Dave Mackay

Sorry to read about the death of Dave Mackay.
Loved to see his image on postage stamps that adorned envelopes reaching New England, bringing back memories of one of the hardest, most aggressive players ever to "grace" our game.
A mate of mine, goalie who played on West Brom's books and faced Duncan Edwards in Youth Cup combat, played against him whilst in the Army - said Mackay had the hardest shot he'd ever faced. And a lot more.
Difficult to appreciate now what an influence he was on so many teams, but a great footballer sadly departs.

I was lucky enough to see Dave Mackay's debut for Spurs in March 1959 at White Hart Lane. Manchester City, with Bert Trautmann in goal, were the opponents.
   Spurs, who were fighting relegation, won 3-1, avoided the drop and went on to their finest-ever few seasons, with the marauding Mackay their inspiration.
   He was, arguably, Spurs' greatest player. I saw my first Tottenham match in 1957 so cannot include the likes of Dimmock, Grimsdell, Jimmy Seed, Burgess, Ramsey and Ditchburn (who I did see a little of) in my greatest-ever assessment.
  But Mackay had everything - drive, flair, toughness, competitiveness, the lot. I recall one Xmas match at WHL against West Ham. Spurs were without Jimmy Greaves, so Dave was pushed up into the attack. He scored a hat-trick in a thrilling 4-4 draw with his final goal coming in the last minute.
Twice he had to come back from a broken leg and even when he left Spurs he, with Clough, inspired Derby to great heights.
  Sadly his death means that six of the great Spurs Double-winning side have passed on. Recently Ron Henry died. John White, tragically, was killed by lightning in 1964. Danny Blanchflower went in the early 1990s and Bobby Smith and Bill Brown are no longer with us.
  Happily, Cliff Jones is still going strong, at 80, as are Terry Dyson, Peter Baker, Maurice Norman and Les Allen. Mackay was the best of the lot.

I saw Dave Mackay in the latter stages of his playing career for both Spurs and Derby. Kwini and Sir Fred have provided excellent summaries.

Rare to find someone so tough and competitive but also so skilful. In addition, he was a brilliant reader of the game - something that Clough & Taylor recognised and used to great effect at Derby.

Worth flagging as well that after Clough's resignation, Mackay returned to Derby as manager and led them to the English title.

Interesting that Dave Mac disliked THAT picture of him picking up an innocent-looking (far from it!) Billy Bremner at WHL on the opening day of the 66-67 season.
The reason? He was more than just a hard man. He could really play. It's been heart-warming reading all the tributes today. Also, plenty of fans have felt a part of him, thanks to his Scottish and English club links- both playing and managing.

sirfred,
Is that an innocent looking El Tel-to-be in the background of THAT picture?

Incredible to think he only won 22 Scottish caps.

Kwini - It certainly is Terry Venables who was far more popular as a manager at WHL than as a player.
  On the Scottish caps, Mac reckons he was scapegoated after the 9-3 massacre against England at Wembley at 1961 (another match I was at, and in which Mackay scored).

Just for once Sky Sports did the right thing and showed last night a lovely interview from 1999 of Dave Mackay with Brian Moore. Well, I say 'interview' but it was really more of a delightful friendly chat.

I had forgotten how thoughtful and quietly spoken Mackay was. Inevitably, the Jekyll and Hyde comparison between his manner on the pitch and off it was made by Moore. Mind you, Mackay didn't hold back at times from making a point. When Moore mentioned about Mackay twice breaking his leg, Mackay quickly corrected him - ''I never broke my leg, someone else broke my leg'' - and went on to leave no one in any doubt that Noel Cantwell was responsible for the first injury.

Nice story as well about when Mackay and Clough in their management days came across each other when watching a reserve match at Birmingham. They accepted a half-time invitation to go into the board room for refreshments. And that was it! As Cloughie urged - ''Never mind the football, Dave, stay and have another drink''.

Wasn't at WHL last night but understand that among the former Tottenham players paying tribute to Dave Mac were Cliff Jones, Phil Beal, Alan Mullery and Pat Jennings - not a bad quartet.

I'm surprised nobody has posted a link to the picture mentioned in a couple of posts above. There's Dave, letting a "Butter wouldn't melt" Billy Bremner know who's boss.  In an era when there were a lot of hard men in football, Dave Mackay...... well, let's just say Dave could look after himself.

And yes, the other Spurs player in the picture is Terry Venables.

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