McKeown signs for Clee Town

What a difference a year makes…

https://twitter.com/cleetownfc/status/1611409209534582786?s=46&t=ZxaUYmkAyfhFJvANVtg-2Q

Bloke played 500 times for the club. 4 times at Wembley. Always gave his all.

A lot of good memories of him in the Town goal, some dodgy ones too, but still a memorable Town character. Which is more than you can say of most players this side of the millennium.

Wish him well.

Watched them at Lincoln United on Tuesday night and thought Clee’s current keeper looked pretty decent other than he had Macca’s kicking ability, or, more to the point a lack of it.

As an aside Harvey Tomlinson played and whilst decent on the ball clearly needs to develop physically which is one of the key purposes of sending players of that age out. That said it’s a very competitive league and whilst a lot lower standard than we would want or expect our lads to perform it may help players like Scans get back to playing fitness to spend a month at clubs like these.

Bit sad to see this really. Was a really good keeper for us for probably 8 of his 10 years. He's only 33, thought he'd have got himself a conference or conference North club at worst after leaving us. I know Clee town are ambitious but this move basically spells the end of his career and you'd think he could have gone and had another 5 or 6 years as a professional somewhere.

Hope it works out for him and his family, perhaps he has some off the field plans that are more attractive than carrying on playing full time.

Good luck Macca.

About his level

Quoted from gtfc98

Bit sad to see this really. Was a really good keeper for us for probably 8 of his 10 years. He's only 33, thought he'd have got himself a conference or conference North club at worst after leaving us. I know Clee town are ambitious but this move basically spells the end of his career and you'd think he could have gone and had another 5 or 6 years as a professional somewhere.

Hope it works out for him and his family, perhaps he has some off the field plans that are more attractive than carrying on playing full time.

Good luck Macca.

Depends how you look at it.. he may be on £200-300 a week at Clee and living in his house with his family.with very little to no commute. Whereas if he'd gone to a conference north / south side he'd have to move or commute and for an extra couple hundred quid it's not worth it (my opinion)

Can I just clarify these are totally random numbers given just as an example.. sometimes family and location is more important than money is what I'm trying to get at.

Good signing for everyone involved I think.

Good luck to the bloke. Probably ideal for him and great signing for Clee. Wish him all the best town legend.

Quoted from lukeo

Can I just clarify these are totally random numbers given just as an example.. sometimes family and location is more important than money is what I'm trying to get at.

He’s on a bit more than that Plus Bonuses.

He's way above that level. Great signing for them. Best of luck to him!

Quoted from Fette Schlange

About his level

🤡

At the Stockport game the other day, for some reason I was wondering about what could've happened if Croudson had returned a year earlier; whether that could've 'saved' McKeown's GTFC career.

Hypothetical nonsense really, so good luck to the bloke!

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

🤡

Whilst the idiot normally tries to wind folk up, he’s not entirely wrong this time, however hard he’s tried to be funny.

Macca has a recurring back issue by all accounts, more clearly went on at town than we’ll ever know about and he’s been replaced by a better keeper.

All that says, Macca should be remembered fondly and was part of an amazing day at Wembley. He was generally a 7/10 with some exceptional performances in there, I’m thinking Exeter away over Christmas that year but also had some shockers. The life of a keeper I guess.

My understanding is he’s working at a school locally so this likely deals with the footballing urges, not sure Clee Towns relatively decent keeper will see it that way? Must get annoying for them seeing another ex pro looking fit one last hurrah but so be it I suppose.

Quoted from Hagrid

He’s on a bit more than that Plus Bonuses.

I’m sure Danny Braithwaite knew well in advance 🤦‍♂️

Keepers tend to hit their peak later than outfield players, so at 33 he should really be playing at a higher level. I’m surprised there aren’t more takers out there.

That said, there’s more to life than football. He’s had a stint in Ireland, probably wants to stay close to his family which is fair enough. Not everyone’s career pans out in typical fashion.

On the face of it, Clee have a cracking player. I guess there will be very few keepers playing at that level with Macca’s wealth of experience. Hopefully it’s mutually beneficial and I wish both parties all the best.

Quoted from RichMariner

Keepers tend to hit their peak later than outfield players, so at 33 he should really be playing at a higher level. I’m surprised there aren’t more takers out there.

That said, there’s more to life than football. He’s had a stint in Ireland, probably wants to stay close to his family which is fair enough. Not everyone’s career pans out in typical fashion.

On the face of it, Clee have a cracking player. I guess there will be very few keepers playing at that level with Macca’s wealth of experience. Hopefully it’s mutually beneficial and I wish both parties all the best.

Not saying Macca is wrong to have a high expectation of what he’s worth but perhaps he was wanting too much, hence why he’s had to compromise and drop down to essentially a well organised Saturday league and supplement an income from a normal job with football…

Has to pay the bills like we all do.

Good luck to him.

Quoted from gtfc98

Bit sad to see this really. Was a really good keeper for us for probably 8 of his 10 years. He's only 33, thought he'd have got himself a conference or conference North club at worst after leaving us. I know Clee town are ambitious but this move basically spells the end of his career and you'd think he could have gone and had another 5 or 6 years as a professional somewhere.

Hope it works out for him and his family, perhaps he has some off the field plans that are more attractive than carrying on playing full time.

Good luck Macca.

Maybe playing full time professionally is just not what he wants at this point in his career. He already lives in the area and his family are well settled so it allows him to go play football while being able to pursue other things and still spend plenty of time with his family with no big commute. Sometimes players just want to play too so if the other things on the table are just being a backup keeper somewhere then maybe being a bench warmer doesn't appeal to him.

Quoted from Kris2

Maybe playing full time professionally is just not what he wants at this point in his career. He already lives in the area and his family are well settled so it allows him to go play football while being able to pursue other things and still spend plenty of time with his family with no big commute. Sometimes players just want to play too so if the other things on the table are just being a backup keeper somewhere then maybe being a bench warmer doesn't appeal to him.

Not that I blame him at all but I think we know full well that Macca won’t want to be a bench warmer…

Quoted from lukeo

Depends how you look at it.. he may be on £200-300 a week at Clee and living in his house with his family.with very little to no commute. Whereas if he'd gone to a conference north / south side he'd have to move or commute and for an extra couple hundred quid it's not worth it (my opinion)

Yeah you're probably right Luke. I expected him to go make himself first choice at somewhere like York, Boston or even the Scunts. Wish him and his family the best, he was a great servant to the club.

yep wish him well

A great addition to the Owls whom i do watch between Grimsby games, i am surprised he never went to Scunthorpe United though, they have been screaming out for a good goalkeeper for at least a year.

Quoted from chelseacity

A great addition to the Owls whom i do watch between Grimsby games, i am surprised he never went to Scunthorpe United though, they have been screaming out for a good goalkeeper for at least a year.

Would you have got on the titanic after it hit the iceberg?

He should have gone to Grimsby boro a better coached club

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

He should have gone to Grimsby boro a better coached club

Boro couldn’t even afford a quarter of what Clee are paying Macca. They recently signed Boro’s right back Tom Jamieson and almost trebled his weekly wage.

Quoted from jimgtfc

Boro couldn’t even afford a quarter of what Clee are paying Macca. They recently signed Boro’s right back Tom Jamieson and almost trebled his weekly wage.

So that proves they have a bigger budget so what ? For vast parts of the Boxing Day game Clee we’re out played and out fought

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

So that proves they have a bigger budget so what ? For vast parts of the Boxing Day game Clee we’re out played and out fought

He suggested he should have gone to Boro instead, I gave a reason why he didn’t. I agree with you though that they were the better team on Boxing Day.

Quoted from jimgtfc

Boro couldn’t even afford a quarter of what Clee are paying Macca. They recently signed Boro’s right back Tom Jamieson and almost trebled his weekly wage.

i find it quite crazy what Clee are paying out in wages, throwing a hell of a lot of money at it

How much are Clee town paying in wages to players? Is it national league level wages?

Quoted from Davec

How much are Clee town paying in wages to players? Is it national league level wages?

Not quite that level but for Part time football its a lot, i mean in a way good luck to them, if they can afford to do it, but as Jim said, trebling the wages of a player signed from GY boro, Macca earning what could be a low income full time wage for a part time football club + bonuses just seems a bit much.

Quoted from Hagrid

Not quite that level but for Part time football its a lot, i mean in a way good luck to them, if they can afford to do it, but as Jim said, trebling the wages of a player signed from GY boro, Macca earning what could be a low income full time wage for a part time football club + bonuses just seems a bit much.

All that money and they haven't looked very good when I've seen them this season. They do seem to be losing their identity quite a bit, Jamieson and McKeown are local lads (McKeown is an adopted Grimbarian) but most of their signings are travelling in.

Do they have a wealthy backer, or is sustainable via gates and sponsors?

Wish nothing but the best for him. Could of turned his back on us and gone to Motherwell/Luton for the money but chose to stick it out with us and I commend anyone for that as they are only humans at the end of the day and if another employer chose me to go and double my wages elsewhere I think my bags would already be packed. Think it speaks alot about the mans character, will always hold fond memories for me.

Quoted from smokey111

Do they have a wealthy backer, or is sustainable via gates and sponsors?

His wages are not vast, and he has a full time job and wants to be home every night, works for both parties..  

I worked with a guy in the late 70's who told me his son had just signed part time for Boston on £200/wk; a lot of money in those days. Some benefactors are willing to pay ££££££££££££££££ss chasing a dream.

Quoted from smokey111

Do they have a wealthy backer, or is sustainable via gates and sponsors?

I just think they’re bloody well run and the guy in charge does stuff properly and seems like a really nice bloke.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I just think they’re bloody well run and the guy in charge does stuff properly and seems like a really nice bloke.

Just about every advertising space both sides for the pitch perimeter is sold and they recently put an additional board 6ft high in the corner. I hate to say it but we could learn from that!

In contrast to Grimsby Borough, Cleethorpes own their ground and one of their directors owns the Linden Club so all money spent there on a matchday is theirs. Lincs Inspire keep all the bar money at Bradley and I assume Borough pay a rent to play there.

Crowds are higher at Cleethorpes, they have had a few decent cup runs in recent years and benefit from a 2k crowd every summer; Borough don't get that and it all starts to add up.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Just about every advertising space both sides for the pitch perimeter is sold and they recently put an additional board 6ft high in the corner. I hate to say it but we could learn from that!

In contrast to Grimsby Borough, Cleethorpes own their ground and one of their directors owns the Linden Club so all money spent there on a matchday is theirs. Lincs Inspire keep all the bar money at Bradley and I assume Borough pay a rent to play there.

Crowds are higher at Cleethorpes, they have had a few decent cup runs in recent years and benefit from a 2k crowd every summer; Borough don't get that and it all starts to add up.

They’ve had some serious investment and have some wealthy benefactors, as most clubs do. Perhaps they run their club well for that level but I’m not sure filling some advertising space which is cheaper than BP is something we can learn…

I’ve never really had an interest in either Clee Town or borough, I go to the friendly when we play them but if I chose a game to go to if I can’t make a town game I usually go Brigg.

This deal works for Macca, can’t knock him but I do wonder what other players who are much younger feel when these old ex pros rock up.

That said, I don’t profess to know much about either club. Couldn’t tell you what league or what any of their scores are…

Quoted from DB

I worked with a guy in the late 70's who told me his son had just signed part time for Boston on £200/wk; a lot of money in those days. Some benefactors are willing to pay ££££££££££££££££ss chasing a dream.

Clee aren't though, they era operating within their means. The example to them was Liversedge (I believe) last season who bought the league but have no money to compete this season, and are in freefall...

Quoted from jamesgtfc

All that money and they haven't looked very good when I've seen them this season. They do seem to be losing their identity quite a bit, Jamieson and McKeown are local lads (McKeown is an adopted Grimbarian) but most of their signings are travelling in.

I’ve seen both Borough and Clee Town play down at Lincoln United this season and Borough were by far a better side even though at that time they were near the bottom of the league. Borough played good football and dominated the match but Clee Town the other night hardly played any football at all but scored a worldie from long range. No outstanding players and created no threat despite Lincoln United not being one of the better teams at present. Clee certainly not as good as they were a couple of years ago.

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

I’ve seen both Borough and Clee Town play down at Lincoln United this season and Borough were by far a better side even though at that time they were near the bottom of the league. Borough played good football and dominated the match but Clee Town the other night hardly played any football at all but scored a worldie from long range. No outstanding players and created no threat despite Lincoln United not being one of the better teams at present. Clee certainly not as good as they were a couple of years ago.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing having high expectations or indeed, high opinion of your ability but I do get the impression that Clee have an inflated opinion of themselves or perhaps feel they should be slightly better off league wise than they are.

I know every club has its fair share of bellends but I have to say, this years pre season game against them definitely drew out some absolutely boring fornicators. Blokes near me were behaving like GTFC had dumped them and they were bitter ex’s…

Good old “Grimsby” telegraph online!!! Can’t even spell check!!

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