NUFC - 1950's Centre Backs

Six foot three, fourteen stone and size twelve boots; no wonder this hulk of Scottish granite was called the "Rock of Tyneside". A man whose appetite for winning the ball was matched by his culinary conquests, he was the lynchpin of United's defence for the first four seasons of the decade.

In 1954/55 Brennan suddenly found himself out of favour and with his wages slashed. His case was taken up by the players union as a test case against the inequality of players' contracts. He also had the support of the fans who organised protest meetings about his treatment.

But it was to no avail and at the age of almost 32 he found himself released into Non-League football. The fact that he had opened a sports shop in Newcastle where Seymour already had one too was nothing to do with Frank's sudden demise (allegedly).

Glaswegian McNeil was bought as cover for Brennan and appeared to be hewn out of the same stone; unfortunately despite being powerful in the air he was not of the same class as his fellow countryman.

One game in particular wrecked his Tyneside career and that was the Fourth Round FA Cup match against Bolton at St James' Park. McNeil was up against the great Nat Lofthouse and basically tried to kick him off the park as he struggled to cope. His tactics were to rebound on him as Lofthouse got his retribution and the injured McNeil had to be moved out on to the right wing.

Born in Easington Ron joined United from the local colliery team at the age of seventeen. He was two years older when he deputised for the injured Brennan for three games in October 1953.

Never got another chance after that and he moved to Darlington for whom he made over 500 appearances.

Mickley born Stoke was signed on for the usual fee at the tender age of seventeen as Seymour continued his raids of the local junior clubs.

He started as an attacking half-back but with heavy competition in this area he became frustrated with his lack of progress and slapped in transfer requests at regular intervals.

On his debut on Christmas Day 1950 he played as an emergency centre-forward and scored. But it was when he dropped back into central defence that his route into the team - made available through Brennans's disposal - arrived.

A strong tackler and with excellent distribution Bob played in the 1955 Cup Final and made the position his own until he left for Bury in the fateful season of 1960/61.

United paid a huge fee to prise 6' 1" Scotsman Paterson from Doncaster Rovers. The twenty-four year old had won Scottish "B" caps and was what some would call a "footballing defender"

He was on a hiding to nothing with the Gallowgaters as he had replaced crowd favourite Brennan; it's fair to say he got a pretty rough ride.

Four years later he moved to Glasgow Rangers for a for a fifth of the fee that United had paid for his services having played less than thirty games.

Another strapping centre-back, Scott was born in South Shields and joined the club at the age of nineteen. He was deputy to Stokoe during his time at the club and therefore had limited opportunities in the first eleven.

He had a harrowing debut in January 1957 when United were crushed 6-1 at Old Trafford. His most productive season was in 1958/59 when he got sixteen starts filling in at left back, left half and left wing as well as centre-back. He even turned out as centre-forward a couple of times in 1959/60; scoring twice against Leeds in a 3-2 win at Elland Road.

Scott was transferred to Darlington in the season when United started life in the Second Division again.

The search for the new Frank Brennan continued with the signing of 6' 2" Nesbitt. All his three games were in 1957/58 as he, Paterson and Scott were all given the chance to impress when Stokoe was not available.

Picked up from local football as an eighteen year old, Wallsend lad Heslop made his debut in the amazing 8-2 victory over Everton in November 1959. He never really established himself in the side and would soon move to Goodison Park.