McKenzie: Duncan

1974-1976 (Player Details)

Forward

Born: Grimsby: 10-06-1950

Debut: v Liverpool (Wembley) (Substitute): 10-08-1974

5’8” 11st 3lb (1975)

#54 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

McKenzie learnt the game at Old Clee Junior School and played for Notre Dame in the mornings and Old Clee in the afternoon in the local Sunday League. He did not play representative football but there was interest from Grimsby Town, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, but nothing materialised. His break came when Notre Dame faced a Nottingham Forest Junior team and his talents were spotted by one of their scouts and he was invited for trials with Forest. He joined the Nottingham Forest Ground Staff, where he turned professional in July 1968. After two loan spells with Mansfield Town in March 1970, when he played ten League games, three as a substitute, and scored three goals for the Stags, and February 1973, when his stop at Field Mill yielded seven goals in six League appearances, he won a regular place at Forest. During his brief reign as Leeds boss, Brian Clough spent £240,000 in August 1974 to bring McKenzie to Elland Road, and was the only one of his signings to subsequently flourish at the club. At the City Ground McKenzie made one hundred and eleven League appearances, six being as a substitute, scoring forty-one goals. He spent seven years there and his memory lived long for those who were lucky enough to be entertained by him. Clough was soon forced to depart but McKenzie stayed to become the idol of the Leeds crowd, who loved his style. Initially, he attracted media attention for his achievements outside of the game, which included the ability to jump over a parked car, and to throw a golf ball the length of a football pitch. However, once established in the Leeds side, he soon attracted attention for the quality of his footballing skills. A dazzling showman forward, he became one of the most popular players ever at Elland Road with his highly individual skills which brought some stunning and spectacular goals. Despite finishing top scorer in 1975-76, with sixteen goals in thirty-nine matches, he was sold to Anderlecht in the summer of 1976 for £200,000. McKenzie was a sublimely talented individual, capable of running rings around the most astute of defenders. However, despite his skills, he could be an immensely frustrating player to play with. Whilst he reserved his finest moments for big games, he was often anonymous against lesser opposition. It was this inconsistency that caused him to be sold to the Belgian side. After sixteen goals in thirty games with the Belgian club, another £200,000 move took him to Everton in December 1976. Unfortunately for McKenzie, the manager who signed him, Billy Bingham, was sacked and replaced by Gordon Lee just a month later. McKenzie and Lee had their differences, with the result that McKenzie didn't have as free a role as would have suited him. This led to his departure from Everton, but not before he had turned in some admirable performances, a notable game being the 1977 FA Cup Semi-Final against Liverpool. Despite forming a lively strike partnership with Bob Latchford, he was sold to Chelsea and replaced by big-money flop Mickey Walsh. But the Everton fans didn’t forget their hero. He returned to Goodison with his new employers just six weeks later. He opened the scoring for Chelsea and was greeted with as loud a roar as if he’d still been wearing royal blue. He scored fourteen goals in forty-eight League games with the Goodison club. He went to Chelsea in September 1978 for £165,000, where, much like the rest of his career, he dazzled the fans with his skills and eccentricity but still failed to make the most of his talents. He left the club less than a year later having made just fifteen League appearances and scored four goals. He left for Blackburn Rovers in March 1979 for £80,000 where he scored sixteen goals in seventy-four League games. In 1981, he spent a single season, his last as a professional footballer, playing in the NASL with Tulsa Roughnecks, who paid £80,000 for his services, scoring fourteen times in thirty-one games, as well as one game without scoring in the Indoor League, and Chicago Sting, where he netted three goals in twenty games. Despite his undoubted skill, he was never capped by England, the nearest he came was when Don Revie requested his services for a Don Revie XI, essentially an England trial squad, for Johnny Giles' testimonial game in Dublin. He was remembered by all those who saw him play as a wizard with the ball and a healthy goals-to-game ratio, with over a hundred goals in just over three hundred appearances. After a spell in Warrington Sunday League football he went to Hong Kong in March 1983, where he played with Ryoden for four months and later helped run a football community programme in Liverpool. He broadcast at Radio Merseyside, and wrote a column for the Liverpool Echo. He became a noted after-dinner speaker and has written on football for national newspapers and worked as a summariser on radio.