Thomas Cleghorn (born June 1871) 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 ...

who played as a half back. He made 101 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Blackburn Rovers and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, in which he scored three goals. Having begun his career with

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

club

Leith Athletic Leith Athletic Football Club is a football club based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. They compete in the East of Scotland Football League, Conference A. First team matches are played at Peffermill 3G. The present club considers itse ...

, he also went on to play in the

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and Western Leagues for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. Born in the Scottish

burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, Cleghorn began his playing career with his local club,

. As a half back he played primarily on the left side of the pitch. He joined Blackburn Rovers in 1894 and made 45 appearances in

over the next two seasons, in which he scored three goals. A club historian described Cleghorn as "a great little player who never knew when he was beaten. He worked like a demon, tackled effectively and headed the ball with wonderful skill." He moved to

in 1896 and became a first-team regular over the next four seasons. Cleghorn left Liverpool in 1899 having made 56 league appearances and 14 more in cup competitions, scoring once. Cleghorn's next club was

, where he won the

and Western League titles in 1901. Portsmouth's manager at the time was

Frank Brettell Frank E. Brettell (1862–1936) was an English football player, manager and administrator. He played as a full-back for Everton, a club that was originally called St. Domingo's. He combined his role as player-secretary-manager with his full ...

and in 1903, when Brettell became the manager of

, he recommended Cleghorn for the position of team trainer to the club's board of directors. Cleghorn continued to play for the next three seasons as a reserve half-back, in addition to his coaching duties, and made five league appearances. He was a "clever and conscientious" coach who was "well-esteemed by all."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleghorn, Thomas 1871 births People from Leith Scottish men's footballers Leith Athletic F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Southern Football League players Western Football League players Plymouth Argyle F.C. non-playing staff Year of death missing Men's association football players not categorized by position Footballers from Edinburgh