McAdam: David Frederick (David)

1948-1950 (Player Details)

Half Back

Born: Hereford: 03-04-1923

Debut: v Tottenham Hotspur (a): 13-09-1948

5’9 1/2” 10st 4lb (1949)

He attended Abingdon Council School, Berkshire, and went into the Army in 1941, serving with the First Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment in India, Burma and the North-West Frontier. He played at battalion level and on demob in September 1946 worked at the Branston Ordinance Depot, near Burton-on-Trent. He joined Stapenhill W.M.C, and was on the books of Aston Villa as an amateur before he was plucked from Non-League football by Major Buckley on 3rd May 1948 and enjoyed a brief spell with Leeds. Within months he was in the first team, when Con Martin moved to Aston Villa and played twenty consecutive games in the wing-half positions, but he ran into injury problems and was out with knee cartilage problems sustained in the home game with Blackburn Rovers on 29th January 1949. This kept him out for the rest of the season. Both he and Jimmy Dunn, who had missed several games at the end of the season with a stomach muscle strain were given the same rehabilitation programme. This involved wheeling barrow loads of cement for the workers who were concreting the terracing on the popular side. But the good news was that the specialist pronounced him perfectly fit. By this time Ray Iggleden had been swapped for Ken Chisholm and Eddie McMorran had also been drafted in, this enabled Tommy Burden to move back from inside forward to the wing half spot and he lost his first-team place. McAdam stood in for the injured Jim McCabe early in the 1949-50 season but was again in the reserves on the Irishman’s return to fitness. He had also been unfortunate to suffer a recurrence of the knee injury. With finances at Elland Road tight, Major Buckley made it clear that unless he could become injury free he would have to leave the club. The injury didn’t clear and he consequently moved to Wrexham in May 1950. After ten games in one year there, he spent ten years at Burton Albion before joining Matlock Town for four years, coincidently teaming up with a former adversary for a wing half berth at Elland Road, Jim Bullions, by then thirty-four, who captained the reserve team from that position with McAdam, aged thirty-two, at right back. He helped to run the reserves before returning to Stapenhill. He passed away on 18th April 2017. He was ninety-four and had spent his last few years in a nursing home.

I received the following email from Graham Thirkill (Thirkers) who has much Leeds United memorabilia on his website which also contains several parts dedicated to some Leeds Players, who were his personal friends. This includes one dedicated to David McAdam and much is from his own records of his career, to view please visit http://www.thirkersleeds.co.uk/page9/page9.html) and "http://photobucket.com/davemcadam")

"Just to let you know Dave McAdam died this morning he was a very dear friend of mine. If you can put something on your site it would be fitting. He was 94 years old and spent his last few years in a nursing home. He was a lovely man and proud that he played alongside Big John. He leaves a wife, Lal, and daughter, Susan and a granddaughter."