Mick Prendergast (24 November 1950 – 29 April 2010) was an English professional

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 ...

whose career lasted from 1969 to 1979 during which time he made a total of 232 appearances in all competitions, scoring 62 goals. He was a forward player who played for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and Barnsley. Prendergast was a popular player in his time at

Hillsborough Hillsborough may refer to: Australia *Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie Canada *Hillsborough, New Brunswick *Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick * Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County *Hillsborough (electoral d ...

and went by the nickname of "Prendo". Prendergast was born in the

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. I ...

village of

Denaby Main Denaby Main is a village situated between Mexborough and Conisbrough in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. The village falls within the Doncaster MBC ward of Conisbrough and Denaby. It was built by the Denaby Ma ...

on 24 November 1950.

Playing career

As a youth footballer he played for Yorkshire Boys and Don and Dearne Boys before joining Sheffield Wednesday as a 15-year-old apprentice in October 1966.

Sheffield Wednesday

Prendergast started in the Youth team at Wednesday and graduated through the ranks, making his reserve team debut in the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently cons ...

in September 1967. Prendergast was top scorer for the reserves in 1968–69 and he made his first team debut towards the end of that season, scoring in a 3–2 defeat at

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

on 9 April 1969. The following season saw Wednesday relegated to Division Two with Prendergast making just 12 league appearances. The 1970–71 season saw Prendergast become a regular in the first team, finishing as top scorer by a comfortable margin with 16 goals. The rest of his Sheffield Wednesday career saw Prendergast beset by injuries, in 1972–73 he only made 19 appearances after suffering cartilage trouble and internal bleeding in his knee.''"Dooley"'', Derek Dooley & Keith Farnsworth, Page 252 Gives details of cartilage injury. He returned the following season to forge a good striking partnership with Brian Joicey which realised 23 goals, with Prendergast contributing 11 and being voted Player of the Year. However, misfortune struck towards the end of that season when he suffered a broken leg in a goalless draw at

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

on 12 April 1974.Stuart Jackson's SWFC Archive.
Gives details of Sheffield Wednesday career. Prendergast returned to first team action in February 1975 to play five games in a struggling Wednesday side that suffered relegation to

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

for the first time in their history. He scored the club's first ever goal in Division Three in a 1–2 away defeat at

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

in August 1975 and went on to have a good season as he netted 13 goals in 39 appearances to be top scorer for the second time. In the 1976–77 campaign he was limited to five full appearances as injury and the good form of

Rodger Wylde Rodger Wylde, born in Sheffield, Yorkshire on 8 March 1954, is a former professional football player who played for Sheffield Wednesday, Oldham Athletic, Sporting CP, Sunderland, Barnsley and Stockport County. Wylde played as a striker, he wa ...

and

Tommy Tynan Thomas Edward Tynan (born 17 November 1955) is an English retired professional footballer. A hard working striker with flowing blonde hair, Tynan was signed as an apprentice for Liverpool by manager Bill Shankly after winning a talent contest ...

kept him out of the team. In April 1977, after ten years service with the club, he was granted a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nation ...

with 3,179 fans turning up to see Leicester win 3–2 with

Ron Springett Ronald Deryk George Springett (22 July 1935 – 12 September 2015) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his career with QPR in 1953 where he made 147 appearances over two spells. He had a nine-year spell ...

and Peter Swan coming out of retirement to play for Mick. Prendergast was placed on the transfer list in January 1978 as

Jack Charlton John Charlton (8 May 193510 July 2020) was an English footballer and manager who played as a defender. He was part of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 1996 ...

, who had taken over as Wednesday manager, began a clear out of staff. In March 1978 just before the

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer ...

closed he signed for Barnsley for a fee of £14,000.''"One Hundred Years at Hillsborough"'', Jason Dickinson, Page 361 Gives general information and specific on testimonial details. Prendergast was recently voted as the favourite player of fans who remembered the Sheffield Wednesday teams of the mid-1970s in John Dyson's book: "Our Lowest Ebb: A New History of Sheffield Wednesday's Darkest Times - 1973-76".

Barnsley

Prendergast stayed at Barnsley for 14 months, but he only made 12 full league appearances in that time, making a single appearance in the 1978–79 season as Barnsley gained promotion from

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

. He went on a months loan to

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration (law), administration in ...

in October/November 1978 making four league appearances and one in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

. He scored his last goal for a league club while with Halifax, netting in a 1–2 defeat at

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

on 18 November 1978.Shaymenonline.
Gives details of loan spell at Halifax.http://allfootballers.com/.
Gives statistics for career.

Latter career and retirement

With his professional career over at the age of 29, Prendergast had brief spells in

Non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

at Mexborough Town Athletic and Denaby United. He was given a second testimonial match while at Denaby against Sheffield Wednesday before being advised to retire completely from playing on medical grounds in the early 1980s. He was forced to have a

hip replacement Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant, that is, a hip prosthesis. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi (half) replacement. Such joint replacement ...

at the age of 36.''"The Wednesday Boys"'', Jason Dickinson & John Brodie, Page 238 Gives biographical information.''"The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club"'', Tony Matthews, Gives details of Sheffield Wednesday career and biographical information.

Death

Aged 59 years old, on 29 April 2010 Prendergast died at Mexborough Montagu Hospital due to complications of alcoholism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prendergast, Mick 1950 births 2010 deaths People from Conisbrough Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster Footballers from South Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Mexborough Town F.C. players Denaby United F.C. players English Football League players