Thomas Hamilton Oliver Jennings (8 March 1902 – 1973) 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 ...

Career

Jennings started his career with Cadzow St Anne's and had a trial with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in 1919, playing no games for the club. He then moved on to Raith Rovers, before joining Leeds United in March 1925. He made 167 league appearances for the club, in which he scored 112 goals, before he joined

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

in June 1931. He made 48 league appearances and scored 33 goals and in 1933 joined

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

. Jennings officially scored Chester's first ever

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 ...

goal in a 1–1 draw with

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 ...

on 2 September 1931. Although Chester had beaten Wigan Borough 4-0 four days earlier (with Jennings scoring the third goal), the result was deleted after Wigan resigned from the Football League in October 1931. Later in the season he scored Chester's first

hat-trick, when he scored all the club's goals in a 5–1 win over

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

in January 1932. His tally of five goals in one game has only been matched once (by Barry Jepson in 1958) and never bettered by a Chester player in a

fixture. Jennings also scored four times in a 7–2 win over

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 ...

in April 1932 and comfortably ended the season as Chester's top scorer, with 30 league goals to his name. But he only played nine more league games for the club after this and moved on. Jennings later managed

and Third Lanark.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Tom 1902 births People from Strathaven 1973 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players English Football League players Scottish football managers Bangor City F.C. managers Third Lanark A.C. managers Footballers from South Lanarkshire Scottish Football League managers