Thomas Donnelly (born 12 March 1947) is a Scottish former

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

right half 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 ...

inside right Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. Having come to the attention of professional clubs as part of a successful school team at

Cumnock Academy Cumnock Academy was a secondary school in Cumnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland. Notable former pupils include Iona McDonald, Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire and Arran since 2017; Bill Grant, MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock; and Eric Caldow Eric C ...

, Donnelly began his career at Rangers in 1964 but failed to break into the first team.Tom Donnelly
David Ross, ScottishLeague.net Released in 1968, he joined Motherwell and quickly became an important part of the team as they won the Scottish Division Two title in 1968–69 to regain the top-tier status they lost a year earlier.Tom Donnelly
MotherWELLnet Donnelly's importance in the side began to diminish, and in 1971 he moved on to part-timers

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...

,1970s
East Stirlingshire FC where he was a regular for the next seven years
Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database before retiring via a spell with St Roch's in the junior leagues. By that point he had qualified as a school teacher in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. His son

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

was also a footballer who played for clubs including Celtic and Partick Thistle, and for the Scotland national team.No Rangers player would get in Celtic team – Simon Donnelly
The Scotsman, 10 April 2017

References

Living people 1947 births People educated at Cumnock Academy Scottish schoolteachers Footballers from Irvine, North Ayrshire Scottish men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Men's association football inside forwards Rangers F.C. players East Stirlingshire F.C. players St Roch's F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1940s-stub