To Avoid The Death Of Hearts

[Gorgiewave]

What are people's memories of the "two-man power struggle" in 1981 between "successful Edinburgh bookmaker and well-known HIbs supporter" Kenny Waugh and A. Wallace Mercer for control of Hearts?

 

Were we really about to go out of business? Did people have preferences at the time for a buyer? Would you have taken Vlad?

 

3-2 to Mercer in the end.

[linkin- hearts]

I'd probably have taken the pieman to save my club, altho my memory's gone so i can't remember it being that bad tbh:whistling:

[tommythejambo]

I have none. I was born 9 years later.

[JamboGuy]

What are people's memories of the "two-man power struggle" in 1981 between "successful Edinburgh bookmaker and well-known HIbs supporter" Kenny Waugh and A. Wallace Mercer for control of Hearts?

 

Were we really about to go out of business? Did people have preferences at the time for a buyer? Would you have taken Vlad?

 

3-2 to Mercer in the end.

 

My memory is based on having just bought shares during the Martin / Watt flotation just prior to this time. The club had (I think) hit the buffers financially, as some initiatives by the club had failed and the writing was on the wall.

 

The thought of Waugh buying us over scared a lot of us witless - it was clearly a "buy to close" move, so Mercer was a real "white knight" for the club.

 

i remember a meeting at a supporters club in Slateford (the club has now gone) where Wallace was introduced and spoke well and convinced us that he was the answer. The rest is history.

 

Ironic then that he also tried a "buy to close" move on Hibs. He succeeded of course, then backed off after the death threats and all that insanity, but he HAD won the takeover!

 

And I recently heard that the Bank of Scotland sent administration papers to the Hobos at their low point, but the club had nobody in the offices at Fester Road, and there was only a groundsman there. Had anyone been in the offices to receive them, how different history would have been!

[andythejambo]

What are people's memories of the "two-man power struggle" in 1981 between "successful Edinburgh bookmaker and well-known HIbs supporter" Kenny Waugh and A. Wallace Mercer for control of Hearts?

 

Were we really about to go out of business? Did people have preferences at the time for a buyer? Would you have taken Vlad?

 

3-2 to Mercer in the end.

 

I remember Donald Ford hanging his flag firmly in the Mercer camp. I think this was one of the reasons the board went with Mercer.

[dc-jambo]

John Fairgrieve, the legendary Sunday Mail writer and Jambo, had said that he 'wouldn't mind if Tynecastle was turned into a car park', but there was no real prospect of the club going to the wall. Nonetheless the club was at an unbelievable low ebb, I seem to remember losing at home in the league to East Stirling.

 

The idea of Waugh filled people with horror, not just because he was a hibbie but because he was a seedy bookmaker, a sort of Leith Arthur Daly figure ...

 

Mercer seemed new and fresh and excited people. When he took over he put up a car for a raffle for a league cup game against Rangers and about 19,000 turned up in the rain (a big crowd for 1st Division Hearts at the time). It seemed like a bit of a new dawn. In retrospect it probably was ... it has never been anything like as bad since

[bean counter]

I remember Donald Ford hanging his flag firmly in the Mercer camp. I think this was one of the reasons the board went with Mercer.

 

Correct and for me what better recomendation could you get

[The Treasurer]

John Fairgrieve, the legendary Sunday Mail writer and Jambo, had said that he 'wouldn't mind if Tynecastle was turned into a car park', but there was no real prospect of the club going to the wall. Nonetheless the club was at an unbelievable low ebb, I seem to remember losing at home in the league to East Stirling.

 

The idea of Waugh filled people with horror, not just because he was a hibbie but because he was a seedy bookmaker, a sort of Leith Arthur Daly figure ...

 

Mercer seemed new and fresh and excited people. When he took over he put up a car for a raffle for a league cup game against Rangers and about 19,000 turned up in the rain (a big crowd for 1st Division Hearts at the time). It seemed like a bit of a new dawn. In retrospect it probably was ... it has never been anything like as bad since

 

If I remember correctly it was a house that was the prize due to our sponsorship with Miller Homes at the time

[The Treasurer]

I remember Donald Ford hanging his flag firmly in the Mercer camp. I think this was one of the reasons the board went with Mercer.

 

With Mercer having the backing of a true Hearts legend like Donald Ford then there was only ever going to be one winner in the take-over battle

[Charlie-Brown]

If the take-over deals hadn't gone through the club would have closed it was as simple as that and until an 11th hour deal Donald Ford helped broker to get Mercer the controlling interest that is what would have happened. Kenny Waugh was a bookie/property developer and Hibs through and through - I don't know why he wanted to buy Hearts but nobody wanted him or his bid. Until Mercer's very late arrival on the scene it looked curtains. I remember as a kid standing outside a meeting between the club and concerned fans / the federation at the Supporters Club in Haymarket - afterwards they all came out ashen faced and in the car on the way home dad said 'that's it - it's all over!' , thankfully a few days before closure mercer intervened and saved the day. The next few years were tough times but we'd survived.

[Fort Vallance]

John Fairgrieve, the legendary Sunday Mail writer and Jambo, had said that he 'wouldn't mind if Tynecastle was turned into a car park', but there was no real prospect of the club going to the wall. Nonetheless the club was at an unbelievable low ebb, I seem to remember losing at home in the league to East Stirling.

 

The idea of Waugh filled people with horror, not just because he was a hibbie but because he was a seedy bookmaker, a sort of Leith Arthur Daly figure ...

 

Mercer seemed new and fresh and excited people. When he took over he put up a car for a raffle for a league cup game against Rangers and about 19,000 turned up in the rain (a big crowd for 1st Division Hearts at the time). It seemed like a bit of a new dawn. In retrospect it probably was ... it has never been anything like as bad since

John Fairgrieve made the comment after we had been beaten at home by Forfar. It wasn't so much a knee jerk reaction as a gradual wearing down. He did put the remarks into context later saying that he meant that he would rather we ceased to exist than dragged the name of a great club down. Just symptomatic of the time and of course wasn't really meant. And he was a regular until his untimely end.

[Charlie-Brown]

John Fairgrieve made the comment after we had been beaten at home by Forfar. It wasn't so much a knee jerk reaction as a gradual wearing down. He did put the remarks into context later saying that he meant that he would rather we ceased to exist than dragged the name of a great club down. Just symptomatic of the time and of course wasn't really meant. And he was a regular until his untimely end.

 

That defeat was AFTER the Mercer take-over and was early in A.MacDonald's reign as player-manager after the hapless Tony Ford had been sacked.

[Gibbo]

I agree that the house was the raffle prize at the 1982-83 LC semi (2 leg home and away at that time) with Rangers; I think that the car had been the prize at the quarter final. My recollection is that you just had to buy a programme to enter.

 

On the original question, I didn't have strong feelings about who should win. I was wary of Waugh because he was a Hibby, but I also liked Archie Martin who'd brought him on board. Delighted subsequently that Mercer won, though.

 

At the time, we had to be bought by somebody with money, or faced oblivion. The sum involved was ?350,000: that is three hundred and fifty thousand pounds, no zeroes omitted!

[Charlie-Brown]

I agree that the house was the raffle prize at the 1982-83 LC semi (2 leg home and away at that time) with Rangers; I think that the car had been the prize at the quarter final. My recollection is that you just had to buy a programme to enter.

 

On the original question, I didn't have strong feelings about who should win. I was wary of Waugh because he was a Hibby, but I also liked Archie Martin who'd brought him on board. Delighted subsequently that Mercer won, though.

 

At the time, we had to be bought by somebody with money, or faced oblivion. The sum involved was ?350,000: that is three hundred and fifty thousand pounds, no zeroes omitted!

 

?350K was a LOT of money in football in those days - put into perspective the Scottish biggest transfer fee's that had ever been paid for players at that time was only ?200K with deals for I.Redford St.Johnstone->Rangers, P.Weir St.Mirren->Aberdeen +I.Scanlon and amazingly the record transfer was held by Frank McDougall Clydebank->St.Mirren.

[gorgie_rebel]

I agree that the house was the raffle prize at the 1982-83 LC semi (2 leg home and away at that time) with Rangers; I think that the car had been the prize at the quarter final. My recollection is that you just had to buy a programme to enter.

 

On the original question, I didn't have strong feelings about who should win. I was wary of Waugh because he was a Hibby, but I also liked Archie Martin who'd brought him on board. Delighted subsequently that Mercer won, though.

 

At the time, we had to be bought by somebody with money, or faced oblivion. The sum involved was ?350,000: that is three hundred and fifty thousand pounds, no zeroes omitted!

 

Deffo remember a car being raffled. They drove it round the track at half time!! (No seriously they did) It was a half maroon/half white (No seriously it was) Ford that Alexanders put up. Can't recall what game it was

 

Do remember something about a house being up for raffle to but thought that was later in Mercers reign???

[cousinsofnoone]

Archie Martin seemed like a decent guy, a Jambo but maybe out of his depth, especially financially.

Oddly, Kenny Waugh's reputation is for keeping things going although this will be tested in the current climate.

I didn't like Mercer and have grave doubts about some of his actions. But there's no doubt 1981-83 saw a change of approach that has meant respectability (and evident superiority over Hibernian) ever since.

[Gibbo]

I do remember the car being driven round the track. I was slightly nervous about what would happen if my Dad or I won it, and we were called down to receive the keys, but had to admit that neither of us could drive!

 

Gritty, Gallant and Glorious says that the car was raffled at the 1982-83 LC quarter final, a 2-1 win over St Mirren in front of 12,000. The house was raffled at the semi against Rangers, a 2-1 defeat. The crowd was 19,000 despite rain and a 2-0 in the first leg; both goals at Ibrox were in the last 6 minutes.

[Wee Tam]

The car and house were both raffle prizes at the Rangers match. The programme cost ?1 and was on sale at newsagents all over the city in the week before the match. The car was from Alexander and house from Miller Homes.