Johnny McIlwaine

Southampton McIlwaine was recruited to Southampton by manager Arthur Chadwick as a replacement for the ageing Bert Shelley, and made his debut on 30 August 1930, behind his former Portsmouth colleagues Willie Haines and Jerry Mackie, in a 5–0 defeat at Preston. Two games later, McIlwaine was injured and was unable to return until 29 November, when he was played at centre forward replacing Bill Fraser (who had taken over from Haines who was also injured). He scored twice in his first match at No.9 but after six matches (in which he scored five goals) Haines returned and McIlwaine reverted to centre half, replacing Shelley. McIlwaine retained the No.5 shirt for the rest of the season with the "Saints" finishing in mid-table.

Chadwick resigned at the end of the season and was replaced by George Kay. At the end of the season, an unhappy McIlwaine refused to sign a new contract and was placed on the transfer list at a fee of £2500. before returning to Southampton in August 1933. On his return to The Dell, he found that his time in the lower league had not sharpened his game

By the start of the following season, his confidence had returned

Saints started the 1935–36 season (their fiftieth season since the club's foundation in 1885) with four wins and two draws from their first six matches, but were unable to sustain this form and in the period to the New Year they won only three more matches. One of these was the "golden jubilee" match against Tottenham Hotspur on 23 November 1935, when McIlwaine was captain in a 2–0 victory.

After a year, in which he only made three further appearances, these new duties proved too much and in the summer of 1937, with Goss having handed over to Tom Parker in March, McIlwaine decided to leave.

In his two periods with Southampton, McIlwaine made a total of 121 appearances, scoring 18 goals.

Assistant manager at Grimsby Town In July 1937, McIlwaine became assistant manager at Grimsby Town under their newly appointed manager, the former England international defender, Charlie Spencer. Grimsby were then playing in the First Division and narrowly avoided relegation at the end of the 1937–38 season.

The following season, Spencer had assembled a fine squad, including former Liverpool centre forward Fred Howe, Jimmy Boyd (who had won the FA Cup with Newcastle United in 1932) and Tommy Jones from Blackpool. Grimsby performed far better in the league, finishing in tenth place in the table, whilst in the FA Cup, they reached the semi-final against Wolverhampton Wanderers, having defeated fellow First Division team Chelsea in the previous round. The semi-final was played at Old Trafford on 25 March 1939 in front of a crowd of 76,962 spectators; this remains the record attendance at Old Trafford. In the semi-final, Grimsby were no match for Wolves and were "simply swept aside", going down 5–0, although their cause was not helped by having goal-keeper George Moulson injured early on in the match and having to play with only ten men and an outfield player in goal.

McIlwaine remained at Blundell Park until 1948, when he left the club and opened a masseur practice in Grimsby.

Llanelly Welsh League: 1932–33