Football's Braveheart , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Mike Donovan

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412 pages

English

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Football's Braveheart is the riveting life story of Dave Mackay, the fearless, skilled, heroic and barrel-chested left-half who was an icon for Spurs, Hearts, Derby and Scotland. Off the field, Dave was a humble, fair-minded, sociable man. On it, he was an out-and-out winner, a warrior and inspiration with consummate ball skills and intelligence. The heartbeat of Spurs' double-winning side of 1961, he came back after two broken legs to add to a glittering trophy collection started at Hearts. After his playing career, Mackay distinguished himself as a title-winning manager with Derby County. A legends' legend, he was lauded by George Best as the hardest and bravest opponent he ever faced. Fabled managers Bill Nicholson (Spurs) and Brian Clough (Derby) hailed him as their best signing, and other admirers included Jimmy Greaves, Denis Law and Sir Alex Ferguson. Author Mike Donovan has gained exclusive, first-hand insights from those who knew Mackay best to bring you the definitive story of a man who made an indelible mark on football.

Informations

Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	19 juillet 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781785319648
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2021
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Mike Donovan, 2021
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright.
Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781785317910
eBook ISBN 9781785319648
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Contents
Foreword by Derek Mackay
Foreword by Denis Law
Prologue
1. Miracle Man
PART ONE: BEGINNINGS
2. Family and friendship
3. These boots are made for football
4. A wee guy who was a bit special
5. Rising Newtongrange star
6. Hard but fair
PART TWO: HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN
7. Superman in maroon
8. Golden years
9. Living for the weekend
10. Auld Reekie blew its dignified top
11. A dream come true
12. World Cup
PART THREE: TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
13. How would you like to live in London?
14. Transformed everything
15. The main man
16. Esprit de corps
17. The Double completed
18. Glade all over
19. In his element
20. My dad was always for the club, never himself
21. Broken legs, broken hearts
22. The second coming
23. Fairytales can come true
24. A born leader
PART FOUR: DERBY COUNTY
25. Brian Clough
26. Exceptional player, exceptional human being
PART FIVE: MANAGEMENT
27. Becoming a boss
28. Sowing seeds for Forest growth
29. No other manager could have done it
30. The real deal
31. Ken s Roller
32. The cradle of civilisation
33. Dubai to Doncaster
34. A strong character
35. Pioneer s final frontiers
PART SIX: POST-CAREER
36. What more can a man ask?
37. Having a right good laugh
38. Ninian Cassidy, ex-Hearts and Tottenham
39. Legend
40. The Banner Man
41. My best friend
42. I was blessed
43. Legacy
Postscript
APPENDICES
1. Eulogy
2. Historians
3. Fans
4. Poets
5. Quite interesting
6. Honours and career record
Acknowledgements
Credits
Bibliography
Photos
DEDICATIONS

Author and Mum

Mims

Author s Mum by Georgia Rose Lucas
Mum, Kathleen Louise Donovan (10 October, 1930-13 April 2020): Forever a shining light
Dad, Maurice Donovan (15 October 1927 to 18 December 2000): Gave me my love of Dave Mackay, Spurs, football and a lot more
Mims (Sybil Lilian Leaver 22 April 1922-24 November 2020): Lovely and loved
Rosemary, Matthew and Benny: My foundation
Christine and Sean: Just the three of us
Mark, Tony and other mates who stood on the East Stand terraces at White Hart Lane with me watching Dave Mackay
Isobel and family
All supporters of the game
The NHS for all it does for us
Bobby Wishart: 10 March 1933-3 December 2020
Glenn Roeder: 13 December 1955-28 February 2021
Aunty June Perkins and family, thinking of you
Foreword by Derek Mackay

DAD S PASSING turned all the family s lives upside down. We all miss him and always will. He s constantly in our thoughts and we gather on his birthday and the anniversary of the day he passed to remember him, together.
We are so proud of what he achieved as a footballer and, more so, as a father, grandfather, great grandfather, husband and friend.
We are grateful his legacy in the game remains strong. It s amazing. My son Daniel and I are Tottenham Hotspur supporters and read the online match programmes the club sent us during the 2020/21 season, with games played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus pandemic.
There was a feature in which Spurs supporters picked their all-time XI, and Dad s name was the first put down on the sheet by more than one. He is revered by young and old supporters for how he came to the club when they were close to relegation and turned it around to go on and win the Double and more in the club s Glory Years of the early 1960s.
It is fantastic when you think of all the great players the club have had. The fact his legacy has lasted all these years, I feel, shows you what sort of player and person he was. Even after all this time there s also loads of interest from Derby County, Heart of Midlothian, Scotland, wherever he played. And football supporters in general, I would have thought.
But Dad never spoke about himself as a great player. When he was growing up, Tommy and Frank, two of his brothers - the other one was Ronnie - were with him at Hearts at one time. He would say, Tommy was a great player, and, Frank was a great player. Somehow they never made it but he never mentioned himself as a great player. Ever.
Lots of people such as team-mates, opponents, managers, supporters, analysts, whoever - with Bill Nicholson, George Best, Jimmy Greaves, Eus bio, Sir Alex Ferguson and Daniel Levy in the queue - have used the adjective or similar to describe him. They point out how he helped whatever club he was with to win trophies almost every season he played, and claimed a few as a manager. That he is a legend s legend.
What he did was incredible. He captained Scotland, and skippered Hearts to the title and cups. As well as the Double, he came back from a broken leg twice to lead Spurs to a third FA Cup in his time at White Hart Lane. He captained Derby into the First Division and also in the top flight, then managed Derby to the championship when the whole world was on his shoulders as he replaced Brian Clough with the players wanting their old manager back. But he left the judgements on his career to all those who made them. He had self-confidence but never bragged.
People said he was skilful and strong as a player. Hard but fair. He hated bullies, which was why he didn t like that famous picture of himself grabbing Billy Bremner by his shirt collar because it creates the false perception he was one, which, of course, he never was.
He always had a winning mentality. My uncle Pat told me he showed it when he saw Dad play Terry Venables at squash. Terry hit this ball which came off the wall dead low in the corner. Dad threw himself into it, sliding across the floor on his chest and got to it. It left him with red stains off the court markings all up his white tracksuit. He was so determined to make the shot.
Now and again you see on the internet how Dad loved Hearts. Of course he did. They were his first club. He supported them as a kid. But a lot of players have another team that they loved. He really loved Spurs - right to the end. He had great times there, and he also retained a love for Derby County.
Different times, of course. It is all corporate now for guests in the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when you go to matches. Lovely meals in a lovely place, but Mum said when she went to games at White Hart Lane she would go to a little tea room to get a cuppa and maybe a sandwich at half-time.
My earliest memories are sitting on wooden benches by the tunnel for a game at the Lane. The excitement was fantastic. My first memory was sitting on a bench and being absolutely amazed as I saw the top of my dad s head as he climbed the steps of the players tunnel and fully emerged looking twice as big as he was, wearing his Spurs kit and thumping the ball he was holding high towards the goal where the team were to warm up. And there was this big, ear-splitting roar.
I also recall when I used to go to Derby County with Mum, my brother and sisters when he played there too and Dad s manager Brian Clough patted me on the head when I was introduced to him. He had an aura about him. I ll always treasure those memories.
He was a great dad and loved his family. He was fun to be around. He d look out for all of us - even when we got older - to make sure we were all right. My mum was always supportive of Dad. They were devoted to each other for 60 years. It must have been hard for her when they moved down from Scotland when he was off with Spurs. They didn t know anybody and she had to look after us kids, but she did well. Our parents gave us a wonderful upbringing.
All of us children - David Junior, myself, Valerie and Julie - were born in Scotland.
At the time, if you wanted to play football for Scotland you had to be born there. Perhaps he was looking for at least one of us to follow in his footsteps, I don t know, but none of us became professional footballers. David Junior and I played for a while. We were captains at our junior school, Merryhills. David Junior was good and it was a shame the asthma he had held him back. I became disillusioned when the teacher at my secondary school, Enfield Chace, put me at full-back and told me not to go beyond the halfway line. I was an attacking midfielder! Maybe he just expected me to be brilliant in every game because I was Dave Mackay s son and didn t think anything of it when I played well.
Dad was so generous. My mum remembered a time when he was at Derby and the team coach driver, Eric, liked his expensive raincoat. Eric drove him and a friend to the races at Uttoxeter and he came home minus his coat. He said, Eric liked it so I just gave it to him. Eric was so proud of it.
Dad always liked music. So did I. He loved the Beatles and David Bowie. I had a band in London with friends called Stroyd - we thought it was a trendy name as it sounded like asteroid - during the Glam Rock era of the early 1970s. Slade had made an album called Slayed . We called a cassette we made D-Stroyd . I had a snare drum and a cymbal and we played around e