Derby Build-up - the story of Drawmeister Tait

By Albatross
February 24 2003

The Derby Day build-up starts here! And what better way to start than to look at one of the central figures: possibly the only man to have not only played for both Hartlepool United and Darlington, but to have managed them both as well. Step forward, Mick Tait....

Mick Tait is one of the few managers to have held the hotseat at both the Vic and Feethams, together with luminaries such as Cyril Knowles and Alan Murray. Unlike the other two menioned though, Tait's record as Pools Boss was at best moderate. He took over in November 1996, being promoted from Player/Coach after the departure of Keith Houchen.

While Tait had played in the old Division 1 with Portsmouth, his playing career was notable more for it's longevity than anything else; and he was a hard - though not necessarily dirty - and competitive player on the pitch. He managed to win over most Pools fans after arriving from Darlo through his combatative style and always giving 100% effort - as is often said, Poolies don't necessarily expect to see sublime skills, but they do expect to see commitment. The problem was, before long it became apparent that Tait's team was not showing the same work ethic that he had himself....

The 96/7 season was possibly the closest Pools have come to going out of the league since relegation was introduced. Tait took over a demoralised squad that hadn't won for nine games, and we struggled for the rest of the season. Relegation was only definately avoided with a couple of games left, with a Derby Win at Feethams - where Joe Allon famously scored in the last minute while on his backside - and a win over Barnet leaving Hereford and Brighton to fight it out on the last day. We had been helped by a series of late signings; leading up to deadline day, Tait brought in Paul Baker, Mark Proctor, Russell Bradley, Jon Cullen, Darren Knowles and Richard Lucas, and also Michael Brown on loan.

In 97/8 - Tait's only full season in charge - Pools looked likely to do a lot better. Only one defeat in the first nine league games, the promotion-winning strike force of Baker and Allon together up front, and in October the news that IOR had bought the club - followed soon by the arrivals of Martin Hollund, a string of Norse Trialists, and of course Jan-Ove Pedersen on loan. Cullen was scoring spectacular goals in the midfield, but Pools sometimes didn't look bothered, or settled too easily for the draw. Things started to go wrong with the loss of Joe Allon - who retired later that season - and the lack of a striker to replace him. Things got worse when Bakes broke his leg, and for the rest of Tait's reign at Pools we had to suffer the sight of the team obviously in need of a true striker while Steve Howard desperately tried to learn how to play up front. No-one arrived until Midgely towards the end of the season - and even he said when we signed him that he was more of a goal creator than goal scorer.

This pretty much summed up Tait's problem: attracting players. I remember having a conversation with a certain former Fanzine editor at the time, and saying we needed someone with contacts - he pointed out that Tait did have contacts, they were just all in the Northern League! While some of the signings turned out to be good ones, there was a pattern emerging: Cullen came from Morpeth Town, Ian Clark was released by Doncaster, Knowles and Lucas were surplus at Scarborough, Stephenson was not needed at York, Di Lella came from Blyth Spartans.... Some were good enough players, but they were players who were either non-league or were let go without much heartache by their clubs. No-one was ever quite sure if IOR were keeping the purse strings tight, but even so there were better players out there that didn't sign. And Tait found strikers especially hard to come by. Revealingly, he at one point claimed to have enquired for a number of players - none of whom wanted to come to Pools.

The season finished with Pools setting a record. Together with Cardiff, we had drawn no less than 23 games in Division 3 - half of our games, and more than any team in the history of the division. We finished in the bottom half without being in serious danger, but discontent was already growing.

The following season saw things go from bad to worse. Bakes suffered another leg break in a pre-season game; and with the draws turning into defeats, the players half the time not looking interested, and Pools looking doomed, attendances plummeted. On 19th December Pools lost at home to Southend in front of less that 1900 fans; only 300 more turned up on 28th December to see another home defeat, by Rochdale. Tait was about to play his last card.

In the late 70s, Tait had played for Carlisle; while there, he just overlapped with a young player who was to make a name for himself: Peter Beardsley. 20 years later, they would be at the same club again. Beardo had just been released by Fulham, and Pools approached him with an offer: he accepted, and on 2nd January 1999 the Newcastle Legend stepped out onto the surface of the Vic in a blue and white shirt. I'm sure I wasn't the only one to think that Tait had just signed his successor....

Those of us around at the time remember the buzz this created. I made a special trip from Merseyside just for the game; I'm sure a few other exiles came back as well. Posters of Beardsley in Pools Strip were everywhere. And yet, the attendance that day was still just 3800 - despite it feeling like one of the biggest days in the club's history. As it was, he'd probably added at least 1500 onto the gate. Beardsley scored a cracker, we drew the game, but he didn't inspire a revival and Tait was sacked a couple of weeks later after ten games without a victory.

Of the things I most remember about Pools during Tait's reign, there are a couple that stand out. One was the loyalty to certain players beyond the call of duty. Richard Lucas for example played almost the whole of the 98/9 season, and seemed to have maybe one good game in five - but was only dropped right at the end of the season. The other was players being asked to play out of position. Howard had been a decent enough attacking midfielder, but it took him two years to learn how to be a front man; Ian Clark had impressed up front and then as an attacking midfielder, but ended up playing as a wing back following the release of Lucas.

At Darlington, the same pattern seems to be repeating. Of 18 league games in charge, the Loids have clocked up 10 draws; and the fans are calling out for a quality striker, apparently in vain. In fact, the Drawmeister is even in with a shout of breaking his own record: with 15 on the board for the Loids so far, he is only eight stalemates away from equalling the tally achieved when he was at Pools.

The question that's maybe most relevant to Saturday's game is his record in Derby Matches. When in charge of Pools, he saw four matches against Darlo - three of them at Feethams. The first one was a win, the one that went a long way to keeping us up; the next couple were draws, and then there was a 2-0 defeat. Bear in mind that it was only during the 98/9 season that Darlo finished a significant way ahead of Pools, and his record comes out as "ok" but not much more.

So, will he send his team out inspired and fired up to beat the old enemy - and his former team? Well, on that front he'll do a better job that Tommy Taylor; the insipid performance by Darlo at the Vic was one of the final straws for many Loids. But with the difference in class and form possibly as big as it's been in living memory, Darlo are up against it; and I'm sure many of them would be happy with - yet again - a draw.

There will be a full preview of the game later this week, and in the meantime keep an eye out for our February Review of Division 3 - a month that has seen Pools pull even further away from the chasing pack.