Ron Greener, English footballer, Died at 81

  Dead Famous

Ronald “Ron” Greener was born on January 31, 1934, and passed away October 19, 2015.

Ron was an English footballer, who played as a centre half.

Born in Easington, County Durham, he played his entire career in his native North-East.

Ron started his career with Newcastle United, before he moved to Darlington in 1955.

He spent most of his playing career with Darlington, and set the club’s appearance record of 490 first-team appearances.

Ron worked as a blacksmith at Easington Colliery, and began his football career playing for Easington Colliery Welfare and for Barnsley at youth level, before joining Newcastle United as a professional in 1952.

He made his first-team debut on 3 October 1953, in a 2–0 home defeat against Charlton Athletic in the First Division.

Ron played only twice more for Newcastle before signing for Darlington in 1955.

He immediately established himself in the first team, playing 132 consecutive games, a run which came to an end in February 1958 when he was snowbound at home, unable to join up with the team travelling to Workington.

The run included the “thrashing” of Chelsea, Football League champions only three years earlier, in the Fourth Round of the 1957–58 FA Cup.

After letting slip a three-goal lead at Stamford Bridge, Darlington won the replay 4–1 after extra time.

His performances earned him selection for the Third Division North representative side to play against the South in April 1957.

Ron missed most of the club’s first season in the newly formed Fourth Division after breaking his leg in August 1958, but returned the following season to play regularly for the remainder of his Darlington career.

Ron was part of the squad which won promotion to the Third Division in 1965–66 under manager Lol Morgan, and a regular first-team player the following season under Jimmy Greenhalgh, but was released on a free transfer at the end of the 1966–67 season.

Nicknamed “The Man Mountain”, Greener had made 490 first-team appearances for Darlington, still, as of 2010, a club record, his final appearance coming in April 1967 against Bristol Rovers at Feethams.

Ron finished his football career with two years at Stockton.

The club named a conference room at their Darlington Arena stadium in his honour.

Ron died on October 19, 2015 at age 81.