Matt Tees obituary | Grimsby

Matt Tees, who has died aged 81, was a Scottish professional footballer, a prolific header of goals and one of the quiet giants in the lower leagues of the English game. He scored 151 times in 361 games.

Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, the son of Hugh Tees, a labourer, and Sarah (nee Murney), Matt attended the local St Margaret’s Roman Catholic school before beginning work as a machinist with Stoddard Carpets in Elderslie. He played football for Penilee Athletic, Cambuslang Rangers and Forfar Athletic before joining the Scottish First Division side Airdrieonians as a semi-professional in 1960.

Matt wowed crowds at Airdrieonians, and later at Charlton Athletic and Luton, but was nowhere more applauded and adored than at Grimsby Town, where two spells earned him enduring status. He joined Grimsby in 1963, scoring a debut goal against the England keeper Gordon Banks in a pre-season friendly.

After a successful spell at Charlton Athletic (1967-69), at Luton he briefly played the senior role in a partnership with a young Malcolm Macdonald, before a celebrated return to Grimsby in 1970. The Mariners had suffered serious decline in his absence but this second coming doubled attendances and Tees’ goals brought the good days back to Blundell Park.

When Lawrie McMenemy arrived to manage “The Town”, he sensed potential problems in this fellow, “… older than the rest, 10-stone wet through, smoking a pipe, and with legs like pipe-cleaners who did not look strong enough”.

Matt would prove his strength, and more, with seven goals in five games over 14 days to kickstart a season that would end with a 28th Tees goal in front of 23,000 in a Fourth Division championship decider.

The modesty of the man was demonstrated long afterwards by his insistent acknowledgment of teammates including Mike Hickman, Dave Boylen and Stuart Brace as key to his achievements.

The 2017 documentary Alan Shearer, Dementia, Football and Me, featured Matt, at home with his grandchildren, reflecting on how they did not remember him in his prime. A faithful multitude of followers do, fondly and with great affection. I last saw Matt, perhaps two years ago, on a Cleethorpes street. He was running to catch up with May, his wife, after sharing memories with another grateful admirer. He approached her with that shuffling, stuttering, almost tripping, movement many of us remember.

How often we saw it, in penalty areas across the land; Matt timing the run, then leaping, hanging in the air, awaiting crosses from Boylen or Brace, Jimmy Pennington or Brian Hill. It was his trademark manoeuvre, followed by glanced or powerfully headed goals that swelled the nets and filled our dreams for years to come.

He is survived by May, their sons, Neil and Andrew, and four grandchildren, Alex, Lucie, Joe and Matthew.