By Since66
November 20 2008
Whilst researching about Mickey it doesn't seem possible that Mickey only played 53 competitive games (+ 1 sub app) in a Blue shirt and only lasted a season and a bit.
With the impact Mickey made on Chelsea and the fans it does seem that he spent longer than he really did at Stamford Bridge.
Recently at an after-dinner speaking engagement he expressed to the listening audience when asked the question, 'Where were your most memorable playing days?' Mickey replied. "CHELSEA." It didn't go down too well with the Man Utd fans in the audience, well as it was a Man Utd speaking engagement - Mickey's remarks didn't go down well at all! He said that he took stick for his comments and had to spend a lot of time explaining his reasons. Mickey's career has certainly been colourful and his career has had more clubs than you will find in a golf bag. At 15 he was taken on by Wrexham. He spent the first two years cleaning boots, clearing up and generally doing apprentice things stuff. At 17 Mickey made his Wrexham first team debut and then under manager John Neal, Mickey helped Wrexham get to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1974, European Cup Winners Cup quarter-finals in 1976 and ultimately led Wrexham to the 'old' Third Division in 1978. For the next three years of his career he spent at Man Utd making 90 appearances and scoring eleven goals. In 1979 he was a FA Cup runner-up after Man Utd lost to Arsenal 3-2. From Man Utd, Mickey moved on to Everton, the club he supported as a boy but had a row with manager Howard Kendall after Mickey refused to play for the reserves. His next two clubs before he came to Chelsea were Brighton where he made twenty appearances and then Stoke City where he scored 14 times in 57 appearances. In 1984 he was re-united with his first boss, John Neal and Mickey became an instant hit with the Chelsea fans. Mickey recalls, "I met a guy recently who told me that he was the first Chelsea supporter I spoke to on the day I signed for Chelsea, as I drove into Stamford Bridge with John Neal. I remember it well." Mickey made his debut for Chelsea away at Derby County a game that Chelsea won 2-1. A week later he scored twice on his home debut against Sheffield Wednesday, Chelsea won 3-2. He scored four times that season and his third goal came against Portsmouth and his fourth was against Leeds United as Chelsea trounced them 5-0. Its ironic that Mickey's first goals for Chelsea were against Sheff Wed, because he recalls that Sheff Wed were Chelsea's rivals in those days, Chelsea played them so many times in such a short space of time the saga is on par with the current Chelsea v Liverpool epics that we have witnessed. Mickey said, "Sheff Wednesday had a real problem with us, although their big, burly defenders were always a bit wary of me because they thought I was a psycho! They always remembered me for the game at Hillsborough when I knocked one of their team-mates out for saying something about my wife. They weren't happy at the time but, to be fair, one of them did tell me afterwards that I did the right thing." Little did we know what would happen the following season as Chelsea and Sheff Weds fought out three epic League Cup ties, including the famous 4--4 (see video below). Ultimately Chelsea won 2-1 and were then knocked out in the sem-final by Sunderland. With the two league games against Wednesday that season, they didn't beat us once. Mickey played 36 times that season, plus 1 sub appearance scoring seven goals. It wasn't so much what Mickey did on the field for Chelsea during his time, it was the infectious nature of his character and the fact that he had his best mate, Joey Jones at Chelsea at the same time. The pair of them used to do everything they could to get the crowd going and they both played played their hearts out for the badge and the shirt. After Chelsea, Mickey went to WBA, then Derby County, Wichita Wings, Shrewsbury Town (where he played against Chelsea and got a heroes welcome), Leeds United, Stoke City and finally Wrexham. Mickey wrote his name into football folklore after his wonderful free-kick helped to knock out Arsenal of the FA Cup in 1992. Mickey is an 'infamy' legend after getting jailed for 'passing' forged notes around the apprentices at Wrexham. Nowadays Mickey does a lot of media work for Man Utd, but he does get to see Chelsea when he can. Mickey has recently started to write a column for the popular Chelsea 'fanzine' CFCUK and it is planned that he and Paul Canoville will be at the CFCUK stall on December 14th (before the game against West Ham) to speak to Chelsea fans and sign their respective autobiographies. Worth another look - Sheff Weds 4-4 Chelsea
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Quote:redlyn
mickey!
memory loss, that is the only logical explanation.