Joe Mercer, the favourite 'Uncle' character of English football, took over as caretaker manager while Don Revie - the man chosen to succeed Sir Alf Ramsey - completed club commitments with Leeds United. Laugh-a-minute Mercer, a master of PR, was like a breath of fresh air after the sullen, secretive approach of Ramsey, whose woeful handling of the media was his one major weakness.  Mercer's first match brought a satisfactory rather than spectacular victory against Wales. Keith Weller, making an impressive debut, set up the first goal in the thirty-fifth minute. His shot was pushed by goalkeeper John Phillips into the path of Stan Bowles, who slipped the ball into the net from close range for his first goal for England. It was a game of firsts, with Kevin Keegan scoring the first of his twenty-one international goals. Mercer gave his skipper Emlyn Hughes a big say in the running and selection of the team.

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG