Samuel Thomson (14 February 1862 – 23 December 1943) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. A Scotland international, he was a member of the Preston North End side which became known as " The Invincibles".

Career

Thomson was born at Lugar, Scotland on 14 February 1862. His first club was Lugar Boswell, and while with them he was twice picked to play for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

– the only serving Lugar player to have been selected for international duty. He later had a short spell with

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, before becoming one of the many Scottish-born footballers who joined

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

as the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

club assembled a side that was almost unbeatable. Thomson signed for Preston North End in 1888. Playing as a winger, he made his League debut on 15 September 1888 at

Dudley Road Dudley Road was a football ground in Wolverhampton in England. It was the home ground of Wolverhampton Wanderers between 1881 and 1889, and was used during the first season of the Football League. History The ground began to be used in 1881, ...

, the then home of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Preston defeated the home team 4–0. Thomson scored his debut League goal on 12 November 1888, at Victoria Ground, the then home of

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

. Thomson scored the third goal as Preston North End defeated the home team 3–0. He appeared in 16 of the 22 League matches played by Preston North End during the 1888–89 season and scored three goals. It was Thomson's performances in the club's run to the

1889 FA Cup Final The 1889 FA Cup Final was contested by Preston North End and Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Kennington Oval. Preston won 3–0, with goals by Fred Dewhurst, Jimmy Ross and Sam Thomson. This completed the "Double" for the victors, Preston ha ...

that endeared him to Preston fans, and he earned himself a winner's medal as Preston North End beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3–0; he scored one of the three goals. He was an important member of the side that retained the title in season 1889–90 but in the close season he was persuaded to join Wolverhampton Wanderers without the Deepdale club's permission. The incident went before the Committee and Wolves were fined £50 for their misconduct. Having joined Wolves, he scored nine goals in 24 League and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

matches and he then moved to Everton. After a handful of games for Everton he was on the move again, this time to

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

where he ended his playing days. He later became a railway clerk based in

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. He died aged 81 on 23 December 1943.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Sammy Rangers F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Everton F.C. players Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers 1862 births 1943 deaths Footballers from East Ayrshire Lugar Boswell Thistle F.C. players Accrington F.C. players English Football League players Association football forwards Place of death missing FA Cup Final players