John McCormick (18 July 1936 – 2 July 2017) was a Scottish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. Playing as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

he made a total of 334 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and Scottish League, for Third Lanark,

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and Crystal Palace before moving into

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow, London, Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont, Harrow, Belmont and Kenton, London, Kenton, ...

Playing career

Third Lanark

He began his senior career at Third Lanark, in 1959 to 1965 and helped his hometown club to a third-placed finish in the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

in 1961. In the close season of 1964 he moved to

after 190 appearances for Lanark, but without scoring.

Aberdeen

McCormick spent two seasons at

making 28 appearances without scoring, before moving to England with teammate Tom White to play for Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace

Palace

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Bert Head paid just £1,500 for McCormick's services, on 30 May 1966. White had been Head's main target but it was McCormick, after initially understudying Alan Stephenson, who helped the club to its promotion to the First Division for the first time in 1968–69. In that season, McCormick was ever present making 42 appearances and scoring 3 times. In the top flight he formed a solid defensive partnership with fellow centre-half

Mel Blyth Melvin Bernard Blyth (28 July 1944 – 11 January 2024) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre back. During his playing career, he joined Scunthorpe United in 1967. One year later, he signed for Crystal Palace before ...

and won Palace's first ever "''

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

''" award at the end of the 1971-72 season. He was awarded a testimonial during the next season.

Wealdstone

During the early part of the 1972–73 season McCormick lost his place, which was taken by Bobby Bell, and was subsequently allowed to leave on a free transfer. He joined

, then managed by former Palace colleague Eddie Presland, and helped the club to win the Southern League division one south in 1973–74. McCormick owned a hotel near Glasgow for 25 years. He lived in

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

. He died on 2 July 2017 at the age of 80.What a terrific centre-back he was' - Palace fans pay tribute to star of 1969 team John McCormick after passing away
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, John 1936 births 2017 deaths Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Third Lanark A.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Men's association football central defenders St Roch's F.C. players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Junior Football Association players Place of death missing 20th-century Scottish sportsmen