Duncan McKenzie (born 10 June 1950) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a striker in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ye ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, Everton,

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

and

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in the 1970s, in Belgium for

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

, in the North American Soccer League for the Tulsa Roughnecks and the

Chicago Sting The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from ...

, and for Ryoden in Hong Kong.

Playing career

McKenzie started his career with

. He was loaned to

in exchange for emergency goalkeeper Dave Hollins.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...

'', 3 March 1970, ''Two substitutes may be allowed'' He did not establish himself in the team until the 1973–74 season, when he hit a tremendous spell of good form, scoring 26 goals in the season. As Forest were a middling Second Division team at the time, his league performances did not gain so much attention, but the team also had a great FA Cup run that season, reaching the quarter finals. The highlight of this run was the 4th Round game against Manchester City on 27 January 1974, when he made three goals and scored the fourth in a 4–1 thrashing of the First Division giants. This was probably the greatest game of his career, but he seldom hit such great heights again, despite many sublime moments subsequently. McKenzie was signed for Leeds United by

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

during his 44-day reign as manager of Leeds, and was the only one of his signings to subsequently flourish at the club. Initially, he attracted media attention for his achievements outside of the game, which included the ability to jump over a

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

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; in the 1975–76 season he established himself as Allan Clarke's striking partner, and scored 16 goals in 39 matches. 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 Belgian side

at the end of the 1975–76 season, winning the

1976 European Super Cup The 1976 European Super Cup was played between Anderlecht of Belgium and Bayern Munich of West Germany, with Anderlecht winning 5–3 on aggregate. First leg Second leg See also * FC Bayern Munich in international football competit ...

, but he returned to England in December 1976 when he signed for Everton. Unfortunately for McKenzie, the manager who signed him –

Billy Bingham William Laurence Bingham (5 August 1931 – 9 June 2022) was a Northern Ireland international footballer and football manager. As a player, his first professional club was Glentoran, whom he played for between 1948 and 1950. Making the mo ...

– was sacked and replaced by Gordon Lee just a month later. McKenzie and Lee had their differences, with the result that McKenzie did not 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 v

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. In September 1978 he joined

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 16 appearances and scored four goals. McKenzie joined

for a fee of £80,000 and helped the club to promotion from the third division in 1980. In 1981, he spent a single season, his last as a professional footballer, with the Tulsa Roughnecks of the North American Soccer League. He later played for Ryoden in Hong Kong for 3 months.

Career after football

Since retiring from the game, McKenzie has worked as a newspaper columnist, as well as becoming an

after-dinner speaker Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

. He was the immediate replacement for

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fa ...

on Radio Five's ''

6-0-6 ''606'' (pronounced six-oh-six) is a weekend early evening football phone-in programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live throughout the British football season. It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom. T ...

'' programme.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Duncan 1950 births Living people Belgian First Division A players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Chicago Sting (NASL) players English expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States English footballers English people of Scottish descent Expatriate footballers in Belgium Everton F.C. players Association football forwards Leeds United F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Footballers from Grimsby R.S.C. Anderlecht players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Ryoden players English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium English expatriate sportspeople in the United States