Chorley's Scottish Links: Lewis Guy, Jason Walker and the avuncular Tommy Lawrence

In advance of the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round Tie between Dunston and Chorley at the UTS Stadium I have been investigating the links between Chorley and Bella Caledonia. With great assistance from Chorley twitterer Magpie Paul (@MagpiePaul37) and from the official Chorley FC twitter feed (@chorleyfc) I have managed to unearth three links – one of which is a cracker. Lewis Guy is an attacking midfield player who played for Chorley recently and now plays for Annan Athletic in Scotland. Current Chorley striker Jason Walker played for Greenock Morton. Last but certainly not least, the Liverpool legendary goalkeeper of the sixties Tommy Lawrence played for Chorley in the twilight of his career.

If you have been following this blog from the start you may remember the name Lewis Guy. Early on I was searching for links between Penrith FC and Scotland and a tenuous link that was suggested was that Lewis Guy, a native of Penrith but never a Penrith player, was now playing for Annan Athletic in Scottish League 2. It is funny how some things come up again and I was advised by Chorley FC that Lewis played for The Magpies 12 times last season before signing for Annan in January. He only scored one goal for Chorley but has been on the scoresheet for Annan a few times since moving North. I am told that he was keen to sign for Annan because it was less travel from his Penrith home for him to play for the Scottish League 2 side than it was to ply his trade for the Lancashire outfit.

 

Lewis Guy celebrates scoring for Annan against Stirling in Feb 2016

Jason Walker is also a Cumbrian by birth but also played in Scotland. Jason started his career as a youth with Dundee at the age of 16 in 2000 but never actually played for the first team. A move to Morton in 2004 allowed him to show off his scoring prowess and Jason scored 12 goals for the Greenock men. In total he played 75 times for Morton before leaving in 2007. He has been a man of many clubs since then including a successful spell with Barrow where he scored a stunning winning goal in extra time to help his home town team lift the FA Trophy at Wembley. In total Walker scored 46 goals for Barrow. Jason also played for York City where he helped then win the Conference play off final in 2012. In the summer Jason signed for Chorley and the Dunston defenders will need to be on their A game to thwart this goal machine a week on Saturday.

 

Jason Walker in typical Scottish pose: Beer in hand and glazed expression

With due respect to Lewis and Jason the most interesting tartan link with Chorley is Tommy Lawrence. Goalkeeper Tommy was born in Ayrshire in 1940 and this Scottish football icon played over 300 times for Bill Shankly’s Liverpool in the 1960s. Tommy also has a strong link to the FA Cup. Tommy was a team mate of ex Skelmersdale coach Ian St John in the famous FA Cup Final of 1965 when Liverpool defeated Leeds 2-1 in front of 100000 fans at Wembley. Tommy also played for Scotland winning his first cap in 1963 and making his final appearance in 1969. At the very end of his career the avuncular Lawrence had a short spell in goals for Chorley where he was affectionately known as The Flying Pig.

Tommy Lawrence: Served Liverpool, Scotland and Chorley with distinction

 I have a feeling I might be scratching the surface here and there may be many more links between Chorley and chilly Jocko-Land. Keep reading as the Magpies build up for the big game in Gateshead on the 17^th September.