Johnny McIlwaine
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | John Arkison McIlwaine[1] | ||
Date of birth | 12 June 1904 | ||
Place of birth | Irvine,[1] Scotland | ||
Date of death | 24 April 1980 | (aged 75)||
Place of death | Grimsby, England | ||
Position(s) |
centre forward | ||
Youth career | |||
Springside Juvenile | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
Benwhat Heatherbell[2] | |||
Irvine Victoria | |||
1925–1928 | Falkirk | 62 | (8) |
1928–1930 | Portsmouth | 56 | (5) |
1930–1932 | Southampton | 46 | (9) |
1932–1933 |
Llanelly | ||
1933–1937 | Southampton | 81 | (9) |
International career | |||
1927[3] |
Scottish League XI | 1 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
1936–1937 | Southampton (assistant manager) | ||
1937–1948 | Grimsby Town (assistant manager) | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
John Arkison McIlwaine (12 June 1904 – 24 April 1980) was a Scottish
Football career
Falkirk
McIlwaine was born at Irvine, North Ayrshire[1] and after a spell with Irvine Victoria he joined Falkirk.[2] At Falkirk, he became one of the outstanding centre-halves in Scottish football[4] and was selected to represent the Scottish League against the Irish League in October 1927 (the SFL won 2–1).[3] He soon became a target for several top English clubs, and in February 1928 it "caused a sensation in the football world"[4] when he chose to join Portsmouth who were struggling to avoid relegation in their first season in the First Division.
Portsmouth
McIlwaine joined Portsmouth for a record transfer fee of £5000[4] (including a friendly match at Fratton Park),[5] replacing Harry Foxall who retired shortly afterwards. He made his debut at home to Sunderland on 18 February 1928 in a 5–3 defeat (four of Sunderland's goals came from Dave Halliday[6]), but retained his place for the remaining games that season as Pompey avoided relegation by one point.
In the
The following year, McIlwaine lost his place at centre-half to Bob Kearney, who had been recently recruited from Dundee. At the end of the season, he was transferred to Southampton for a fee of £2650;[8] in his two and a half seasons at Fratton Park, McIlwaine played 62 games scoring 5 goals.
Southampton
McIlwaine was recruited to Southampton by manager
Chadwick resigned at the end of the season and was replaced by
McIlwaine spent the 1932–33 season at Llanelly, helping the team to win the Welsh League,[8][11] before returning to Southampton in August 1933. On his return to The Dell, he found that his time in the lower league had not sharpened his game[8] and he spent most of the 1933–34 season in the reserves.[12]
By the start of the following season, his confidence had returned[8] and he reclaimed the centre half shirt from Arthur Bradford in mid-September. He missed only one match from September until the beginning of March, when he was once again used as a makeshift centre forward, replacing Norman Cole. In his eight appearances in the No.9 shirt he scored six goals, only two fewer than Cole had managed all season.[13]
Saints started the 1935–36 season (their fiftieth season since the club's foundation in 1885) with four wins and two draws from their first six matches, but were unable to sustain this form and in the period to the New Year they won only three more matches.[14] One of these was the "golden jubilee" match against Tottenham Hotspur on 23 November 1935, when McIlwaine was captain in a 2–0 victory.[8] In June 1936, after another poor season, in which the Saints finished in seventeenth place, nine members of the board resigned and manager George Kay left to take over at Liverpool, taking trainer Bert Shelley with him.[14] Kay's position as manager was filled by the promotion of George Goss, the company secretary, who took charge of the team, with McIlwaine taking on the role of assistant manager.[8]
As well as his duties as assistant manager, McIlwaine continued as team captain and became first-team coach. In the first edition of the Southampton Football Echo of the 1936–37 season, the sports editor commented on the expansion of McIlwaines's "job description":
"It seems to me to be asking a tremendous lot of one man to be player, captain and assistant manager. That looks to me to be an outsized man's job. He will need all the good wishes possible, and he has mine."[15]
After a year, in which he only made three further appearances, these new duties proved too much and in the summer of 1937, with Goss having handed over to Tom Parker in March, McIlwaine decided to leave.[16]
In his two periods with Southampton, McIlwaine made a total of 121 appearances, scoring 18 goals.
Assistant manager at Grimsby Town
In July 1937, McIlwaine became assistant manager at Grimsby Town under their newly appointed manager, the former England international defender, Charlie Spencer. Grimsby were then playing in the First Division and narrowly avoided relegation at the end of the 1937–38 season.
The following season, Spencer had assembled a fine squad, including former
McIlwaine remained at
He remained in Grimsby for the rest of his life, dying there in April 1980, aged 75.Honours
Portsmouth
- 1929
Llanelly
- Welsh League champions: 1932–33
References
- ^ a b c Some sources give his place of birth as Bonnybridge, and some spell his surname McIlwane
- ^ a b John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine.
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(help) - ^ a b "Irish League 1 Scottish League 2". londonhearts.com. 12 October 1927. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
- ^ ISBN 0-9534474-5-6.
- ^ "The history of Pompey's record signings". vitalfootball.co.uk. 18 September 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
- ^ "Portsmouth 3 Sunderland 5". thestatcat.co.uk. 18 February 1928. Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
- ISBN 1-84513-054-5.
- ^ ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
- ^ ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
- ^ Saints – A complete record. pp. 86–87.
- ^ "Welsh League South Tables 1932-33". Welsh Football Data Archive. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
- ^ Saints – A complete record. pp. 90–91.
- ^ Saints – A complete record. pp. 92–93.
- ^ a b Saints – A complete record. pp. 94–95.
- ISBN 0-9534474-2-1.
- ^ Saints – A complete record. pp. 96–97.
- ISBN 978-0-7553-1820-9.
- ^ The F.A. Cup – The Complete Story. pp. 144–145.