Editing Joe Mercer (section)

==Managerial career==
After his playing career ended, Mercer spent a little over a year working as a journalist and a grocer. His wife's family had encouraged him to become involved in grocery during his time at Everton and, while still Arsenal's captain, he ran his grocery business from 105 to 107 Brighton Street, [[Wallasey]].<ref>{{cite book | first=Gary |last=James | title=Football with a Smile: The Authorised Biography of Joe Mercer, OBE | year=1993| pages= 65 |publisher=ACL & Polar |isbn=0-9514862-9-2}}</ref>

On 18 August 1955, he returned to football, becoming manager of [[Sheffield United F.C.|Sheffield United]] two days before their first game of the season against [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]]. Mercer was appointed to replace manager [[Reg Freeman]] who had died during the close season. As a manager, he began inauspiciously and his first season ended in relegation.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

The rest of his time as manager was spent in the [[Football League Second Division|Second Division]] and in December 1958, wanting to move to another club, he resigned and moved to [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]] who were bottom of the [[Football League First Division|First Division]]. Although he led them to the FA Cup semi-finals, he was relegated to the Second Division once again. He moulded a talented young side at Villa and his team became known as the "Mercer Minors". He led Villa to victory in the inaugural [[EFL Cup|League Cup]] in 1961, but suffered a [[stroke]] in 1964 and was then sacked by the Aston Villa board upon his recovery.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clayton |first=David |title=Everything under the blue moon: the complete book of Manchester City FC – and more! |publisher=Mainstream publishing |location=Edinburgh |year=2002 |isbn=1-84018-687-9}}</ref>

Despite this, his health improved and he went on to enjoy great success as a manager with [[Manchester City F.C.|Manchester City]] between 1965 and 1971. In his first season at [[Maine Road]], the club won the 1966 Second Division title to regain top-flight status. Two seasons later, Mercer led Manchester City to the [[1967–68 Football League First Division|1967–68 First Division championship]], and went on to win the [[1968–69 FA Cup|1969 FA Cup]], the [[1969–70 Football League Cup|1970 League Cup]], and the [[1969–70 European Cup Winners' Cup|1970 European Cup Winners' Cup]].<ref name=City>{{cite web|url=http://www.espnfc.com/club/manchester-city/382/blog/post/1966023/joe-mercers-manchester-city-legacy|title=Joe Mercer's Manchester City legacy| first= Simon |last = Curtis|website=ESPN FC.com|date=30 July 2014|access-date=2 March 2017}}</ref>

In the 1970–71 season, Mercer had a dispute with his assistant [[Malcolm Allison]], after the two men became embroiled in Manchester City's takeover battle. Mercer supported the existing board, led by the respected [[Albert Alexander Sr.]], while Allison supported the rival group led by [[Peter Swales]] after being promised that he would be manager in his own right.<ref>{{cite book | first=Gary |last=James | title=Football with a Smile: The Authorised Biography of Joe Mercer, OBE | year=1993| pages= 247–266 |publisher=ACL & Polar |isbn=0-9514862-9-2}}</ref>

The takeover succeeded, and Mercer was shocked to discover that his car parking space and office were removed. This led to Mercer moving upstairs to become general manager at Manchester City in October 1971, with Allison taking over as team manager. Mercer left Manchester City at the end of the season and became manager of [[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]], whom he managed from 1972 to 1974. During the same time, Mercer was also [[caretaker manager]] of the [[England national football team]] for a brief period in 1974 after [[Alf Ramsey|Sir Alf Ramsey]]'s resignation. During his time in charge, England shared the [[1974 British Home Championship]] title with [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]]. In total, Mercer was in charge for seven games, winning three of them, drawing another three and losing one. The [[The Football Association|FA]] was so impressed by these performances that questions arose about the possibility of Mercer taking the job on a longer-term basis, with, as an assistant, his Coventry City protege [[Gordon Milne]]. Mercer, too, seemed open to persuasion but the FA was working on another plan, putting out feelers to the most successful English club manager available, [[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United]]'s [[Don Revie]].<ref name=Lions>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/oct/11/forgotten-story-joe-mercer-england-manager |first=Rob|last=Bagchi | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=The forgotten story of … England under Joe Mercer| date=11 October 2012|access-date=2 March 2017}}</ref>