Bertie Mee
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Bertram Mee | ||
| Date of birth | 25 December 1918 | ||
| Place of birth | Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, England | ||
| Date of death | 22 October 2001 (aged 82) | ||
| Place of death | Barnet, England | ||
| Playing position | Winger | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1938–1939 | Derby County | 0 | (0) |
| 1939 | Mansfield Town | 13 | (0) |
| 1940 – 1941 | Southampton | 16 | (2) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1966–1976 | |||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Bertram "Bertie" Mee OBE (25 December 1918 – 22 October 2001) was an English footballer who played as a winger for Derby County F.C., Mansfield Town and Southampton. Mee also was a manager, noted for heralding Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971.
Born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, Mee played for Derby County and Mansfield Town. In 1940–41, Mee made 16 guest appearances for Southampton, scoring twice.
Mee, whose playing career was cut short by injury, thus joined the Royal Army Medical Corps where he trained as a physiotherapist, and spent six years, rising to the rank of sergeant. After leaving, he worked for various football clubs as a physiotherapist, before joining Arsenal in 1960, succeeding Billy Milne.
After the sacking of Billy Wright in 1966, the club asked Mee to become manager, a highly surprising move, perhaps even to the man himself; Mee asked for a get-out clause for him to return to physiotherapist after twelve months if it didn't work out. Mee recruited Dave Sexton and Don Howe as his assistants, in order to make up for any tactical shortcomings of his own.
Arsenal hadn't won a trophy since 1953, but, under Mee, with a crop of players from Arsenal's youth system, such as Charlie George, John Radford, Pat Rice and Ray Kennedy, began to show promise. Arsenal reached two successive League Cup finals in 1968 and 1969, but lost them both to Leeds United and Swindon Town respectively. However, the following season, the club won its first European trophy and its first trophy of any kind for 17 years, beating Anderlecht to claim the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, 4-3 on aggregate. After being 3-0 down in the away leg, Arsenal grabbed a late consolation and then beat the Belgian side 3-0 at Highbury.
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