Applause in tribute to the late John Imrie

John Imrie sends in a header for Runcorn in a match against an Everton XI in the early 1980s. Picture courtesy of Runcorn Weekly News

By Dave Bettley

There will be a period of applause before kick off to Saturday's Emirates FA Cup tie - in memory of former Runcorn AFC player and assistant manager John Imrie, who passed away earlier this week.

The game is of course against Buxton, the club from which John originally joined the Linnets towards the end of the title-winning Alliance Premier League campaign of 1981-82.

He made seven appearances, including seven starts, as Linnets saw off the challenge of an excellent Enfield team to become national non-league champions.

The following campaign saw "Jinxie", as John was known to Runcorn fans, play in all 42 league games and he was a stalwart of the team for the next four seasons.

John, extreme right on the front row, with the 1983 Bob Lord Trophy winners. W Leigh photo

During his stay, the Linnets twice won the Bob Lord Trophy, this being the League Cup competition in the APL (which initially rebranded as the Gola League), defeating Scarborough and Maidstone United in the finals of 1983 and '85.

In the second of these years, the club also lifted the league's James Thompson Shield for the second time courtesy of victory at Wealdstone, on penalties.

John is on the right of the middle row in this photograph of the 1986 Wembley squad. W Leigh photo

In 1986, John lined up at Wembley in the first of Linnets' three FA Trophy finals and he was with the club for Cheshire Senior Cup finals of 1986 and 1987.

Wins against Northwich Victoria and Altrincham, respectively, (both by 3-1 margins) founded a run of five successive Runcorn triumphs in the competition.

1986-87 was the final season of John's first spell at Canal Street. He briefly returned in 1991-92 to make three more League appearances - taking his APL/Gola League/Conference total at Runcorn to 185 (173 starts+12 sub) with 21 goals.

He ranks eighth on the club's all-time list of appearance makers in the competiton.

Unfortunately, there are no records to hand of Cup appearances but safe to say, John played well in excess of 200 matches in the Yellow & Green.

After two spells at Canal Street as a player, John Imrie returned as assistant manager in 1999-2000. Picture courtesy of Runcorn Weekly News.

He also had a stint as assistant to manager Mark Carter in 1999-2000 as Linnets finished ninth in the then one-division Northern Premier League while reaching the last eight of the FA Trophy.