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 lea ...

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 Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

player who played for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

. Prendergast was a popular player in his time at Hillsborough and went by the nickname of "Prendo". Prendergast was born in the

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

village of

Denaby Main Denaby Main is a village 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 Main Collie ...

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 , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, 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 i ...

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 a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

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 Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...

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 Brian Joicey (born 19 December 1945) is a retired professional footballer who played as a forward for Coventry City, Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley in a career that lasted from 1969 to 1979. Joicey did not play league football until he was 2 ...

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 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 Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...

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 authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

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 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 r ...

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 status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

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 professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager who played as a Defender (association football), centre-back for Leeds. He was part of the England ...

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

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

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. Following the creation of the Premier L ...

. He went on a months loan to Halifax Town 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 Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. 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 association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

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 ...

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

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 Sportspeople from Conisbrough 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 20th-century English sportsmen