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Mervyn Day

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Mervyn Day and John Pearson - click for larger image  Mervyn Day

Position Goalkeeper
Born 26 Jun 1955, Chelmsford (England)
Height 187 cm
Weight 95 kg
International Caps none

Club From To Apps Goals Sold for
West Ham United 01 Mar 1973 01 Jul 1979 194 0 £100000
Leyton Orient 01 Jul 1979 01 Aug 1983 170 0 £15000
Aston Villa 01 Aug 1983 31 Jan 1985 30 0 £30000
Leeds United 31 Jan 1985 01 Jul 1993 268 0 £0
Luton Town 01 Mar 1992   4 0 on loan
Sheffield United 01 Apr 1992   1 0 on loan
Carlisle United 01 Jul 1993 01 Jul 1994 16 0  

Leeds Career League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other
Season Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1984 - 1985 18   0   0   0   0  
1985 - 1986 40   1   3   0   2  
1986 - 1987 34   5   1   0   6  
1987 - 1988 44   1   4   0   2  
1988 - 1989 45   2   3   0   2  
1989 - 1990 44   1   2   0   3  
1990 - 1991 0   0   1   0   1  
1992 - 1993 2   1   0   0   0  
Total 227   11   14   0   16  

Jabba's Comments

Mervyn Day had a bright start to his career, and after only a short time with West Ham, he was being spoken of as a racing certainty to be the next great England keeper. He became the youngest keeper ever to appear in a FA Cup Final in 1975, but a loss of form and injuries saw him drop out of the side, and Phil Parkes' performances were good enough to keep Day out when he regained fitness. A brief spell at Orient was followed by a move to Villa where he acted as cover for Nigel Spink.

When Eddie Gray signed him in 1985, he proved to be an excellent buy and was a key figure in Billy Bremner's side in the 1987 run to the FA Cup semi-final and League play-offs. He remained first choice keeper for Howard Wilkinson, and picked up a Division 2 winners medal as promotion was finally achieved in 1990. With the re-signing of John Lukic Day was relegated to the reserves and bench and only made 5 more appearances for the first team. One of those I remember as being a particularly excellent and heroic performance from him: it was the day of the infamous "4 centre-backs" defensive formation, the venue was Maine Road, and - but for Merv's heroics - the scoreline would have been at least twice as bad as the 0-4 hammering it was.

He moved on to Carlisle as player-coach in 1993, and is currently coaching at Charlton.

Jeff Walker says: I have been a fan since 1975 when I watched the FA cup final and when he won the PFA young player of the year. Like to get a signed photo.

Gary Holland says: As a boy Mervyn Day was my hero & the reason I became a goalkeeper (against my family's wishes). What a legend he was!!

Jon Penn says: He was not only an outstanding keeper in his day but he is one of the nicest men in football. He is about the game not the politics and i personally don't think he's ever got the respect he should have as a player, manager and coach. Enough respect.

ads says: lives down the bottom of my road and im mates with his son james....top bloke very down to earth and always very polite. VERY passionate about his work. Aslo got me a singed van nisterlooy shirt for my 18th...top bloke

Swerve it Like Merv! says: Merv is the reason I support West Ham. I'm a Taffy and, if some a**hole bothers me in The Boleyn, I relate - at great and boring length - why Mervyn made me a Hammer! Glad to hear he seems like a nice bloke. I wouldn't want to shatter any illusions.


Have your say

Did you see Mervyn Day play? Did you meet him in a pub, go to school with him, decorate his house or buy a motor from him? If you've got any comments or stories about Mervyn Day on or off the pitch, just fill in the form below and (provided they're not blatantly libellous) I'll add them to this page. And just a quick note to the spammers who try to add their links to this page by attempting to get round the client-side validation: don't bother - the server side does similar checks and throws your garbage straight into the bit bucket.

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