Iain McChesney (29 July 1944 – 29 March 2024) was a Scottish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

with

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

club Queen of the South from

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

. McChesney is the longest serving player in the club's history, playing with them from 1960 to 1981. McChesney was a utility player.

Playing career

McChesney showed great dedication and commitment to the club. The defender played his first game at 16 years old and is the club's longest serving player. McChesney made 615 appearances between 1960 and 1981. McChesney is second in the club's record appearances list behind Allan Ball.Iain McChesney career profile on "Queens legends" on the Queen of the South website
/ref> McChesney is also 13th highest in Queens all-time goalscoring charts with 79 goals, one ahead of Rowan Alexander. McChesney was signed for the

Palmerston Park Palmerston Park is a association football, football stadium on Terregles Street in Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League One club Queen of the South F.C., Queen of the South, who have played there ...

club by manager Jimmy McKinnell, Jr. in July 1960 from Kello Rovers. Others on the playing staff already were Jim Patterson,Jim Patterson profile on "Queens Legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website
/ref> Ivor Broadis,Ivor Broadis profile on "Queens Legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website
/ref> George FarmGeorge Farm profile on "Queens Legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website
/ref> and Jim Kerr. Others to soon join were future Scotland centre forward

Neil Martin Neil Martin (born 20 October 1940) is a Scottish former association football, football player, who scored 100 league goals in both Scotland and England and won three full international caps for Scotland in the 1960s and 1970s. Known for his str ...

,Neil Martin profile on "Queens Legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website
/ref> right winger Ernie Hannigan (like Martin, Hannigan went on to play in England's top division9 and goalkeeper Allan Ball.Allan Ball profile on "Queens Legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website
/ref> This was the best side of McChesney's two decades at the club winning promotion to Scotland's top flight and playing there for two seasons. Queens notched a league victory at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

during season 1962–63. McChesney scored for Queens on 26 March 1970 in the first ever game when Queens played overseas opposition at Palmerston. Metalist Kharkiv of Ukraine, at the time part of the U.S.S.R., were the opponents with Queens winning the challenge game 2–0. This was Queens' first game versus overseas opposition since the club's 1936 Overseas tour. McChesney was awarded a testimonial versus Ayr United in 1971 for his loyalty. Joining McChesney and Ball to play at Palmerston through most of the 1970s was Jocky Dempster. Queens were promoted to the First Division at the end of the 1980–81 season with McChesney in their ranks. Also in the side were fellow long servants Allan Ball, Crawford Boyd and Jimmy Robertson and future manager Rowan Alexander.

After playing

McChesney retired from playing in 1981 but continued his association with the club as spongeman for a spell and also trainer for the local-based players and was also assistant manager to Billy McLaren. McChesney became an electrician. As part of maintenance work on the floodlights at

, he was the one who climbed up to change the lightbulbs. McChesney was inducted into the Queen of the South Hall of Fame on 19 January 2013. McChesney died on 29 March 2024, at the age of 79.

External links

Iain McChesney career profile at Queen of the South website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McChesney, Iain 1944 births 2024 deaths Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Dumfries Men's association football defenders Men's association football utility players Scottish Football League players Queen of the South F.C. players Place of birth missing