On 15 June 1972 one of the most shameful days in the history of Manchester City Football Club occurred when Joe Mercer resigned to take over at Coventry City. It’s a long story, which I go into in significant detail in Football With A Smile: The Authorised Biography of Joe Mercer, but in essence following the takeover battle of 1970-71 the new guard of directors (which included Ian Niven and Peter Swales) were gradually gaining greater control of the club. Niven, a proud supporter of Malcolm Allison, always felt Allison should have control of all aspects of team affairs and never actually rated Mercer (Niven asked me in 1989 when my first book came out: ‘Why’ve you got Mercer writing the foreword? He did nothing for City!’).
Joe felt unwanted and he was probably right. Despite being City’s most successful manager of all time until the trophy-successes of Pep Guardiola, the new board wanted Malcolm in control. Ultimately, Malcolm also felt let down by the new board and he resigned within a year.
It was a shameful day when Mercer felt so let down that he had to leave City. The highly successful era he had managed came to an end and it is significant that under the new board only one major trophy was ever won. The club lost its way and the die was cast. There were some great moments – but they were moments not years of success like Mercer had brought with Allison as his number two.
Copies of my Mercer biography are still available here:
Gary James' Football Archive 