GRAHAM Taylor and former directors paid tribute this week to Bertie Mee the experienced backroom boy behind Watford's rise up the divisions. Mee, 82, has died after a brief battle against cancer.
A former double winner with Arsenal, Mee came to Vicarage Road in 1977 as assistant manager to Taylor, briefly taking charge of the team when the manager underwent an appendix operation.
In charge of overseeing the youth, scouting and general developments, he subsequently joined the board in 1982 as the club's first paid director.
This arrangement ended ten years later when the new owner and chairman, Jack Petchey, began to quibble over the concept, and intimated that Mee's benefits would be no longer paid for by the club.
Mee promptly resigned as director and had nothing more to do with the club.
The club's former vice-chairman Geoff Smith smith: "He was a gentleman of high integrity and principles and would not compromise in any way. He was stubborn on them and could not stomach anyone who did lower their principles.
"He would never make comments after the game. As you would know, he would say 'ring me tomorrow after I have thought about it'.
Former director Muir Stratford admitted he was "shattered" by the news.
"The most important point I would like to make with regard to Bertie is that no one should under-estimate the help he gave Graham Taylor and this club in Graham's first era. Graham described Bertie as the best signing he had ever made, and I would agree with him."
Taylor felt Mee's arrival at Vicarage Road gave Watford credibility.
"Here was a rock star chairman throwing his money away and a young upstart manager happy to take it. That was the image, but when Bertie joined us, people sat up and took notice. We meant what we said. It gave us credibility," said Taylor.
"It is a sad day for a lot of us, the family and myself. Bertie was a person who you were privileged if you got very close to him. I enjoyed that privilege for a number of years."
Mee's private funeral takes place on Friday, October 26.
For more tributes, see The Watford Observer of Friday, October 26.
October 25, 2001 11:29
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