Kenneth John Mulhearn (16 October 1945 – 13 March 2018) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Stockport County,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, Shrewsbury Town and Crewe Alexandra.

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 Manchester City on 21 September 1967, a transfer which Stockport great Len Allchurch 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 sustained an injury, and Mulhearn took his place in the team, his debut coming in a Manchester derby. 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, but was dropped following a

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

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 and ...

to blame him for the defeat. p65 He did not feature again that season, and dropped to third choice behind Dowd and Joe Corrigan. 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 ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

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