Mervyn Day

After the remarkably consistent Ray Goddard and John Jackson came Mervyn Day, signed in summer 1979 for £100,000 from West Ham, who missed just two League games in his four seasons at the club. Born in Chelmsford, he was an England Youth international who Hammers manager Ron Greenwood said would be first-choice at Upton Park “for the next ten years”. He only lasted for five as Greenwood believed “he stopped making progress and didn’t work as hard as he should have done”. But he earned an FA Cup winners medal in 1975 and played in the European Cup Winners Cup final the following year, as well as obtaining five England Under-23 caps. When Jimmy Bloomfield signed him to replace Jackson, he was reunited with former Hammers team-mates Tommy Taylor and Billy Jennings. He had a good first season, despite a 7-3 home defeat by Chelsea and being disappointed to miss the FA Cup game (lost 2-3) at home to his old club. For two seasons in the bottom half of the Second Division table the O’s defensive record was reasonable (54 and 56 goals conceded) and even when finishing bottom in 1981-82 Day was beaten only 61 times. But the following season another relegation was only avoided on the last day, with the goals-against tally reaching 88. At the end of that campaign he joined Aston Villa, and later had a successful spell with Leeds, winning the Second Division championship. Manager of Carlisle for one season, he made a second career as a well regarded coach, with a long spell in the Premier League at Charlton. A total of almost 200 first-team games in four years at Brisbane Road contributed to a career record of 197 apeearances.