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Mckenna vs Spavin

Mckenna vs Spavin

Pilchard said:
For me spay a country mile
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Who's Spay?

For me both as good as each other, played in different eras, so hard to separate.

Would have loved to see McKenna return on loan until the end of this season though! What we would also give for another Brian O'Neill! Oh how we have been spoiled down the years!!
 
sliper said:
Spavin.. by some distance for me. If he had scored more goals and had more pace he would have played for England.

Created so many chances for others..
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I have seen that written about Spavin so many times, and to me, it is BS. Howard Kendall had more pace, more class, and scored more goals, and still did not make the England team, and that after playing with a 'fashionable' and 'successful' 1st division team Everton.

At no point in his career was Spavin ever in remote danger of playing for England. So lets put this fabrication to bed please once and for all. He was a decent div 2 player, nothing more, nothing less, and it was the players around him that contributed also to this myth of him playing for England if he had a bit more pace etc.

Lawton, Kendall, Wilson where as good in their own ways, and Peter Thompson was streets ahead in pace and goal scoring ability, and that is why he did play for England, but not whilst at PNE, he had to move to Liverpool before international recognition came his way.

Here is a question: If Spavin was that good, how come not even a whisper about any interest from a div one team? Wilson went onto Liverpool, as did Peter Thompson, and Kendall went onto Everton, Hannigan a bit later got a move to Coventry, Gemmill to Derby County etc.

Spavin meanwhile stayed at Deepdale for almost all his career, attracting interest only from USA football, so I think that says a lot.
 
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Dazzler said:
If Spav had had a yard or two more pace he had the skill to play for England. On a personal note, played golf with him at Lancaster in a competition. Nice guy.
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Fully agree, and he would have played for a top club, as did Peter Thompson from the same PNE youth team that got to the final of the FA Youth Cup. 'Tug' Wilson, in my view, had the same level of skill as those two but not the application, as his failed period at Liverpool showed.

I used to play for a now defunct team, Chorley Amateurs, in the Lancashire Amateur League, and one season when Fulwood Amateurs visited us Spavin and Kelly turned up as managers! Good guys.
 
Albertan said:
I have seen that written about Spavin so many times, and to me, it is BS. Howard Kendall had more pace, more class, and scored more goals, and still did not make the England team, and that after playing with a 'fashionable' and 'successful' 1st division team Everton.

At no point in his career was Spavin ever in remote danger of playing for England. So lets put this fabrication to bed please once and for all. He was a decent div 2 player, nothing more, nothing less, and it was the players around him that contributed also to this myth of him playing for England if he had a bit more pace etc.

Lawton, Kendall, Wilson where as good in their own ways, and Peter Thompson was streets ahead in pace and goal scoring ability, and that is why he did play for England, but not whilst at PNE, he had to move to Liverpool before international recognition came his way.

Here is a question: If Spavin was that good, how come not even a whisper about any interest from a div one team? Wilson went onto Liverpool, as did Peter Thompson, and Kendall went onto Everton, Hannigan a bit later got a move to Coventry, Gemmill to Derby County etc.

Spavin meanwhile stayed at Deepdale for almost all his career, attracting interest only from USA football, so I think that says a lot.
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Opinions are like a*se holes.. we all have one ! I still remember his performance against Spurs when he ran the show... against arguably one of the best two or three sides in the land. And later Alan Weeks on MOTD calling him "Sparrvin"

I suspect Spavin staying at Deepdale was as much to do with his business interests in the area.. ok so he may not have made the great '66 England side but I can think of many English sides since that Spav would have fitted in well with. Granted English football generally took a turn for the worse after 66.

I always thought Kendall should have played more for England as well..
 
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Spav was a smashing player but we ragged him from the Paddock about his lack of workrate, and he was carried through by Nobby Lawton, all energy and ball winning and "box to box". Lawton's style enabled Spav to be a "Schemer".
McKenna could never be faulted for his workrate for North End, and maybe, just maybe, if he had a consistent "Schemer" alongside him, we might have got up to the Premier League....
 
Different eras so difficult to make a proper comparison. For me, Spavin just shades it. However, I dont think many realised how important McKenna was until he left us. Hope he has a productive loan spell playing for Grezza.
 
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