Why isn't Sean McCann in the Valiant 500? Did he really play for Charlton?

jimmymelrose

theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/17/colum-mccann-my-heroes

'My earliest hero was my father, Sean McCann. He was a journalist, a football player, a radio announcer, but most of all he was – and still is – the man who announced possibility. As a younger man he had gone from Dublin to London, where he was a goalkeeper with Charlton Athletic. So, in the 1970s, I grew up on football'.

Airman Brown

If he isn't in Valiant 500 or the more recent handbooks he didn't play for the first team. However, there are plenty of people who played for the colts and sometimes even the reserves but never made the first team and this is where we relied upon Colin Cameron himself, as he collected this information too as far as possible.

For whatever reason there are lots of people who claim to have played for the club without being too specific at which level - and quite a lot of them are complete fantasists who never played at all. Occasionally friends and relatives contact the club for details before a celebration or a funeral and are disappointed to discover the truth - or they were when the club could tell them, thanks to Colin.

jimmymelrose

Well, in that article it sounds like he played rather a lot. Maybe he's too used to writing fiction.

He says that he was goalkeeper during the seventies which was just before my time but I know you were going Airman, and it sounds like you've never heard of him.

Covered End

I've been going since about 1970 & had a S/T since 1972 & I've never heard of him.

jimmymelrose

I just sent him a message:

Mr Mcann,

You claim that your father played football for Charlton Athletic but I find no record of him at all in reliable Charlton Athletic records. Could you please substantiate your claim?

Regards,

David Target.

jimmymelrose

Covered End said:

I've been going since about 1970 & had a S/T since 1972 & I've never heard of him.

You can tell him that in a message on this site if you want, lol

colum-mccann.fr/site/portrait_de_colum_mccann_&600&cmc01.html?2

Covered End

jimmymelrose said:

Covered End said:

I've been going since about 1970 & had a S/T since 1972 & I've never heard of him.

You can tell him that in a message on this site if you want, lol

colum-mccann.fr/site/portrait_de_colum_mccann_&600&cmc01.html?2

I did.

LenGlover

Not a name I can remember since 1963

Algarveaddick

Airman Brown said:

If he isn't in Valiant 500 or the more recent handbooks he didn't play for the first team. However, there are plenty of people who played for the colts and sometimes even the reserves but never made the first team and this is where we relied upon Colin Cameron himself, as he collected this information too as far as possible.

For whatever reason there are lots of people who claim to have played for the club without being too specific at which level - and quite a lot of them are complete fantasists who never played at all. Occasionally friends and relatives contact the club for details before a celebration or a funeral and are disappointed to discover the truth - or they were when the club could tell them, thanks to Colin.

We had one in our bar a few years back, when I told him I would look him up in the V500 and bring it in to show him his entry the next day, he beat a hasty retreat and never returned...

cafcfan

The article was in The Guardian so it's very unlikely to have any element of truth in it at all. We're probably looking for someone who wasn't Irish and played in the 1990s rather than 1970s.

waldo

cafcfan said:

The article was in The Guardian so it's very unlikely to have any element of truth in it at all. We're probably looking for someone who wasn't Irish and played in the 1990s rather than 1970s.

Please elaborate on your comment re The Guardian.

rambeau

Colum McCann does not say that his father played in the 1970's, but that he (Colum) grew up in the 1970's. You can see from google that there was a keeper called Sean McCann who played in the 40's and 50's, including for Irish international amateur sides, and expect this was the man. I have no idea if he played for charlton, but if not it's still quite easy to believe that he had a trial and/or some reserve turn outs, leading to a family legend that he was a Charlton player. Tone of message to Colum McCann seems pretty unfriendly, I won't be surprised if he prefers to ignore it!

rambeau

Colum McCann does not say that his father played in the 1970's, but that he (Colum) grew up in the 1970's. You can see from google that there was a keeper called Sean McCann who played in the 40's and 50's, including for Irish international amateur sides, and expect this was the man. I have no idea if he played for charlton, but if not it's still quite easy to believe that he had a trial and/or some reserve turn outs, leading to a family legend that he was a Charlton player. Tone of message to Colum McCann seems pretty unfriendly, I won't be surprised if he prefers to ignore it!

DaveMehmet

jimmymelrose said:

I just sent him a message:

Mr Mcann,

You claim that your father played football for Charlton Athletic but I find no record of him at all in reliable Charlton Athletic records. Could you please substantiate your claim?

Regards,

David Target.

I've just sent him one too:

Mr Mcann,

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Regards

Dave Mehmet

cafcfan

waldo said:

cafcfan said:

The article was in The Guardian so it's very unlikely to have any element of truth in it at all. We're probably looking for someone who wasn't Irish and played in the 1990s rather than 1970s.

Please elaborate on your comment re The Guardian.

It's a long-running and amusing concept in Private Eye that The Grauniad - as they called it - was incapable of printing stories without huge numbers of mistakes/typos. The satirical magazine took the idea to extreme lengths by suggesting that they couldn't even get the name of the paper right. The paper's in on the gag itself as it has registered the grauniad.co.uk web address which redirects to its real site.

While spell check has (almost) removed the problem, they still get themselves into trouble with inaccuracies that have more to do with incompetent journalism and ideology than anything else.

Here's some examples: pressgazette.co.uk/pcc-censures-guardian-over-particularly-concerning-inaccuracies-its-reporting-privy-council

huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/19/guardian-should-be-blacklisted-over-benefits-inaccuracies_n_5352146.html

wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/09/editiorial-the-guardian-doesnt-give-a-damn-about-accurate-reporting-nor-its-own-editorial-code/

christianpost.com/news/guardian-newspaper-apologizes-donates-to-pat-robertsons-operation-blessing-for-inaccurate-report-on-mission-congo-documentary-110715/

It's said that there's no smoke without fire and (like Lancia cars and their horror rust problem from the 1970s which precludes them from being sold in the UK - although there's a current model the Ypsilon that's just re-badged as a Chrysler) once you get a reputation its difficult to shake it off so people's estimation of the paper for inaccuracy has stuck with it whatever the current position. In reality who's to say whether it's any better or worse than any other papers? But it's still amusing.

Starinnaddick

Between 1946 and 1998 only four McCanns made League appearances in the English Football

League and they were all born in Scotland. I have been attending Charlton since 1950 and cant

recall a Sean McCann but it is possible that he played for the colts or was a triallist.

LargeAddick

it was probably Cheltenham he played for

CharltonPete

Carshalton Athletic? Sounds like Charlton in an Irish / Belgium accent