer himself was to play just 12 more games in the blue before moving to Arsenal, and the following season it would be the Gunners who won their first post-war title. An FA Cup win followed for Mercer in 1950, surrounded by teammates George Swindin, the brothers Leslie and Denis Compton (who also played cricket), Alex Forbes and Jimmy Logie. Another title followed in 1953, which was to be the North Londoners’ last for another 18 years. Mercer’s playing career ended the following season after injury.
In 1955, he took up his first managerial appointment at Sheffield United. His career on the sideline began inauspiciously, for a team containing the quality of Jimmy Hagan, Joe Shaw, Alf Ringstead and Derek Hawkesworth would end up being relegated in his first campaign in charge, and failed to bounce back in the two seasons that followed. In this period, however, Derek Pace was signed from Aston Villa and would become the spearhead of the Blades’ eventual revival.
His next managerial position, at Aston Villa, began in similar fashion during 1958. In Mercer’s first season, Villa reached the FA Cup semi-finals but were also relegated. As is often the case though, such relegations prove to be the springboard for future success. A side managed by Mercer and containing Vic Crowe, Ron Wylie, Gerry Hitchens and Peter McParland would rebound as Second Division champions in 1960 and re-establish themselves in the top flight. Not only that, Aston Villa were also the winners of the inaugural League Cup competition. Nurturing young talent earned the side the nickname ‘Mercer’s Minors’. However, League form could not be sustained and the then 50-year-old would be on his way out by 1964.
The following year, Mercer and Malcolm Allison were to inaugurate a new era at Manchester City, who had been wallowing for a number of years in the Second Division. With promotion in 1966, a side featuring Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell, Franny Lee, Neil Young, Tony Coleman, Glyn Pardoe, Alan Oakes, Mike Doyle and Tony Book would win the club’s second League Championship in 1968, the FA Cup in 1969, and bring home the League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970. However, City would experience an internal rupture shortly after, which would come to define its history in the decades that followed.
This led to Mercer’s departure from Maine Road in October 1971 with Allison taking charge of the side, in a season where the Sky Blues were among the favourites to win the League again. In a sign of things to come, the opportunity would go begging.
Two undistinguished seasons in charge of Coventry City followed but Mercer remained a highly respected figure throughout English football. In May 1974, after Alf Ramsey’s departure from the national job, he became caretaker manager of an England team whose fortunes had been in decline since the start of the decade and had failed to qualify for that year’s World Cup. In the seven games under his management, England lost only once, although that was against Scotland. However, it did seem that the rot was stopped and there were those who believed he should have been given the role full time, which instead went to Don Revie.
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Mercer the effectively retired from football management, although he served on Coventry’s board for a number of years. He died on August 9, 1990 on his 76th birthday. His career in football spanned over four decades and straddled the period either side of World War II, as one of the generation of English footballers who had lost possibly their best playing years to the war.
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