HOW THE ARMY BROUGHT GLORY TO MANCHESTER
Three footballers who became sergeantmajors in the British Army, three footballers who became managers: Joe Mercer, Matt Busby, Don Welsh.
They were comrades and teammates in World War Two, sometimes stationed in barracks at Aldershot, at other times serving behind Allied lines in France, Italy and Greece. Their tasks were fitness exercise for the troops and exhibition football for morale.
Welsh was a Mancunian, an england international with Charlton — he was a Liverpool manager pre- Shankly — whereas Busby and Mercer had to move to Manchester to make their names as managers. But once they did, they moved Manchester.
Busby was first, as a player with City in 1928. he moved south from Scottish mining country near Glasgow. Busby’s father Alex had been killed at Arras in 1916 during World War One, when Busby was seven years old. he speculated that the loss may have made him ‘paternal’ in management. Being in the Army, like his father, meant something to Busby.
Mercer, five years younger, was born in ellesmere Port, Cheshire. his father, also Joe, had played for Nottingham Forest. Joe Mercer Snr also fought in the First World War and was seriously injured in 1917 close to Arras.
‘he was wounded badly in a shoulder,’ Mercer Jnr said of his father, ‘and held in a prisoner-ofwar camp for 18 months. Because of the deprivations suffered then, he was never fit enough for fulltime football after the war.’
As players, Busby and Mercer faced each other once Busby left City for Liverpool in 1936. Mercer was at everton. The war interrupted Mercer’s playing career; it effectively ended Busby’s.
‘I came across him in the Army in Greece and Italy,’ Busby said of Mercer, ‘where as “manager” of the Army team I put him in charge of rations, in which he was as good a provider of food as he was at telling passes.’
When the war was over, Busby was appointed manager of United, where he was to construct the modern club as we know it, while Mercer joined Arsenal. he played until he was 39 when he broke a leg in 1954.
By which time Busby had steered United to the FA Cup and the first of five titles. Just over a decade later, having managed at Sheffield United and Aston Villa (and set up a grocery business), Mercer joined City. It was 1965 and United had won the league again.
City were in the Second Division but promotion was won in Mercer’s first season. City stabilised in the top flight in 1966-67; United were winning it, qualifying for the 1967-68 european Cup. As Busby was on the way to lifting it, Mercer’s City were winning the league. United were second.
Manchester ruled england and europe. It did so under two managers who were neighbours, though not noisy ones. ‘I had decided that loud noises were not my forte,’ Busby said of his management style, ‘and that strength was not measured in decibels.’
Busby said that when Mercer joined City he became ‘my sternest opponent and smiling neighbour in Chorlton- cum-hardy . . . there he set out to dispute the hitherto undisputed title of United as champions of Manchester.
‘As soon as he set foot in Maine road, Joe lifted the gloom that had enveloped Manchester City. he seemed to give stature and stability to the place immediately. The glow of his cheery face helped, but only because it was the happy facade that covered one of the real football brains. he exuded authority. he had status.’
Given United were champions in 1965 and 1967 and european Cup winners in 1968, and City were champions in 1968, FA Cup winners in 1969 and League Cup and european Cup-Winners’ Cup victors in 1970, Manchester had every right to swagger.
The two men behind it were in part shaped by disciplined Army days. Busby stressed ‘delegation’, while Mercer had ‘the most thrilling talk I have ever had’ with Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.
It occurred in the boardroom at Fratton Park in the late 1950s, with Mercer recalling: ‘I was telling him, “The most dangerous place to lose the ball is in midfield when your team are stretched out”, and he cut in with, “Your lines of communication are extended to their greatest”.
‘I told Monty how Archie Macaulay and I had introduced the retreating defence at Arsenal and how our tactics worked well until we met Billy Liddell.
‘Again Monty’s military experience told. “Consolidate, counterattack”, he snapped.’
Such words feel like they come from another world, yet at the beginning of a major Manchester week, the sentiments and photograph carry an echo, as, Mercer and Busby might note, do City and United’s place in the table.