Football revolutionary who wore his heart on his sleeve

AS A rugby player from the west coast, Wallace Mercer did not exactly have the conventional background for someone destined to become a major figure at Heart of Midlothian FC. Then again, conventionality and predictability were not exactly major features of his 13 years at the helm of the Edinburgh football club.

Although a conservative politically and in terms of personal etiquette, Mercer was often a revolutionary force in the staid, stuffy world of Scottish football. His most radical act - the attempted merger with Hibernian - may have ended in failure, and Hearts did not win silverware during his long tenure, but in other respects his reign was a success both in its own right and in terms of its modernising influence on the game in general.

For one thing, unusually in an industry long accustomed to taking its core audience for granted despite a long-term drop-off in attendances, Mercer insisted on referring to paying spectators as "customers".

Being well aware that people had a choice whether to attend football matches, he also did everything possible to influence that choice, and was a master of publicity.

For another, while no new silverware came to Tynecastle during his time as chairman and majority shareholder, the club did make significant and lasting progress. It was on the brink of being closed down by creditors when Mercer took over in 1981, and was unable to maintain a place in the Premier Division. He first stabilised the club financially, then with astute coaching appointments was able to instigate steady progress on the field as well.

In retrospect, it is clear that Mercer was exactly the right kind of man to take over at Hearts. He had built up his own business interests from nothing: who better to restore the fortunes of an ailing club?

Born in Dunoon, he moved to with his family to Glasgow, and later attended Eastwood Academy. His father, a tax inspector, died when he was ten. His mother, a teacher, helped him continue with his studies through school and on to Strathclyde University, but financial hardship prevented him from completing his degree in accountancy, economics and law.

He then moved to London, where he continued his studies by night, working for Wiggins Teape, the paper-makers, by day. In order to economise, he stayed at the Caledonian Christian Club in Euston for nine months, but also made useful social and business contacts by joining London Scottish, the rugby club for which his father had also played.

His career began to take off with his return to Scotland in the early 1970s. He joined Millers, the building firm, staying with them for three years before branching out on his own with the formation of Pentland Securities in 1975.

Mercer and his wife, Anne, whom he had married in 1970, began buying up office blocks, mews properties and garages. An offshoot, Pentland Securities (Inns), specialised in licensed premises, shops, a hotel and a social club, while they also established the Dunedin Property Group.

The Mercers maintained their property interests throughout Wallace's time at Hearts and later when they moved to France for several years. According to Mercer himself, last year was in fact their most lucrative since they began their businesses, with rental of property proving particularly profitable.

Back in the early 1980s, nothing like the millions Mercer later acquired was needed to take over Hearts. He in fact paid just £350,000 for control of the club, in a move which received the approval of the club's board of directors by three votes to two. In an ironic twist, given later events, his defeated rival for control of the Tynecastle boardroom was Kenny Waugh, the bookmaker and known Hibs supporter who later became chairman of the Easter Road club.

Two years later Hearts were back in the Premier Division for good. Two years after that, in season 1985-6 under the inspired coaching of Alex MacDonald, they appeared to have the beating of nearly every team in the country. They came within seven minutes of winning the league, before two late goals in their final match saw them lose to Dundee, a result which allowed Celtic to pip them for the title. A week later, they lost the Scottish Cup final too.

It was a bitter disappointment for Hearts' long-suffering supporters, but was nonetheless a measure of how far the club had come that they got so close to winning major honours. For the rest of the 1980s, and into the start of the following decade, they continued to be one of Scotland's leading teams, qualifying regularly for Europe.

It was following one venture on to the continent that Mercer came up against the power of UEFA. When Hearts were fined for breaching broadcasting rules over a match with Bayern Munich, Mercer chose to appeal. The governing body of European football, however, gave him short shrift, increasing the amount of the fine in what was a stinging blow to his credibility.

Far more severe damage, however, was done the following year, 1990, when he tried to merge the two Edinburgh clubs. Or at least, "merger" was his own preferred term: for Hibs fans, it was nothing less than a takeover bid by their oldest rivals.

Opposition to Mercer's plan was vitriolic from the first, and grew more bitter as the campaign snowballed. The windows of his offices were smashed, he received death threats through the post and, perhaps for the first time, he understood just why emotion so often prevails over business sense in football.

Although he soldiered on at Tynecastle for another four years after the collapse of his merger plan, Mercer's appetite for the fray was on the wane. In 1994 - in a decision he would later regret - he sold out to Chris Robinson and Leslie Deans.

During his long sojourn in France it seemed that Mercer would never again have the enthusiasm to become involved at Hearts, and at first he kept a low profile on his return to this country. When Robinson tried to sell the ground and move the team to Murrayfield, however, Mercer emerged as an outspoken opponent of the plan. His reputation, damaged by the takeover bid, soared anew as he sided with Vladimir Romanov and played a part in keeping the club at Tynecastle.

Romanov, now the majority shareholder in Hearts, has more money at his disposal than Mercer did, and in some respects is an even larger-than-life figure. However, had it not been for Mercer's unstinting work in reconstructing the club from its foundations up, there may not even have been a Heart of Midlothian for the Lithuanian to invest in and attempt to take on to the next level.

Taken from the Scotsman