View source for Alan Mullery

{{short description|English footballer and manager}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Alan Mullery <br /> <small>[[Order of the British Empire|MBE]]</small>
| image = Jubileumwedstrijd 75 jaar KNVB. Nederland tegen Engeland 1-1. De Prins wordt voo, Bestanddeelnr 917-2245.jpg
| caption = Mullery (centre) in December 1964, prior to making his debut for [[England national football team|England]]
| fullname = Alan Patrick Mullery
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|11|23|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Notting Hill]], [[London]], England
| height =
| position = [[Midfielder]]
| years1 = 1958–1964
| years2 = 1964–1972
| years3 = 1972–1976
| years4 = 1976
| clubs1 = [[Fulham F.C.|Fulham]]
| clubs2 = [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]]
| clubs3 = [[Fulham F.C.|Fulham]]
| clubs4 = [[Durban City F.C.|Durban City]]
| caps1 = 199
| caps2 = 312
| caps3 = 165
| goals1 = 13
| goals2 = 25
| goals3 = 24
| totalcaps = 677
| totalgoals = 62
| nationalyears1 = 1964–1971
| nationalteam1 = [[England national football team|England]]
| nationalcaps1 = 35
| nationalgoals1 = 1
| manageryears1 = 1976–1981
| manageryears2 = 1981–1982
| manageryears3 = 1982–1984
| manageryears4 = 1984
| manageryears5 = 1986–1987
| manageryears6 = 1990–1993
| manageryears7 = 1996–1997
| managerclubs1 = [[Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.|Brighton & Hove Albion]]
| managerclubs2 = [[Charlton Athletic F.C.|Charlton Athletic]]
| managerclubs3 = [[Crystal Palace F.C.|Crystal Palace]]
| managerclubs4 = [[Queens Park Rangers F.C.|Queens Park Rangers]]
| managerclubs5 = [[Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.|Brighton & Hove Albion]]
| managerclubs6 = [[ATM FA]]
| managerclubs7 = [[Barnet F.C.|Barnet]]
}}

'''Alan Patrick Mullery''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE}} (born 23 November 1941) is an English former [[association football|footballer]] and manager. After enjoying a successful career with [[Fulham F.C.|Fulham]], [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]], and the [[England national football team|England national team]] in the 1960s and 1970s, he became a manager working with several clubs. He is now employed as a television [[pundit (expert)|pundit]]. He is also known for being the first ever England player to be sent off in an international match. In 1972 lifted the UEFA Cup for Tottenham.

== Playing career ==
Mullery played for [[Fulham F.C.|Fulham]] (1958–1964, 1972–1976), [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]] (1964–1972) and [[England national football team|England]] (1964–1971). He appeared in 364 games for Fulham (scored 37 goals), 312 for Tottenham Hotspur (scored 25 goals), and 35 for England (scored 1 goal).

Mullery was a key player for the Spurs teams that won the [[FA Cup]] in 1967, and skippering them to victory in the [[1971 Football League Cup Final]] and the [[1972 UEFA Cup Final]]. In the '72 UEFA Cup Final, his header in the 2nd leg was the decisive goal in a 3–2 aggregate victory over [[Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.|Wolverhampton Wanderers]]. Mullery was also in the [[Fulham F.C.|Fulham]] team that lost the [[1975 FA Cup Final]] to [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]].

Mullery was not included in [[1966 FIFA World Cup squads|England's squad]] for the [[1966 FIFA World Cup]] but was selected to play in [[UEFA Euro 1968]]. In the game against [[Yugoslavia national football team|Yugoslavia]], Mullery committed a foul against [[Dobrivoje Trivić]], and became the first England player to be sent off in a full international match.<ref>{{cite news|last=Murray|first=Scott|title=The players who've been sent off playing for England: who are they, when were they sent off, and why?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2000/jul/19/newsstory.sport4|work=Guardian Knowledge Unlimited|access-date=26 June 2012|location=London|date=19 July 2000}}</ref> He was an integral member of England's [[1970 FIFA World Cup|1970 World Cup]] squad, playing in all the side's games in what proved a bitterly disappointing campaign. England, the defending champions, lost 3–2 to [[Germany national football team|West Germany]] in the quarter-finals, having been up 2–0 in the second half. In that game Mullery scored England's first goal, the only time he tallied for his country.

Playing primarily as a deep midfielder, Mullery did not get many goals. Two he did score (the 1970 World Cup strike against West Germany; a 1973–74 volley from outside the penalty area against Leicester City, voted the BBC's goal of the season) are well known and still talked about decades later.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

== Managerial career ==
Mullery was [[Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.|Brighton & Hove Albion]] manager between 1976 and 1981, and took the club from the third tier to the top flight of English football. When Mullery was appointed manager of Brighton's biggest rivals [[Crystal Palace F.C.|Crystal Palace]] in 1982, it prompted anger and a short-lived boycott from some of the Palace fans.<ref>{{cite news|author=Burnton, Simon|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2011/sep/27/brighton-crystal-palace-rivalry |title=How Brighton v Crystal Palace grew into an unlikely rivalry|work=The Guardian |date= 27 September 2011|access-date=31 December 2012 |location=London}}</ref>

Mullery became [[Queens Park Rangers F.C.|QPR]] manager in 1984 and guided the club to a 7–0 aggregate win over [[KR Reykjavik]] in the 1st round of the 1984–85 UEFA Cup, but he was then involved in an extraordinary 2nd round UEFA Cup tie against [[FK Partizan]]. In the first leg, which was played at Highbury because of UEFA's ban on the artificial plastic pitch at [[Loftus Road]], QPR beat Partizan 6–2, despite being 2–1 behind at one stage and down to ten men after QPR defender [[Warren Neill]] was sent off.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/022a-0e936c8e9476-e33b199ada7a-1000--down-but-not-out-great-europa-league-comebacks/ |title=Memorable UEFA Cup comebacks |publisher=[[UEFA]] |date=18 February 2013 |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref> In the second leg, Partizan won 4–0 in Belgrade to win the tie on away goals. Partizan's victory was only the second time in the history of European competition where a team has overturned a four-goal first-leg deficit.<ref>{{cite web|last=Magowan |first=Alistair |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17244754 |title=Arsenal face mountainous Champions League task |publisher=BBC Sport |date=5 March 2012 |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref>

Mullery's QPR side were also involved in an extraordinary home league match in September 1984 against Newcastle United. At half-time Newcastle were 4–0 up after a hat-trick from [[Chris Waddle]]. But QPR came back after the break to draw the match 5–5.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/archive/Chris-Waddle-article1303.html |title=Chris Waddle – Archive |work=MirrorFootball.co.uk |access-date=10 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003215426/http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/archive/Chris-Waddle-article1303.html |archive-date=3 October 2012 }}</ref> Mullery was sacked after six months in charge at Loftus Road just hours after QPR had beaten [[Stoke City F.C.|Stoke]]. In 1985, Mullery said that his time at QPR "turned me into a monster". He suggested that the players couldn't overcome their disappointment that [[Terry Venables]] had left the club. Mullery blamed what he called "the moaning, groaning bunch of players who treated me, themselves and their profession with contempt" for killing his love of football.<ref>{{cite news|title=I Couldn't Bury The Ghost of Venables|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zOJAAAAAIBAJ&pg=3672,520156&dq=the+ghost+of+venables&hl=en|access-date=11 March 2013|newspaper=Evening Times|date=2 November 1985}}</ref>

After leaving QPR, Mullery stayed out of football management for 18 months until the summer of 1986, when he took over for a second spell as manager of Brighton. He lasted seven months before being sacked in January 1987. Mullery said of his sacking by Brighton: "You love the game, then it kicks you in the guts."<ref>{{cite web|title=Mullery is sacked by Brighton.|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/YESTERMANIA%3A+10+YEARS+AGO%3B+Aldridge+the+new+Rush+and+Mullery+is...-a061098727|access-date=11 March 2013}}</ref>

In the early 1990s, Mullery coached [[ATM FA]] in the [[Malaysian Premier League]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fulham-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/famous_fulham_players_no_44_alan_mullery_539912/index.shtml |title=Famous Fulham Players: Alan Mullery – Fulham FC |publisher=FulhamMAD |access-date=31 December 2012}}</ref> He later served [[Barnet F.C.|Barnet]] as Director of Football during 1996–1997.

Mullery had a brief stint as manager at Sussex non-league side [[Southwick F.C.]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk/news/mullery-back-to-meet-the-fans-1-1128497 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130420224757/http://www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk/news/mullery-back-to-meet-the-fans-1-1128497 |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 April 2013 |title=Mullery back to meet the fans |work=Littlehampton Gazette |date=28 February 2007 |access-date=31 December 2012 }}</ref> He has worked for a number of years as a pundit for [[Sky Sports]], and in September 2005 also briefly took a role with Conference club Crawley Town as a 'football consultant'.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/crawley_town/4245132.stm |title=Mullery is handed role by Crawley |work=BBC News |date=14 September 2005 |access-date=31 December 2012}}</ref>

==Personal life==
After leaving QPR, Mullery entered into a deep depression, worsened by an unsuccessful business venture; he converted to [[Christianity]], though his financial and emotional troubles continued until he began working in the media in the mid-1990s.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Worall|first1=Frank|title=Book of the week|url=http://www.alanmullery.com/Times.htm|access-date=28 July 2015|work=Sunday Times|date=15 October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305212200/http://www.alanmullery.com/Times.htm|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Mullery was appointed Member of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (MBE) in the [[1976 New Year Honours]].<ref>UK list: {{London Gazette |issue=46777 |date=30 December 1975 |pages=16  |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref>

Mullery stated in 1972 that he was a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/sport-and-politics-how-twitter-has-changed-the-rules-10187193.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150420223217/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/sport-and-politics-how-twitter-has-changed-the-rules-10187193.html |archive-date=2015-04-20 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title=Sport and politics: how Twitter has changed the rules|date=2015-04-18|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-05-21|language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Honours==
'''Tottenham Hotspur'''

* FA Cup: [[1966–67 FA Cup|1966–67]]
* Football League Cup: [[1970–71 Football League Cup|1970–71]]
* UEFA Cup: [[1971–72 UEFA Cup|1971–72]]

'''Fulham''' 
*FA Cup runner-up: [[1974–75 FA Cup|1974–75]]<ref name="FACW">{{cite book |first1=Leslie |first2=Jack |last1=Vernon |last2=Rollin |title=Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78 |year=1977 |publisher=Brickfield Publications Ltd |location=London |isbn=0354-09018-6 |page=491}}</ref>
*FWA Footballer of the Year 1975
==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{Soccerbase|5671|Alan Mullery player profile}} ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001144810/http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=5671 |date=1 October 2007 }})
* {{Soccerbase manager|26}} ({{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001162758/http://www.soccerbase.com/managers2.sd?managerid=26 |date=1 October 2007 }})

{{Navboxes
| title = England squads
| bg = white
| fg = #0B0B3F
| bordercolor = #0B0B3F
| list1 =
{{England squad UEFA Euro 1968}}
{{England squad 1970 FIFA World Cup}}
}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Awards
| bg    = gold
| fg    = navy
| list1 =
{{UEFA Europa League winning captains}}
{{FWA Footballer of the Year}}
{{Goal of the Season}}
{{Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Hall of Fame}}
{{Football League 100 Legends}}
{{English Football Hall of Fame}}
}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Managerial positions
| list1 =
{{Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. managers}}
{{Crystal Palace F.C. managers}}
{{Charlton Athletic F.C. managers}}
{{Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullery, Alan}}
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1970 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:Men's association football midfielders]]
[[Category:Barnet F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Charlton Athletic F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) people]]
[[Category:Crystal Palace F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Durban City F.C. players]]
[[Category:England men's international footballers]]
[[Category:England men's under-23 international footballers]]
[[Category:English Christians]]
[[Category:English expatriate men's footballers]]
[[Category:English Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:English Football League managers]]
[[Category:English Football League players]]
[[Category:English Football League representative players]]
[[Category:English football managers]]
[[Category:English men's footballers]]
[[Category:Expatriate football managers in Malaysia]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa]]
[[Category:Fulham F.C. players]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Notting Hill]]
[[Category:Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players]]
[[Category:UEFA Europa League–winning players]]
[[Category:UEFA Euro 1968 players]]