In April 1988, the Football League celebrated its centenary with a rather odd competition; the Mercantile Credit Football Tournament.
Alongside other events to mark the occasion, such as a Football League XI taking on a Rest of the World XI at Wembley in August 1987, a friendly tournament was also arranged, with all 92 teams in the League capable of qualifying.
In order to reach the tournament, teams in all four divisions were ranked on points gained during November and February of the 1987-88 campaign. Fortunately for Tranmere, their awful start to the season ended just as the qualification period began. Only Wolverhampton Wanderers, the eventual Division Four winners, won more points.
So, it would be Wolves and Tranmere representing the bottom division at Wembley for the Football League’s centenary. It would be the first time Tranmere would play at the national stadium.
The oddness of the competition stretched further than its qualification criteria. Each match would, for the 1st Round and Quarter Finals, be 40 minutes long. If the game ended in a draw then penalties would determine the winner, though, in keeping with the tournament’s idiosyncratic nature, they would be sudden death shoot-outs from the start.
It may well have been the adjustment to shorter matches, as five of the opening eight fixtures ended level, four at 0-0. Tranmere, however, bucked the trend.
Against top flight Wimbledon, John King’s team found a goal through midfielder Dave Martindale, sliding in ahead of the goalkeeper after neat work from Ian Muir on the edge of the penalty area.
King’s men had claimed a notable scalp. The defeated Dons would return to Wembley at the end of the season to contest the FA Cup final against Liverpool. They would stun the Reds, winning 1-0 to give the Crazy Gang a major trophy to cap their remarkable rise from Division Four.
Victory over Wimbledon progressed Tranmere to the next round, where they would face another First Division side, Newcastle, who had knocked Liverpool out.
Once more, Rovers stepped up their game against illustrious opponents. John Morrissey latched onto a loose ball in the box, after Gary Kelly had spilled Jim Harvey’s corner, to put Tranmere ahead.
Tranmere had more than matched Newcastle, retaining possession with each and carving out chances against an XI that contained Paul Gascoigne and the Brazilian Mirandinha. Eventually, the pressure told, with Steve Mungall being fouled in the penalty area. Muir tucked away the spot kick and, after Eric Nixon had saved a Newcastle penalty, the surprise package of the tournament would remain in the competition into its second day.
After Warwick Rimmer, Tranmere’s youth team coordinator, had spent the evening cleaning the team’s white kit, they were all set to face yet another Division One team, Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in the semi final. This game would now be a 60 minute affair.
With the fans that had travelled down to Wembley in disbelief at their team’s performances, Muir sent them delirious when he netted after 17 minutes. Nigel Clough equalised with an acrobatic overhead kick, but Muir scored his third of the tournament to put Rovers ahead again.
Franz Carr levelled the scores shortly after, sending the tie to penalties. Sadly for King and his players, they would lose the shoot-out. Forest would go on to win the competition, winning once more on penalties, against Sheffield Wednesday.
For most of the teams involved in the Mercantile Credit Football Tournament, it was an inconsequential bit of fun. But for Tranmere, it was the launchpad for the club’s greatest ever period.
They would return to Wembley four times in the next three years, having won automatic promotion the year after their heroics at the Mercantile Credit. Little could those involved have known how pivotal their performances in a quirky competition would be, as the club reached heights seldom witnessed at Prenton Park, and started a run of impressive giant-killings in cup competitions.
