James McKeown

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

Showed his character when hendo turned up imo red x away

Didn’t he do that a couple of times during his time here?

We’ve had plenty of better keepers at this level- Mildenhall, W Henderson, D Henderson, Crocombe and Eastwood off the top of my head. He was a good keeper at conference level, but no more than average in the fourth tier.

Very surprised that he didn’t get a Conference or North/ South club, but you just don’t know players circumstances as to whether they are willing to uproot the family, especially if it’s only for a one year contract, and the money isn’t that great.

The other Clee keeper did look top notch in the friendly against town pre season tbh

Quoted from aldi_01

I think the bigger question is what really happened…granted, once Crocombe was as brought into the first team we never looked back but Macca just seemingly disappeared and the question was never asked.

From a long term servant and decent player to nothing, was pretty quick. Nobody denying they all have to drop down and eventually give up but seemed to happen quite quick to Macca…

He's got a bad back injury apparently which may explain his rapid decline. He's been dropped by Clee because Leigh Overton (ex Town youth player) deserves the shirt.

Him and Overton were both on holiday at the same time the other week, so Declyn Dennis (released by Town in the summer) played a couple of games for them.

By all accounts, he hasn't endeared himself well with the Clee regulars.

Looking at it from the other side, being a Goalkeeper is a pretty hard job when you're a free agent because most teams already have 1 or 2, so when you're looking for work you can quickly realise that the 6 or 7 potential teams within a decent driving radius are already sorted in that department.

When he was released I seem to remember most of the local teams already had keepers signed on, I am aware he trained a little with Scunthorpe but for whatever reason they brought that young lad in from Sheffield United instead and that was that.

He is clearly settled in the area so it was very doubtful that he was going to up route his family so when the chance came for him to go to Ireland when he moved to Finn Harps it was only on a short term deal and didn't involve taking his wife and kids.

I am pretty sure Cleethorpes was the right move for him although I have no doubt he's still capable of playing in higher divisions, I think he has a job outside of football now doesn't he? So Cleethorpes is probably the inevitable winding down of his career, he is 34 now so no spring chicken and probably has an eye on what's next in life rather than attempting to get back to a higher standard of football.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

He's got a bad back injury apparently which may explain his rapid decline. He's been dropped by Clee because Leigh Overton (ex Town youth player) deserves the shirt.

Him and Overton were both on holiday at the same time the other week, so Declyn Dennis (released by Town in the summer) played a couple of games for them.

By all accounts, he hasn't endeared himself well with the Clee regulars.

I know he’s got the on going back injury which I suspect didn’t help his chances of getting a conference club, I’d imagine he probably wanted too much wage wise too.

Do Clee Town still do that thing where they bring in ex pros and put them straight into the squad then? I can see their point but surely it’s not good for morale or the lads who’ve been working hard week in week out to be bumped for an aging ex pro…

Quoted from aldi_01

I know he’s got the on going back injury which I suspect didn’t help his chances of getting a conference club, I’d imagine he probably wanted too much wage wise too.

Do Clee Town still do that thing where they bring in ex pros and put them straight into the squad then? I can see their point but surely it’s not good for morale or the lads who’ve been working hard week in week out to be bumped for an aging ex pro…

Loads of lower league clubs use ex-pros who have settled in their locality. It’s certainly not a ‘Cleethorpes thing’.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Loads of lower league clubs use ex-pros who have settled in their locality. It’s certainly not a ‘Cleethorpes thing’.

I know it’s not a Cleethorpes thing but my point still stands and as we saw pre season, the lad they had was arguably better, and probably doesn’t have a back injury…

Quoted from aldi_01

I know it’s not a Cleethorpes thing but my point still stands and as we saw pre season, the lad they had was arguably better, and probably doesn’t have a back injury…

But he’s ex Town too!

Quoted from aldi_01

I know he’s got the on going back injury which I suspect didn’t help his chances of getting a conference club, I’d imagine he probably wanted too much wage wise too.

Do Clee Town still do that thing where they bring in ex pros and put them straight into the squad then? I can see their point but surely it’s not good for morale or the lads who’ve been working hard week in week out to be bumped for an aging ex pro…

Yes, they had a really good keeper who was very popular with the fans, signed McKeown on a Friday who confessed to not touching a football since leaving Finn Harps 8 weeks ago and put him in the starting lineup the next day. By Monday, their keeper was gone and McKeown went on to let in a few howlers.

People are saying he's on quite a bit of money with half paid by a sponsor that expects him to play. Overton isn't having howlers, is pulling off some good saves and distributes far better than McKeown ever has.

I've been told that McKeown has turned up to games, sulked with a coffee and abruptly left at full time when he's not playing.