John McNamee RIP

[jim mk2]

McNamee was a proper old school hard man centre half who was instrumental on and off the pitch to Rovers' 1970s revival in the old third division. Sometimes he crossed the line into being "dirty" but players knew where they stood with him and were in for a tough afternoon . 

I don't think they played in the same team but McNamee and Glenn Keeley would have been an "interesting" centre half partnership. Opposition centre forwards would have got mysteriously injured before those games.

Good memories. RIP

Edited Sunday at 14:20 by jim mk2

[Parsonblue]

1 hour ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

The games were within a couple of weeks of each other...and it was over 50 years ago.

To make it seem even worse, an 'owd fella making a similar post back then would have been recalling a game in 1922!

Thanks for that Leonard - you've made me feel really, really old!😢

[onlyonejackwalker]

Some good memories in this thread. Slightly before my time but my parents spoke with fondness of Mcnamee.

RIP.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

Alf bloody Wood eh. He was the one who smashed Roger Jones breaking his jaw or cheekbone if I recall correctly. He always sounded to me like a character out of the Hotspur (like Alf Tupper in the Tough of the Track).

He started out as a young centre half at Manchester City. I remember seeing him play. He was only a kid in a poor team so they let him go. When he was at Shrewsbury somebody had the bright idea of playing him up front and he never looked back. He was a pretty regular scorer everywhere he played.

I see he died in 2020 after suffering from dementia for a long while. Who says heading the old balls never hurt ? 
 

He wouldn’t have gone near Jones if big Mac  had have been playing. That would have been a really bad life style choice. That was the difference Mac made.

Edited Sunday at 15:51 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Leonard Venkhater]

3 hours ago, Parsonblue said:

Thanks for that Leonard - you've made me feel really, really old!😢

As a counsellor friend used to say, "Stay with the pain!"

[Leonard Venkhater]

19 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He started out as a young centre half at Manchester City. I remember seeing him play. He was only a kid in a poor team so they let him go. When he was at Shrewsbury somebody had the bright idea of playing him up front and he never looked back. He was a pretty regular scorer everywhere he played.

I see he died in 2020 after suffering from dementia for a long while. Who says heading the old balls never hurt ? 
 

He wouldn’t have gone near Jones if big Mac  had have been playing. That would have been a really bad life style choice. That was the difference Mac made.

Weird what sticks in your head.

Back in the mid 80's I went for a job interview in Macclesfield and one of the panel asked me what I knew about the town. The first thing that came into my head was that it was the birthplace of Alf Wood, former Shrewsbury Town striker!

The old programmes were full of such details on opposition players...

[Claytons Left Boot]

A post I wrote back in 2007 about John McNamee being the ‘turning point.’

RIP big fella.