Dave Mackay - happy 80th!

  • The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...

    Get involved!

Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports

I disagree. He was a hell of a player, had the ability to go with his combatative nature.

I agree, the man had bags of ability. But tackling of pretty much any format is now outlawed, so hed be off in no time. Im not saying he was a dirty player, just a hard one, and there arent many of them left in the game now, if any.
 
I agree, the man had bags of ability. But tackling of pretty much any format is now outlawed, so hed be off in no time. Im not saying he was a dirty player, just a hard one, and there arent many of them left in the game now, if any.
And that's what is missing, the hard men of football: Spurs Legend Dave Mackay a top draw player.
 
I would have loved to have seen him play live. According to reports, he was the final piece in the jigsaw for Billy Nick and complemented Blanchflower to a T. Although he had a reputation of being a hard man, Mackay was as skilful as anyone who has worn the lilywhite shirt. That picture with Bremner is iconic - it was Mackay's first game back after suffering two broken legs and Bremner, being the dirty dog he was, went in over the top. The look on his face paints a thousand words. Mind you, if Mackay had done that now, he would have been red-carded.
 
Dave Mackay was the one player my dad always raved about over any other. Whenever I mentioned any player from any club his stock answer was "not in the same league as Mackay". Now the old man knew a bit about football so whilst I also never saw him play in the flesh , I would take his word on that. He was a hard bastard alright, but had some fantastic ability.
 
Last edited:
I am going to get either that or Bill Nick at the gates - but probably end up getting both!
I want to go LARGE but the long suffering Mrs has yet to be convinced.
you got a link to where i can buy those from? already got the famous mackay one & a signed one of Hoddle but gonna grab the old man another for christmas
 


Dave Mackay hated this picture... he was no bully, he was a giant of the game​

  • The great Dave Mackay passed away aged 80 this week
  • He would have hated the obituaries. Not for the words, it was the pictures. Specifically, a picture. You all know the one
  • Sir Alex Ferguson loved it so much he had it hanging in his office. Yet Mackay was revolted by the image
  • He winced inwardly each time it was pushed under his nose to be signed
  • But he obliged anyway, despite the distaste. He was polite like that and, as he was anxious to point out, certainly no bully
  • 'The hardest man I ever played against, and the bravest,' George Best recalled
  • John Terry is arguably the only world-class player England have
  • Radamel Falcao's struggles do not matter to Manchester United - Angel di Maria's dip in form is deeply worrying, however
By MARTIN SAMUEL - SPORT FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 23:00 BST, 3 March 2015 | UPDATED: 00:17 BST, 4 March 2015


Dave Mackay would have hated the obituaries. Not the words, of course, heavy with superlatives, admiration and appreciation, from those who had seen him play and others who had merely absorbed the legend.
It was the pictures. Specifically, a picture. You all know the one.
Sir Alex Ferguson loved it so much he had it hanging in his office. Yet Mackay was revolted by the image. He winced inwardly each time it was pushed under his nose to be signed. But he obliged anyway, despite the distaste. He was polite like that and, as he was anxious to point out, certainly no bully.



The iconic image of Mackay confronting Billy Bremner of Leeds during in August 1966


Dave Mackay despised this iconic image of him confronting Billy Bremner of Leeds in August 1966

Mackay is crowned by  Jimmy Robertson (right) after Spurs beat Chelsea 2-1 in the 1967 FA Cup final


Mackay is crowned by Jimmy Robertson (right) after Spurs beat Chelsea 2-1 in the 1967 FA Cup final
Mackay kisses the League Trophy alongside assistant Des Anderson after guiding Derby to the title in 1975


Mackay kisses the League Trophy alongside assistant Des Anderson after guiding Derby to the title in 1975
DAVE MACKAY FACTFILE
ClubGames Goals
Hearts (1953-59)135 25
Spurs (1959-68)318 51
Derby (1968–1971)122 5
Swindon (1971-72)26 1
Scotland (1957-65)22 2
Mackay is remembered as a giant, but in reality he stood the same height as Jermain Defoe. Jimmy Greaves, a team-mate at Tottenham Hotspur, recalls that, sitting on bar stools, he and Mackay would regularly win money in pubs from mug punters, who would bet that Mackay was the taller of the two. When they climbed down and took off their shoes, it became obvious that Greaves had a good inch on him. It was the way Mackay played that fooled them; as if he was enormous. Harry Redknapp, a schoolboy on Tottenham’s books when Mackay was in his prime, says he once watched him plough through the West Bromwich Albion team, tackle after tackle, up-ended opponents lying in his wake.


Another sickening night of football violence: Patrick Vieira ATTACKS rival fan during pitch invasion, and other top stories from May 20, 2022.



Others talk of his incredible skill. Graeme Souness, also a Tottenham apprentice, witnessed Mackay’s ability at first hand. He says he would throw a ball up in the air and volley it repeatedly and ferociously against a wall at Tottenham’s training ground, 20 yards out, left foot then right foot, never letting it drop.
His trademark as he ran out on to the pitch was to launch a kick high into the air, and then kill it on his instep as it fell to earth. It was said to be his way of intimidating the opposition, letting them know how good he was.
Later in life he admitted that was only half the intention — he wanted everyone to see his ability, even his own fans. Famed for his tackling, his goalscoring ratio was one in six. So it pained him that one image, albeit iconic, came to sum up his playing style and career, as if he was a big bully, and no more. Even though football men like Ferguson loved the picture, too, it still rankled.
Yet what if Mackay was around today? These are very different times, with blanket television coverage and tribal divides ever more strongly reinforced by social media. It is noticeable that some of the kindest words said about Mackay came from opponents.
‘The hardest man I ever played against, and the bravest,’ George Best recalled. ‘The greatest captain I ever saw,’ echoed Alan Hudson, who only came across Mackay at the tail-end of his career for Derby County.
Best  feels the full force of Mackay's right boot as the pair battle for the ball in 1971


Best feels the full force of Mackay's right boot as the pair battle for the ball in 1971
Manchester City's Mike Summerbee grabs hold of Mackay during a 1968 Division One match


Manchester City's Mike Summerbee grabs hold of Mackay during a 1968 Division One match
Mackay rises for a header in a 1968 league match between Spurs and Liverpool at White Hart Lane


Mackay rises for a header in a 1968 league match between Spurs and Liverpool at White Hart Lane
Mauricio Pochettino: Dave Mackay's death is a great loss


Meanwhile, fans swapped memories and appreciations — regardless of club loyalty. This is what has been lost.
These days, we seem incapable of agreeing that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are great players without having to choose a side. We have been sated by seeing the best footballers on television each week. There is nothing special in the sight of Messi on goal, or a flying block by John Terry.
In Mackay’s day, his visit was an event. So recollections are kinder, gentler, even when recounting brute physicality. Did Mackay leave a trail of West Brom players in his wake, as Redknapp says? Probably not. Did Mackay never let that ball drop in front of Souness’s eyes? Unlikely. Yet are those memories, as rose-tinted as they may be, not healthier than the vitriol pouring down on Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard each week? Undoubtedly.
Had Mackay been playing for Tottenham now, the rest of London and much of the country would be doubting his influence after serious injury or decrying him as a thug. We are increasingly losing our ability to simply appreciate.
Ferguson wrote the foreword for Mackay’s autobiography, and named him as captain in his dream Scotland XI, but their first meeting was not so comfortable. Ferguson was a teenager playing for Queen’s Park reserves, Mackay recovering from injury with Hearts. He clattered through the young man, first tackle of the match. Second time out, Ferguson did the same to him. ‘Do you want to last this game?’ Mackay asked as he rose. Ferguson stammered that Mackay had booted him earlier. ‘I tackled you,’ Mackay replied. ‘If I boot you, you’ll know.’
Sir Alex Ferguson had a copy of the photo framed on his office wall at Manchester United

Ferguson had a copy of the photo framed on his office wall at Manchester United
Mackay took Francis Lee to the Baseball Ground in 1974 and his 33 goals helped to fire Derby to the title


Mackay took Francis Lee to the Baseball Ground in 1974 and his 33 goals helped to fire Derby to the title
Then Manchester United boss Tommy Docherty and Mackay share a moment during a 1976 charity game


Then Manchester United boss Tommy Docherty and Mackay share a moment during a 1976 charity game
And that was the point. Mackay didn’t boot too many. He didn’t actually need to. A tackle from Mackay felt like a booting from most others and it was this combination of brain and brawn that made him so admired, and so unhappy at seeing a career reduced to a single image of a confrontation with Billy Bremner; particularly as it was the Leeds man who took the liberty that day.
August 20, 1966, first afternoon of the new season, Tottenham versus Leeds United at White Hart Lane with Mackay only recently returned from his second broken leg. A tackle from Noel Cantwell of Manchester United snapped his left fibula and tibia in a European Cup-Winners’ Cup tie in 1963. Mackay came back nine months later and, four games in, the same leg was broken again in a match against Shrewsbury Town reserves. And that was his beef with Bremner. Mackay was carrying the ball with his right foot, but Bremner went in high on his left. Mackay thought he had either deliberately targeted his weak spot to cause another injury, or tried to intimidate him into thinking his leg could be broken again. Hence his fury.
The image is as famous as it is powerful. Mackay wasn’t much taller than Bremner, but he appears to tower over him in the shot. He is mid-stride, and his right arm is outstretched and claiming Bremner by the front of his shirt, as referee Norman Burtenshaw races over to keep the peace and Tottenham team-mate Terry Venables looks on.
Mackay is snarling, outraged. Bremner has his arms spread wide and is offering no resistance, his face a study in wounded innocence. He knows he has gone too far this time. Mackay hated it because he thought he looked like a bully.
‘He’s smaller than me and I’m picking him up,’ he explained in 2009. ‘I’m not a bully and don’t like bullies. Billy was a brilliant little player but a dirty b*****d. If he’d kicked the other leg, I could have accepted that. But he kicked the broken one, and that really annoyed me. I could’ve killed him.’
Mackay, who also played for Hearts and Swindon, was capped 22 times by Scotland


Mackay, who played for Hearts, Spurs, Derby and Swindon, was capped 22 times by Scotland
Mackay leaps to join  the celebrations after Alan Mullery had scored Spurs' opener against Leeds in 1966


Mackay leaps to join the celebrations after Alan Mullery had scored Spurs' opener against Leeds in 1966
Sir Bobby Charlton and Mackay chat  at Wembley as Royal Mail's Football Heroes stamps are released in 2013


Sir Bobby Charlton and Mackay chat at Wembley as Royal Mail's Football Heroes stamps are released in 2013
Yet professionals adore this photograph. Why? They adore Mackay. They adore the mix that Greaves found so extraordinary. ‘A genuinely hard b*****d and a truly gifted ball player,’ he said. ‘A world-class enforcer, a sweeper — and he also understudied up front for me when I was injured.’
To see evidence that he scared even Bremner — 10 stone of barbed wire, as he was once described — epitomises both the man, and the time, and breathes life into those memories of another age. Mackay was very ill later in life but while he could he still watched Derby or travelled up to see his friend, the manager of Manchester United.
He disliked the dishonesty in the modern game. Feigning injury, trying to get an opponent sent off. ‘I think that’s disgusting,’ he said. And it is. However much Mackay hated that famous photograph, there is an endearing truth to it. Nothing is sly, all is on show.
There is a story about Mackay and the great Jim Baxter, on Scotland duty, going head to head in a crossbar challenge. As the pair match each other strike for strike, a knot of players forms around them. They reach eight each, nine each, 10. Mackay puts the ball down. ‘OK, Jim,’ he roars, ‘let’s try it with our right foot now.’ There was only one winner, after that.
 
Loved Dave Mackay , he was one of my first Spurs heroes . Had that picture of him grabbing Bremner by the throat on my bedroom wall as a young lad. Absolute legend , RIP . They don’t make them like him anymore
 
Dave is in my all time best Spurs players team.
He might have hated that photo but it summed him up.
Bremner was a proper bully at the time and Dave bullied him.
 
I remember him scoring a goal direct from a corner kick. When you're a boy that sort of thing really impresses you. Massive presence on the pitch.
 
Back
Top Bottom