Hearts
He is remembered mainly for improving the fortunes of Hearts during the early 1980s. This culminated in Hearts coming within 10 minutes of winning the championship in 1986.
Mercer is also remembered for his attempt in 1990 to merge the two major Edinburgh clubs, Hearts and Hibs. Mercer reasoned that the Old Firm had far greater financial power than either Edinburgh club and that the only way to realistically compete was with a united Edinburgh club. Hibs fans suspected that the "merger" was more of a takeover by Hearts and they strongly resisted Mercer's bid to acquire a majority share in Hibs. Mercer was eventually forced to abandon his plans as some key shareholders refused to sell to him, denying him the level of shareholding needed to liquidate Hibs. Sir Tom Farmer eventually took financial control of Hibs instead.
In 2010, Mercer's widow and children issued a statement to the Edinburgh Evening News reiterating the reasons for the proposed merger of Hearts and Hibs. The statement also claimed that the increased dominance of the Old Firm since 1990 had vindicated the proposal.
Read more about this topic: Wallace Mercer
Famous quotes containing the word hearts:
“My Christian friends, in bonds of love, whose hearts in sweetest union join,
Your friendship’s like a drawing band, yet we must take the parting hand.
Your company’s sweet, your union dear; Your words delightful to my ear,
Yet when I see that we must part, You draw like cords around my heart.”
—John Blain (18th century)
“We have been weakened in our resistance to the professional anti-Communists because we know in our hearts that our so-called democracy has excluded millions of citizens from a normal life and the normal American privileges of health, housing and education.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
“Chaucer is fresh and modern still, and no dust settles on his true passages. It lightens along the line, and we are reminded that flowers have bloomed, and birds sung, and hearts beaten in England. Before the earnest gaze of the reader, the rust and moss of time gradually drop off, and the original green life is revealed. He was a homely and domestic man, and did breathe quite as modern men do.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)