English footballer, Ken Mulhearn, Died at 72

  Sports

Kenneth John Mulhearn was born on October 16, 1945, and died on March 13, 2018.

He was an English football goalkeeper who played for Stockport County, Manchester City, Shrewsbury Town and Crewe Alexandra.

He began his career as an apprentice at Everton but did not make the first team, and moved into the lower divisions with Stockport County, where he made 100 appearances.

He was signed by First Division Manchester City on 21 September 1967, a transfer which Stockport great Len Allchurch later reflected on by saying “…a great ‘keeper. We never thought we’d replace him when he went to City”.

Later, Two days Manchester City’s first choice goalkeeper Harry Dowd sustained an injury, and Mulhearn took his place in the team, his debut coming in a Manchester derby.

Mulhearn kept his place for the remainder of the season, gaining a League Championship medal as part of Manchester City’s 1967–68 title-winning side.

Kenneth John Mulhearn started the following season as the first choice but was dropped following a European Cup defeat to Fenerbahçe, in which his failure to claim a cross resulted in a winning goal for the Turkish side, leading Malcolm Allison to blame him for the defeat.

Mulhearn did not feature again that season and dropped to the third choice behind Dowd and Joe Corrigan. He returned to the first team for brief periods in the 1969–70 season, but by this time Corrigan had become established as a senior player and opportunities were limited.

Mulhearn made his final Manchester City appearance in a 1–1 draw against Arsenal on 18 February 1970.

During March 1971 Mulhearn transferred to Shrewsbury Town, where he made 370 league appearances in nine years.

Mulhearn’s final club was Crewe Alexandra, where he made 88 appearances before retiring to run a public house in Shrewsbury.

Mulhearn’s grandson is current Southampton goalkeeper Harry Lewis.

He died in his sleep on 13th March 2018 at 72 years.