It's Mick, Not Mike

Description

Mick Duxbury played more times for Manchester United than any other player during the 1980s, clocking up nearly 400 appearances in a key era for the club which was full of entertainment and controversy, sowing the seeds of unprecedented success. Brought to United by Tommy Docherty, Duxbury played under three further managers at Old Trafford as the Red Devils continued their rebuilding after promotion back to Division One, on the cusp of the era which saw them become the most widely supported club in the world. Mick played in two FA Cup final victories and suffered several near misses as the club sought to break Liverpool's dominance. Duxbury tells the compelling story of an era of changing identity at United, sharing frank and honest opinions on the club's achievements, why they fell short and what he saw in Alex Ferguson that would ultimately bring the success he so badly craved.

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785311130
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2015
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Mick Duxbury and Wayne Barton, 2015
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 978-1-78531-049-2
eBook ISBN: 978-1-78531-113-0
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword by Bryan Robson
Natural Progression
Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn t Work Hard
There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.
Big Changes
Whatever you are, be a good one.
Que Sera Sera
Recollections
From Bournemouth To Barcelona
Show me a person who doesn t make mistakes and I ll show you a person who doesn t do anything.
False Dawns
The Tough Winter
A man is judged by his deeds, not his words.
A Legacy Is Born
The best way to kill time is to work it to death.
Chasing Shadows
History never looks like history when you are living through it.
Pastures New
Over The County Border
Fragrant Harbour
In order to write about life - first you must live it.
Photographs
To Karen, wife and best friend
Acknowledgements
To Wayne, for the belief, time and effort in bringing this book to fruition. Thanks to Paul and Jane at Pitch Publishing for getting it down in to print!
Foreword by Bryan Robson
W HEN I joined Manchester United, Mick was typical of what I expected to find. Hard-working, conscientious, and dedicated to his profession. And professional is the key word for him because you knew you would get that from him in every single match he played. His discipline was good too - he d always be one of the first in for training and would carry out the instructions from the manager on to the pitch when it came to matchday.
Sometimes you would get players who came into training and just wanted to muck about but Mick was serious; he trained like he played, and that for me was part of what made him such a good player.
He had already developed that kind of reputation in the game and when I saw it first hand I was able to confirm it for myself. There was no room for slackness with him and it set the standard, not just for the new players like myself, but for younger lads who would watch us train and play.
He was a really good lad, too. He was quiet and kept himself to himself - on the pitch, he was an organiser, but he wasn t a shouter who would bollock a team-mate. He d leave that to the gobshites like me! But we complemented each other well and in fact often played together in midfield. That versatility was part of why Ron Atkinson really liked him. He was a great right-back but he would do a good job for you in midfield or wherever he played.
Mick and I enjoyed some successes together at Old Trafford, mostly in the FA Cup. It was a team of blends, where everyone brought something different, and Mick s hard-working ethic and professionalism were instrumental. That was Mick - seven or eight out of ten every week. He d never let you down and his skill set was undoubtedly part of the reason we were a good team.
At a club like United you ll always have fierce competition. Ron was trying to build a squad and I can understand that once players come in who play in your position that you can feel threatened or as if the manager doesn t fancy you. That s football. I still speak to Ron and he talks very highly of Mick s professionalism and quality as a player, and it s a testament to his ability that he outlasted all of the players brought in and fought off some competition from good players.
As I mentioned, Mick s versatility was a good trait, and that, coupled with his attitude, made him a valuable player for managers to have around. First, Dave Sexton, who brought him in, and then Ron, and then Alex Ferguson. That reminds me of a story - we were coming back from an away game on the coach and the gaffer and I were looking for people to make up the numbers in our card school. Mick, who normally never played, joined in with us. As we re playing we re giving each other a general knowledge football quiz and we got around to asking the gaffer to name all of the players to have played for England with the letter x in their surname. I think there were seven at the time, and the gaffer got six, but hadn t yet named Mick. Mick was sat next to the boss and is almost pulling behind so as not to make it obvious - we re all killing ourselves laughing. After a while he gets it and throws the cards down in a strop!
Maybe that story sums Mick up - he went about his business so well and without any fuss. Managers keep players like Mick because they are so valuable and that s why he remained at Old Trafford as long as he did.
I think he certainly had the ability and athleticism to have remained at United a little while longer, to have been part of the squad that won the European Cup Winners Cup or even the league trophy he wanted so badly. I can sympathise because I was fortunate enough to just benefit from some of that avalanche of success United enjoyed. He was unlucky in both respects, not just missing out on the league, but also in Europe as he (like the rest of us) didn t get the opportunity to play in Europe after our 1985 win. Of course it is always sad to see someone who you have shared a dressing room with and always respected move on.
He was such a good player that he was rewarded with international caps and we played a few times for club and country, including the famous win we enjoyed together for England in the Maracana. Our last professional encounter came as I was coaching for the national side and Mick played for a select side against us just before Euro 1996. That was his retirement game, and we had a good few pints together afterwards.
We haven t seen much of each other since but that doesn t surprise me - he always kept himself to himself. That s not to say he didn t join in with us when we were out on tour but he would leave the mischief to McGrath, Whiteside and myself. But that was Mick, and his professionalism. He gave a good, honest 100 per cent every time, the perfect type of player for a manager. He perhaps had a lot more ability than people maybe give him credit for - it s an obvious point for me, not least because he played almost 400 times for Manchester United, but also because he had the footballing intelligence to perform in a number of positions and perform to a high standard - and I m proud to have called him a team-mate for so long.
1
Natural Progression
N ATURAL progression. It s a phrase that I thought and talked a lot about when deciding to write my story and when I actually started putting it in to words. It summarises much of my early development and movement into the sport with which I would become most recognised.
I was always for the outdoors; you could always find me playing out, whether it was playing football, other sports, or just as kids mucking around. We lived on a terraced street with a close neighbourhood and any free time would be spent going out with my mates. Not that I wanted to be away from my family. I suppose I had your normal upbringing, there was a lot of love and affection in the family, but I was always one to be playing outside, especially in the summer holidays. First thing, it d be what are you doing today? and the answer was going out! You d call on someone and get three or four of you in a group. We d go all around but there was one place we d gravitate to more often than others and that was the Square . Its posh name was Nelson Square , but it was only a piece of waste ground, so I don t know why it had a posh name as such! It was surrounded by fencing but there was just enough of a gap to squeeze between or slide underneath it to get in.
There, we d just have a game of footy, play cowboys and indians, cops and robbers or other games that had less politically correct titles which seemed harmless when you were kids but not the kind of things you d want to repeat in this day and age. We d go scrambling on our bikes, go down the river to try and catch some sticklebacks, climbing trees really, just the typical things you would expect of any normal boy, the kind of things you would hope that one can experience.
Dad worked down the pit at Huncoat Colliery which sadly closed down in 1968 in the Bevan Closures. Mum had a few jobs but the one I remember most was when she worked at a local factory called Rist Wires which had a predominantly female workforce; of a morning, dad would be up and out early, mum would get me and my older sister, Anne, ready for school and then get ready for work herself. Six years after me, our younger sister Louise came along, too. We were able to just walk around to our local junior school which was only three or four streets away. It was Sacred Heart Primary, situated in an old Victorian building which has since been knocked down and replaced by a newer school adjacent to it.
We had a good childhood, there was always food on the table and clothes on our backs. We managed to go away on day trips to the coast on a Sunday, or down the Ribble Valley where we d take a picnic. I think, as much as anything, it was good for mum and dad to get out and do something and forget about work for a few hours, but we certainly appreciated the value of how hard they worked.
I grew up in Accrington on Russia Street - my mum and dad still li