Former player dies aged 84
We were sorry to learn of the death of former Rovers player Roy McCrohan, aged 84, on Tuesday.His playing career with Rovers, for whom he signed in August 1964, took in ten league games and one goal in the 1964/65 campaign and he was named as Rovers’ first appointed substitute in the Football League, on the opening day of the 1965/66 season but was unused and never appeared in the League thereafter.
Roy had scored Rovers’ goal in the 1-1 draw at Brentford in September 1964 and had previously played against Rovers in four League games for Colchester and in six with Norwich.
Over a decade at Carrow Road had brought not only a monumental tally of appearances, to end up in sixth place on the Canaries’ all time appearance list, but also a game in the 1962 League Cup Final, in which Norwich defeated Rochdale 4-0 on aggregate.
He captained Norwich on one occasion, in an astonishing 4-4 draw against his former club Reading at Elm Park in March 1954. In addition, his 33 goals in 101 reserve matches included a hat trick against Ipswich reserves in October 1951.
He scored the only goal of the game when the Canaries defeated Rovers in February 1952 and Colchester’s only goal against Crystal Palace in the first ever televised game at Layer Road in October 1962, before conceding a penalty at Eastville in May 1963, from which Alfie Biggs scored.
Previously, his eight matches with Slough had included a goal in a 4-1 victory at Uxbridge.
A fully qualified Football Association coach, McCrohan lived with his wife Mary Stacey, son Andy and daughter Sue near Fulham’s training ground at Kingston-upon-Thames and, after being Bobby Robson’s assistant at Ipswich, coached the Luton reserves side which drew 2-2 with Rovers reserves in April 1976.
He moved to the United States in 1978 and lived for many years in Tallahassee, Florida, returning to Norwich in 1993 with a touring youth side from Tallahassee.