ARTICLE: Burnley in mourning with the loss of the great Jimmy Mac

[Garforth Claret]

A gentleman. A true legend.

[nil_desperandum]

A sad day for the club and everyone concerned with the club.
It is very fitting that our next home league game is against Man Utd, but will the club wait till then to pay tribute to him, or will it be before the Europa League game, which - unfortunately like many other ST holders I will be unable to attend?
It would be so appropriate to mark his passing before - arguably - our biggest home match of the season, against a team that he loved playing against.

[MACCA]

Great tribute CT

Never got to see him play due to my age, but the fact you still hear his name mentioned with such regularity whilst talking all things Burnley, just goes to show how highly regarded he was.
I've never heard a single negative said about him as a footballer or a person, which speaks volumes about any indevidual.

Rest in Peace Jimmy Mac

You'll always be a claret!

[MACCA]

A video tribute now on clarets player, which is free for all to view.

https://www.burnleyfc.talent-sport.co.u ... /Home.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[clareteltel44]

The best player I have seen in a Claret shirt, very sad day. I will always remember his wonderful quick feet and the way he left defenders on their backsides.
Thanks for the memories RIP Jimmy.

[JohnMcGreal]

That's a really nice piece, ClaretTony.

I can only echo the sentiments of the many, many tributes paid to Jimmy today. That he was our greatest ever player and a real gentleman to boot. Today is a sad day.

Rest in peace, Jimmy Mac.

[ALP]

A fitting tribute Tony.
I was lucky enough to know Jimmy, but never fortunate enough to see him play. When I got to know him, he was one of the, if not the nicest person I have ever spoken to. He was as sharp as anyone, intelligent beyond belief and he recounted many games to me. I lost contact with him a number of years ago which was a shame as he was just a brilliant person.
My thoughts and prayers are with Anne and Paul today and may this Claret legend long be remembered as a son of his adopted hometown of Burnley; rest in peace Jimmy, I'll never forget you.

[The Enclosure]

We've tried to get one sorted for some time, on Harry Potts Way and probably in an area currently part of the car park. If there is to be one of him it should be right at the front where most people will see it. Barry Kilby was very enthusiastic about the idea.

That would certainly be the place to site one if there was room available Tony.

[ElectroClaret]

Awful day for BFC but terrific memories for those of us old enough to be lucky enough to have seen him.

Jimmy Mac, forever in our hearts.

Forever a Claret, the greatest of all.
RIP.

[brunlea99]

For those younger Clarets, whose only knowledge of Jimmy is from elder relatives, the link below gives a very eloquent and knowledgeable Obituary. it describes Jimmy's talents beautifully. It's by Ivan Ponting, a very respected football writer, from the Independent.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obit ... 99316.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Pearcey]

Sad news. RIP Jimmy Mac. Before my time but whenever I’ve seen his interviews, he came across as a great man who clearly loved the club.

[CleggHall]

For those younger Clarets, whose only knowledge of Jimmy is from elder relatives, the link below gives a very eloquent and knowledgeable Obituary. it describes Jimmy's talents beautifully. It's by Ivan Ponting, a very respected football writer, from the Independent.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obit ... 99316.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

An excellent article, better than Brian Glanville's obituary in the Guardian. Ponting paints the full picture of Mac, his life and dedication/ contribution to Burnley. Many thanks for posting.

[ClaretAL]

While we are mourning the loss of our Giant, other Legends are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil. RIP Jimmy Mac MBE A new star in the sky tonight.

[Clarets4me]

Jimmy Mc being inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame by Sir Bobby Charlton in 2014 .......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBUoIjK59QM

[claretburns]

Clayton at Blackburn, Finney at Preston, Lofthouse at Bolton, Armfield at Blackpool and now McIlroy with us, all legends at their clubs and rightly so and RIP to all of them. What a 5-a-side team that would be, no need for a keeper.

[Eloise Laws]

While we are mourning the loss of our Giant, other Legends are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil. RIP Jimmy Mac MBE A new star in the sky tonight.

Beautiful and a very moving quote

[CoolClaret]

Some players seem to transcend time and could fit into any team of any era; by all accounts Jimmy Mac fitted right into that category.

He has become synonymous with Burnley FC and his contributions are firmly engrained into the clubs history and DNA.

RIP to our best ever.

There's only one Jimmy McIlroy <3

[CrosspoolClarets]

I bet getting back in Europe brought a tear to Jimmy’s eye. Fantastic that he saw us do it one more time. I’m old enough now to recognise that life is far too short, during it we treat each other far too harshly, and the decent, humble people fall by the wayside in the end just like everyone else. It’s ****, basically.

So with every death of someone I know I get emotional, but Jimmy has given me one or two more tears than normal today. A star has dimmed in the night sky, never to be lit again, but maybe if there is a heaven it shines bright over there. If there is a footie team of angels, Jimmy would be in it.

RIP.

[ClaretAL]

Beautiful and a very moving quote

I cant take the credit, not my own, but adapted to what I thought. I also think the Memorial Garden, and the Giants passing, is just a fitting tribute there could ever be without knowing it. He is woven in to the BFC Architecture.

[ALP]

A little video of Jimmy scoring for Ireland v Italy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPr2izpxb30" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CnBtruntru]

Very sad news, RIP to a Super Claret.

[jdrobbo]

Fabulous Tony. Sad day.

[Gnulty]

Sleep in peace Jimmy.

[tiger76]

Never saw the great man play in the flesh,but all the tributes paint him as a humble man,who never forgot his links to the community,RIP Jimmy Mac.

In 2011,he was made an MBE for services to football and to charity,deciding to receive the honour at Turf Moor instead of travelling to Buckingham Palace.

In the years following his retirement from football,he worked as a writer for local newspaper the Burnley Express.

These two points sum Jimmy up he was at his happiest in Burnley with his friends and family.

[Sozturf7]

Good articles from T C and the Independent that are difficult to add to.As a boy used to stand at the front of the longside near to the cricket field end, real Jimmy Mac territory, I can still picture him hips swaying leaving the opposition player in his wake. R I P Jimmy

[claretblue]

tribute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qk4Ok2mfP0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Pickles]

Sad day. The greatest. Everyone knew his name and will continue to do so.

I know Jimmy McIlroy is comparable and the game has changed so any similarity is probably quite crude but despite that, I'll ask anyway - which relatively recent or current player is most like McIlroy was? Which position would he play today? He wore number eight, yes? And I've seen he and Blanchflower described as a midfield duo for Northern Ireland. But then some comments on here imply he was more of a winger, a number ten?

Also - where in Burnley was his menswear shop?

[Stayingup]

He sliced through defences. They called him Mac the Knife.

RIP Legend.

[tybfc]

A few years ago and a couple of seasons apart I took my wife and my two youngest sons to the Turf on Boxing day as a corporate day out for the youngest's birthday.

We sat in the Jimmy MacIlroy Stand for pre match meal and on both occasions were fortunate enough to be seated on the same table of ten with Jimmy Mac and Jimmy Robson.

You could never had wished to have had two kinder and more honourable gentlemen sat with you.

It was a pleasure and for that to have happened twice was brilliant and something that I will never forget.

Jimmy will be sadly missed and I just wish I was old enough to have seen him play.

God bless.

[Pad1951]

Great tribute Tony , thank you.
RIP Jimmy.

[AndrewJB]

He embodied all that was good about our club. Not old enough to have seen him play but it sounds like a toss up between him and Bob Kelly for our greatest ever player.

It's a long time ago now - over ten years - but someone on the previous site once related an anecdote from Jimmy Mac. An old man collared him somewhere in town, saying "some people think you're the greatest ever Burnley player, but you're not. That was Bob Kelly" (or along those lines), and it's easy to imagine him recounting that story with a chuckle.

Good article, and I hope we see more anecdotes from the great man in the days and weeks to come.

[The Enclosure]

McIlroy, who ran a menswear shop in Burnley during his playing days, went on to become a journalist with the Blackburn Evening Telegraph, then the Burnley Express,

The above is a quote from the obituary in the Independent newspaper.I cannot for the life of me think where Jimmy had a menswear shop in Burnley..I have vague memories of Willie Morgan having one. Anyone remember?

[claretfern]

McIlroy, who ran a menswear shop in Burnley during his playing days, went on to become a journalist with the Blackburn Evening Telegraph, then the Burnley Express,

The above is a quote from the obituary in the Independent newspaper.I cannot for the life of me think where Jimmy had a menswear shop in Burnley..I have vague memories of Willie Morgan having one. Anyone remember?

I remember calling in his shop as a little lad with my dad and uncles. (They were hiring suits for my cousin's wedding.1965. The great man was in the shop that day) If memory serves me right, his shop was on Colne Road, roughly around the Brennand Street mark. Happy to be corrected though....

[Bullabill]

Anyone remember the free kick routines he used to pull with Les Shannon? They would pretend to argue about who was to take the kick and one of them would take it really quickly to catch the other side out, or whilst they were 'arguing' someone else would nick in behind and take it.

Great days.

[ClaretTony]

Nice piece this morning in the Irish News written by a fellow Claret and message board member

http://www.irishnews.com/news/2018/08/2 ... l-1411921/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CleggHall]

Yes a nice tribute by Simon Doyle highlighting how McIlroy was still revered in Belfast. It truly captures the "niceness" of the man.

[ElectroClaret]

Don't know if its been mentioned before, but a very moving tribute from Tony Mowbray, who went out of his way last night to give Jimmy the highest praise.

Thank you, Tony.

[ClaretTony]

Don't know if its been mentioned before, but a very moving tribute from Tony Mowbray, who went out of his way last night to give Jimmy the highest praise.

Thank you, Tony.

Not seen it but Tony Mowbray is apparently a really good bloke and his brother works for us.

[ClaretTony]

The club have opened a book of condolence - it is in the main reception and you can go in and sign it any time between 8:30 a.m. & 6 p.m.