‘Born leader’ Merrick epitomised the spirit which took City to the top flight
LIKE Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, Bristol City had negotiated their own yellow brick road and found themselves in their own version of Oz – a promised land called the First Division in 1976.
Their promotion, confirmed by a nervous 1-0 home win over Portsmouth, was no less than the team deserved; as they had been the outstanding side throughout that 1975-76 season and proof positive that a successful team did not need superstars to shine.
There were no stars in the Bristol City squad – characters yes, but pampered stars with egos and demands to match? No. Bristol City’s path to success and recognition had come about via the qualities that manager Alan Dicks had demanded of the players from day one: hard work, application, team work – and then some more hard work.
One player who relished whatever Dicks had cared to throw at him – and perhaps even ask for more - was defender Geoff Merrick. In an age when football’s hard men were genuinely that, Merrick stood alongside the best of them. Dicks liked what he saw in Merrick – a footballer as tough, uncompromising and desperate to win as he was.
A natural left-footer and an excellent leader on the field, Geoff could mark the most gifted opposition striker out of a match with his decisive tackles, heading skills and ability to read the game.
Merrick was in such outstanding form in the promotion season that legendary Bristol City striker John Atyeo said he was the best defender he had seen.
I first saw Geoff on October 26, 1974, when City played Notts
County at Ashton Gate, my first home game. Biggest cheer of the day came when he slid ferociously into a 50-50 tackle with Brian Stubbs and came away carrying the ball. He had clattered him with such force he remained quiet for the rest of the game.
Football crowds always respond to good tackling. TV pundits never seem to mention it. Perhaps a swerving run or a 60-yard pass volley are more worthy of comment – they are artist’s skills, tackling is merely craftsmanship. Architecture is always more valued than engineering. With the agility of a gazelle, the predatory instincts of a lurking panther, and the heart of a lion, whatever his team needed, he could provide it. When about to play one of his razor-sharp crosses, he leaned over the ball like a crack professional snooker player on the first red of a maximum break. As club captain, there was a great calm about him, but his performances
were pyrotechnical, with fizz and colour in nearly every challenge or forward run.
We are never so impressionable as when we are young. Early devotions stay with us like first love, never forgotten. He was a boyhood hero from the moment I saw him, with his curly mop of blonde hair, Bristol accent and immaculate moustache of a Victorian cad.
He was compact and solid, a tidy brick wall, so he couldn’t easily be bundled off a pass which made the certainty of his control of it more valuable. Although not that big for a defender, he possessed every attribute required for that role. He was strong, brave, tackled powerfully, had a certain muscular grace, great timing in the air and read the game well.
A rare Clive Whitehead goal early in the game on April 20, 1976 clinched the victory against Portsmouth, who belied their already relegated status by putting up a
mighty struggle, before City clinched their long-awaited return to the top division.
Promotion was an ideal birthday present for skipper Merrick, who turned 25 on April 29. If anyone deserved that promotion it was him. It was also the perfect reward for a dozen years loyal service since he joined the club as an associate schoolboy. And at the annual dinner of the Professional Footballer’s Association, he received another accolade. His fellow professionals voted him the best Second Division defender in his left-half position during that 1975-76 season.
To get to that pinnacle, he had had to overcome early adversity. While still a teenager he had suffered a serious knee injury in stretching into a tackle. He had barely recovered from that setback when he dislocated both elbows - one in a match at Sheffield United, the other in training.
He needed determination as well as ability to become so firmly established in the side for so many seasons, moving into the top ten of the club’s appearance list with a final total of 433.
A born leader; with a league debut at 17 in a 4-2 win at Aston Villa in May 1968, he went on to become the youngest captain in the Football League, at the age of 20, when he led out his team at Blackpool on January 22, 1972.
In the autumn of 1976, Norman Hunter was bought from Leeds by manager Dicks and Geoff moved to the left-back position. Norman Hunter left after three years and Geoff reverted back to centre but he could not stop the club’s decline on the pitch as they fell from the First Division to the Fourth Division in successive years. Two attempts from Arsenal to sign him were reportedly rejected by City.
Six years after the joys of leading his beloved club into the First Division and 13 years after his City debut, Geoff became one of the ‘Ashton Gate Eight’, who selflessly tore up their contracts so that financially-ravaged City could survive. Along with Jimmy Mann, Trevor Tainton, David Rodgers, Gerry Sweeney, Peter Aitken, Chris Garland and Julian Marshall, Geoff saved the club from financial ruin - an act which should never be forgotten.
After leaving City, Geoff played in Hong Kong and South Africa, before seeing his playing days in the non-League scene back home. Geoff played for Bath City, Yeovil, Bridgwater and Minehead and hung up his boots in his mid-40s. He should be remembered as the Bristol-born captain who got City promoted to the First Division and gave 15 years of his life to the club, not as somebody caught up in the mismanagement of a football club.