THEY SAID SPENCER WOULDN’T MAKE IT

SPENCER IN HIS EARLY EAST KILBRIDE THISTLE DAYS

There’s a lot more to being a top goalkeeper than getting one’s body between the ball and the net.

There’s artistry, there’s presence, there’s decision making intelligence and there’s also be a hefty dose of luck involved as one time feted shotstopper Ronnie Tracey testified this week.

`Spencer` as he’s affectionately nicknamed, (the more elderly among you will know its origins) is coming up fast on his 71^st birthday next month and can boast to having winners medals from the Scottish Amateur Cup and Scottish Junior Cup as evidence of Lady Luck smiling in his direction but she was more often not on his side going by the story of his career spanning some 21 years…judge for yourself?

Ronnie was born in Lennoxtown but reared in the sprawling Castlemilk scheme on the Southside of Glasgow after his family relocated there when he was only four years old.

He has fond memories of his schooldays at St Dominics Primary and St Margaret Marys Secondary…he was a stand out between the sticks for both their school teams… no easy feat when among his team mates were John Dougall (later of Clyde),Scotland winger Arthur Graham who started out at Cambuslang Rangers before going on to earn fame playing for Aberdeen, Leeds United and Manchester United, and arguably the most talented of them all , Tony McBride, whose signing for Celtic prompted no less than Jock Stein to remark “He’s better than Jinky was at the same age”

Spencer’s own climb up the footballing ladder was considerably less distinguished because after at 17 years of age playing an uneventful trial match for Petershill, not wholly unsurprising as he was trying to displace the regular Peasy No 1 at the time.Andy Geoghegan (later Bobby Clark’s understudy at Aberdeen for five years) , he played for the Glasgow Union of Youth Clubs and remembers going on a tour of Iceland with them when aged 19.

His next stop was crack amateur outfit Weirs Recreation based in Cathcart where he excelled playing in a side whose star turn was future Queens Park signing Jimmy Inglis who also had the distinction of turning out for Inverness Thistle in the Highland League long before their amalgamation with city rivals Caledonian to form what has come to be known as Inverness Caley in the present day.

Ronnie revealed, “A friend of mine, Alan `Corkscrew` Logan had talked me into going down to Weirs where a number of other Castlemilk based guys were playing in a highly competitive Scottish Amateur League against teams of the calibre of Muirend, Neilsonians, Bishopton Thistle and not forgetting the big guns of Queens Park Strollers whose officials were prone to giving their team an injection of players from the Hampden X1 when they were going up against the top sides…and Weirs was one of them.

“We had a more than decent side and I remember winning 3-1 against Pollok in a pre-season friendly match and they were left fizzing when Inglis who had scored a couple of goals, turned down their signing offer.”

After a couple of seasons at Albert Park, Ronnie opted to team up with his brother in law and one time Leeds United signing Joe McQuade ,back then playing with Winlinton Wolves, and a string of outstanding displays for the Irvine club led to him being head-hunted by none other than legendary Crosshouse Waverley manager Gus Hollas.

Spencer recalled, “ Gus was persistent to a fault and wouldn’t get off my case until my name was on a form tucked away in his pocket but in fairness, going to Crosshouse was a great move not least because ours was a really successful side though for the love of me , I cannot remember the names of the guys I played alongside other than Bell Morrison and the surnames of the forward line pair McNaught and McKibben.

“Reaching the Amateur Cup Final in 1978 only to lose 2-0 after extra time to Cambusbarron Rovers was a massive disappointment to everyone connected with the club but we made amends the following season when getting back to Hampden and this time running out 4-3 winners over Chapelhall.

”Also during my time at at Crosshouse , I was chuffed to bits at being picked to keep goal for a Scottish Amateur side that narrowly lost 2-1 down at Stranraer against Northern Ireland in a game where the soon to be Celtic legend Charlie Nicholas scored our goal.

“It would have called it my one and only `cap` but for the fact we all received a badge for taking part.”

A matter of months down the road from his Ayrshire club’s memorable Cup triumph found the now 27 year old shotstopper playing as a trialist for an East Kilbride Thistle side comprising of worthies such as Davie Thomson, Joe Reilly, Kenny Gordon and Gordon Stuart in a 3-2 Sectional League Cup victory over Pollok.

He takes up the story, “We didn’t go on to win the trophy that season (Shettleston did) but I must have put on a decent showing because Willie Egan made me a signing offer after the game that was too good to turn down and I finally moved into the Juniors all of 10 years on from when Petershill thought I couldn’t hack it.”

Thistle, with Ronnie doing his level best and then some to ` keep the back door shut ` were crowned Central A Division champions in his first season but he could never have imagined how silverware laden the following four campaigns would be as he played his part in the Jags lifting every possible trophy prize (barring the West of Scotland Cup) including in 1983 the much coveted Scottish Junior Cup for the first and to this day still the only time in E.K.’s history.

And few can deny Ronnie & Co did it the hard way after knocking out then A Division heavyweights Larkhall Thistle, Bailleston and Pollok en route to inflicting a 2-0 Ibrox defeat on Bo’ness United thanks to Kenny Gordon and Joe Reilly goals.

Little did Ronnie know then that his clean sheet in the showpiece finale would also mark his Scottish Junior Cup hurrah after the 1983/84 first round draw saw him consigned to the substitutes bench and replaced by Tam Dillon as E.K’s defence of the silverware ended abruptly when they suffered a 3-1 loss away to Fife minnows Halbeath.

He said ruefully “Nobody ever took me aside to explain the reasons behind me being left out at Halbeath and I wasn’t around long enough to find out for myself because I was a Clyde player within a matter of weeks.”

WE’LL BE RUNNING ROUND IBROX WITH THE CUP

Spencer reminisced “ You know, winning the Junior Cup was a dream come true and the pinnacle of my playing days yet the abiding memory of those wonderful years at East Kilbride is of a Cup game that we lost… and not Halbeath” .

“It was a Dryborough Cup semi-final against Lesmahagow, played at neutral Somervell Park , which looked certain to go into extra time with the scores tied at 1-1 or 2-2 with minutes left when their midfielder Ian Browning looked up and took a pot at goal from inside his own half after seeing me standing beyond the six yard line and I was helpless to do anything other than watch the ball drop over my head and into the net .

“That lapse in concentration was arguably the most embarrassing gaffe of my career and it didn’t make me feel any better afterwards when I was apologizing to the guys for big Tam Dowdalls (sadly no longer with us) to say my bloomer was a godsend as he was out on his feet and would never have got through another 30 minutes! “

His door to Shawfield was opened as a result of a Clyde, managed by Craig Brown, left seeking an experienced glove-wearer for an away game against Airdrie because of an injury crisis .

Brown’s assistant Rab Thorburn approached Thistle boss Egan who gave his assent and Ronnie duly played in an incident packed 4-3 defeat which he remembers for Broomfield full back Tom Black scoring the winning goal and Clyde finishing with only nine men on top of Brown also receiving his marching orders.

An encouraging sign was Clyde wanting him out again for a midweek Cup match however Spencer was deemed ineligible because he wasn’t registered but his disappointment only lasted until the following midweek when Brown telephoned to say terms had been agreed with E’K boss Egan and asked if he would join him and Thorburn for signing talks while they were spectating at a Scotland v Iceland international at Hampden.

There were no hitches on or off the pitch , Scotland won 3-0 while the trio drove back to Shawfield at the final whistle to complete the paperwork formalities for Ronnie stepping up into the Senior ranks and joining a formidable Clyde squad boasting the likes of John McVeigh, Brian Ahern, Paul Flexney, Derek Frye, Bobby Dickson, Robert Reilly and Stevie Evans.

He recounted, “ I had to pinch myself at getting the chance to play Senior at 32 years of age but I worked hard to make the most of my opportunity and played my fair share of first team games over the next couple of seasons.”

RONNIE(second from left standing WITH SOME CLYDE TEAM MATES.

No new contract offer materialised however Lisbon Lion great John Clark had been installed as Stranraer manager and he made a signing approach which led to Ronnie moving to Stair Park where he teamed up again with former East Kilbride Thistle striker Tony Gallagher, Tony Higgins, Neil Watt, Graham Hay, and Dennis McDaid among others however just three weeks later Clark upped and left the club …to assume the hotseat at Clyde.

His replacement was namesake Nobby Clark , previously with Queen of the South ,who lasted only a season at the helm but was nevertheless headed out the exit door by Spencer after another Lisbon legend Tommy Gemmell convinced him there were merits in joining Albion Rovers however yet again the manager’s tenure proved to be short lived after Gemmell quit to concentrate on his day job commitments.

A fellow left back, Davie Provan of Rangers renown was appointed to the Cliftonhill helm and set about making wholesale changes akin to a mini clear-out that culminated in him releasing the ex-Clyde pair of Ronnie and Brian Ahern along with Rovers fans favourites Paul Green ,Jim Chapman and Davie Houston.

Spencer revealed , “The 1987/88 season was just about to get underway and having a few of my old team mates still in and around East Kilbride Thistle was as good a reason as any for going back there.

“Charlie Tocher was the Match Secretary and he already had a decent goalkeeper in Billy McCormick but I was prepared to knuckle down and fight for my place until it was made abundantly clear I was nothing more than yesterday’s man.

“The opportunity to impress that I had yearned for arrived a few weeks into the season when I was promised a start in a league game so I did not hesitate to turn down a lucrative Saturday shift offer from my bosses in the Pest Control company where I worked.

“And I remember on the Friday beforehand being as hyped up as I was when making my debut for Thistle so imagine how I felt when Billy was named in the team read out and I wasn’t.

“I walked away after that slap in the face but unfortunately followed up one bad experience with another at Johnstone Burgh whom I joined mid-season along with the brothers Harry and Stevie Gray on the premise of free transfers when the season ended.

“Instead their team boss George Walker refused to let us go and held onto our registrations for the next three years meaning we couldn’t play for any other team so in 1990 I called it quits and hung up the boots.”

Spencer was never into the vogue of Goalkeeping coaching and avoided team management other than for a short spell running the Christ The King Boys Team his goalkeeping son Grant played for.

He is rarely seen at games nowadays but is an avid frequenter of get-togethers between his former team mates at Weirs, East Kilbride Thistle and not forgetting Clyde whose former Supporters Secretary Gordon Sydney recently organized a memory stirring visit to Shawfield (before it is turned into a housing estate) which Ronnie attended along with Andy Willock, Joe Ward , Fishy (Ahern) Phil Cairney and Jim Burns.

FIXTURES FOR SATURDAY 18^th FEBRUARY 2023 (Kick Offs 2 PM): P.D.M Buildbase Premier Division. Cambuslang Rangers v Troon, Petershill v Arthurlie, Largs Thistle v Clydebank,Rob Roy v Auchinleck Talbot, Beith v Cumnock, Pollok v Kilwinning Rangers, Darvel v Glenafton, Hurlford Utd v Irvine Meadow.PDM Buildbase First Division. Neilston v Drumchapel Utd, Thorniewood Utd v Rossvale, Bonnyton Thistle v Cumbernauld Utd, Benburb v St Cadocs, Whitletts Vics v Rutherglen Glencairn, Kilbirnie Ladeside v Shotts Bon Accord, Johnstone Burgh v Gartcairn, St Rochs v Blantyre Vics.PDM Buildbase Second Division. Maybole v Muirkirk, Maryhill v Ardeer Thistle, Glasgow Perthshire v Kilsyth Rangers, Ashfield v Renfrew, Craigmark v Forth Wanderers,Glasgow Utd v St Anthonys, Yoker Athletic v Wishaw, Greenock v Glasgow University. PDM Buildbase Third Division. Irvine Vics v Bellshill Athletic, Kello Rovers v Port Glasgow, East Kilbride Thistle v Vale of Clyde, Dalry Thistle v Girvan, Vale of Leven v Carluke Rovers, Royal Albert v Saltcoats Vics, Larkhall Thistle v Lanark Utd, Finnart v Lugar Boswell, Lesmahagow v Newmains Utd. PDM Buildbase Fourth Division. St Peters v Eglinton, Harmony Row v Kilsyth Athletic, Campbeltown Pupils v Easterhouse FA, Threave Rovers v Glenvale, West Park Utd v Thorn Athletic, BSC Glasgow v Rossvale Academy.

Regards Jim O’Donnell