MCKENZIE BLAZED A TRAIL FOR MOSS SIDE

TRIBUTES have been paid to Mike McKenzie, a trailblazer for black managers, who has died aged 65 following a short illness.

- Tony Bugby

McKenzie cut his teeth into football management in the late 1980s when black managers were almost unheard of in the game.

After enjoying success at Hyde Unit-ed between 1994 and 2001 - reaching the semi-finals of the FA Trophy in each of his first two seasons and also the first round of the FA Cup in his first campaign - McKenzie looked destined for greater things.

"Mike should have been the first black manager to play his part on the pro scene in league football," explained Taff Jones, his assistant when he had earlier managed Winsford United.

"He was a great man whose man man-agement skills were the best, the way he dealt with players in a totally different way - he often didn't have to say anything but just look.