Kenneth John Mulhearn (16 October 1945 – 13 March 2018) was an English

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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

Playing career

Early career

Mulhearn started his career as an apprentice at Everton but did not make the first team, and moved into the lower divisions with Stockport County, where he made 100 appearances.

Manchester City

Mulhearn was signed by

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

Manchester City on 21 September 1967, a transfer which Stockport great

Len Allchurch Leonard Allchurch (12 September 1933 – 16 November 2016) was a Welsh professional footballer. Allchurch played in the English Football League for almost twenty years, playing in the top flight with Sheffield United and having lengthy spells wit ...

later reflected on by saying "...a great 'keeper. We never thought we'd replace him when he went to City". Two days later Manchester City's first choice goalkeeper

Harry Dowd Henry William Dowd (4 July 1938 – 7 April 2015) was an English football goalkeeper who played for Manchester City, Stoke City and Oldham Athletic. Career At the start of his career Dowd combined amateur football playing for ICI Blackley with ...

sustained an injury, and Mulhearn took his place in the team, his debut coming in a

Manchester derby The Manchester derby refers to association football, football matches between Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and Manchester United F.C., Manchester United, first contested in 1881. City play at the City of Manchester Stadium in Bradford, ...

. He kept his place for the remainder of the season, gaining a League Championship medal as part of Manchester City's 1967–68 title-winning side. Mulhearn started the following season as first choice, playing as they won the

1968 FA Charity Shield The 1968 FA Charity Shield was a association football, football match played on 3 August 1968 between The Football League, Football League champions Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and FA Cup winners West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Bromwich ...

, but was dropped following a

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

defeat to Fenerbahçe, in which his failure to claim a cross resulted in a winning goal for the Turkish side, leading

Malcolm Allison Malcolm Alexander Allison (5 September 1927 – 14 October 2010) was an English football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Mal", he was one of English football's most flamboyant and intriguing characters because of his panache, fedora a ...

to blame him for the defeat. p65 He did not feature again that season, and dropped to third choice behind Dowd and

Joe Corrigan Joseph Thomas Corrigan (born 18 November 1948) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Manchester City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Norwich City and Stoke City as well as the England nati ...

. He returned to the first team for brief periods in the 1969–70 season, but by this time Corrigan had become established as a senior player and opportunities were limited. He made his final Manchester City appearance in a 1–1 draw against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 18 February 1970. p406

Later career

In March 1971 he transferred to Shrewsbury Town, where he made 370 league appearances in nine years. His final club was Crewe Alexandra, where he made 88 appearances before retiring to run a public house in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

Personal life

Professional footballer Harry Lewis, also a goalkeeper, is Mulhearn's grandson. Mulhearn died in his sleep on 13 March 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulhearn, Ken 1945 births 2018 deaths English men's footballers Footballers from Liverpool Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players 20th-century English sportsmen