Sad news as Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United legend, John Quinn, passes away

“Come on without, come on within, you’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn.”
Mel Sterland All-Stars v London Owls... John Quinn with Mel Sterland, and team-captains, Ernie Moss (left) and Sid Sidebottom (right).Mel Sterland All-Stars v London Owls... John Quinn with Mel Sterland, and team-captains, Ernie Moss (left) and Sid Sidebottom (right).
Mel Sterland All-Stars v London Owls... John Quinn with Mel Sterland, and team-captains, Ernie Moss (left) and Sid Sidebottom (right).

There’s sad news for Yorkshire football fans this weekend following the news of the passing of former Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United man, Johnny Quinn.

Quinn is said to have battled with illness over the last couple of years, and it is now being reported that he passed away on Saturday.

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Former Millers fullback, John Breckin, said this morning that he was a man he looked up to as a youngster, calling him a ‘great player and gentleman’.

He said on his Twitter account today, “Woke up this morning to the sad news that The Mighty Quinn passed away yesterday. A great player and gentleman. A man I looked up to when I joined the club as a young boy. My thoughts go out to his family… Rest in Peace Quinny, a true legend.”

‘The Mighty Quinn’ spent almost a decade at Hillsborough where he played almost 200 games for the club prior to his departure for Rotherham in 1967, going on to end his career down the road at Halifax Town.

At Wednesday he will be fondly remembered for, among other things, the role he played in helping the Owls to the 1966 FA Cup final, and the fact that he was utilised all over the field in a variety of different positions.

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The man, who was immortalised in song at Rotherham from the terraces after the release of 1968 Manfred Mann hit, ‘The Mighty Quinn’, passed away less than a month after his good friend and another former Owl, Gerry Young.

Quinn and Young opened a sports shop just a hop, skip and a jump away from Hillsborough after they hung up their boots, and many Sheffielders will remember buying their football boots and plenty more from there for many years.

His ‘Johnny Quinn's All Stars’ events can also be looked back on with pride after raising huge amounts of money for charity, with Mel Sterland once saying, “Johnny should get an MBE for what he's done for charities; the money raised must run into millions.”

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