South Yorkshire Times, January 5th, 1934
John Mclean
Denaby’s diminutive winger, has already established himself as a popular figure with the crowd at Tickhill Square. He is as elusive as he is small, as many half-backs have found to their cost, and generally raises a few laughs at the expense of his opponents before a match is over. The secret of his success is his speed and the secret of his speed and skill is thorough training.
No one at Tickhill Square takes his training more seriously than McLean and the result is that he is a thorn in the side of opposing defences from first to last and has more than once proved a match-winner. He can play at inside-left but is at his best on the wing, kicks strongly and is very accurate with his centres, while he has few equals at threading his way through a defence. He takes the game very seriously and can be relied upon to give of his best all the time.
He started his football career in Sheffield junior circles and played for a time with Attercliffe Boys in the Sheffield Intermediate League. Later he moved to Hallam and spent a couple of seasons with them in the Association League. It was while with Hallam that he attracted the attention of Newark, whom he joined in 1930. After three seasons with Newark, during which he missed only about three games, McLean was signed by Denaby at the beginning of the current season. He is certainly one of Manager Percy Harrison’s best captures.