Thomas McLaren (1 June 1949 – 23 July 1978) 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He moved from

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in November 1967. He spent ten years at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

, racking up 369 league and cup appearances. He helped the club to achieve promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1969–70, and also picked up the club's

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

award in 1970–71. He also played on loan for the Portland Timbers in summer 1975, helping the club to the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

championship final. Given a free transfer to Telford United in May 1977, he went on to commit suicide in July 1978, having never come to terms with leaving Port Vale. He was 29 years old.

Career

McLaren began his career with Scottish

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

. He moved south to England for a trial at

in October 1967, winning a contract the following month. Vale were then in the Fourth Division and managed by

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...

. McLaren was one of six Scotsmen at the club, though he was the only one not to hail from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He posted thirteen appearances in 1967–68, making his debut against Swansea Town on 25 November, and scoring his first senior goal against

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

in a 1–0 win on 25 March. He was selected nineteen times by new manager

Gordon Lee Gordon Lee may refer to: *Gordon Lee (comic store owner) (1958–2013), American comic book store owner charged with distributing obscene materials *Gordon Lee (congressman) (1859–1927), U.S. congressman from Georgia *Gordon Lee (footballer) (193 ...

in 1968–69, and scored two goals – one against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

and the other against Bradford Park Avenue. He managed to win himself a regular first team spot in 1969–70, and posted a total of 41 appearances and five goals as the club won promotion. McLaren adapted well to the Third Division, and scored six goals in 38 games in 1970–71, kicking braces against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

. At the end of the season he was awarded the clubs'

award. He scored six goals in fifty games in 1971–72, netting a brace against

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

, a goal home and away against

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

, as well as striking against Aston Villa and

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

. He played a further 45 games in 1972–73, scoring goals against Plymouth Argyle, Scunthorpe United and

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. McLaren recovered from damaged ligaments to post 47 appearances in 1973–74, though new manager

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...

cracked his head on the team dugout after celebrating McLaren's winning goal against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

on 19 January. He played a further 42 games in 1974–75, his only goal of the season coming against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. He went to the United States to play for Portland Timbers on loan from May to August 1975. He played twenty games that summer in the

, and scored a goal against the St. Louis Stars on 19 July. The Timbers made it to the league championship final on 24 August, where they lost 2–0 to the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California. He still maintained a place in the "Valiants" first team on his return to

, and made 35 appearances in 1975–76, scoring one goal against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

. He posted a further 39 appearances in 1976–77, and boasted a very strong relationship with the club's supporters. He played a total of 369 games for the Vale, scoring 29 goals. However, in May 1977 he was given a free transfer to

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

side Telford United. He stayed with the "Stags" for the 1977–78 season. However, his departure from Port Vale had 'shattered' him, and McLaren was found dead in his car in

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...

in July 1978, having committed suicide.

Style of play

McLaren was a brave and committed

Legacy

McLaren remains something of a legend at Port Vale, and to celebrate sixty years at

his son Scott McLaren was signed on a Football League contract at the club and given the number 50 shirt for the 2010–11 season. Former Port Vale teammate Ray Williams commented that "Tommy became a legend at Port Vale not because he was a great player but because he touched everybody that he came in contact with."

Career statistics

Source:NASL career stats
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Honours

Individual *

Port Vale F.C. Player of the Year The Port Vale Player of the Year award is voted for annually by Port Vale's supporters in recognition of the best overall performance by an individual player throughout the football season. Towards the end of each season, fans are invited t ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

Port Vale * Football League Fourth Division fourth-place promotion: 1969–70 Portland Timbers *

runner-up: 1975

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mclaren, Tommy 1949 births 1978 suicides People from Livingston, West Lothian Footballers from West Lothian Scottish footballers Association football midfielders Berwick Rangers F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Portland Timbers (1975–1982) players Telford United F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Suicides in England Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States