Thomas King Lyon (17 March 1915 – 26 November 1998) 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 in the Scottish League for

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

and

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

and in the English

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

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

and

New Brighton New Brighton is the name of several places, sports teams etc.: Australia * New Brighton, New South Wales, a town near Ocean Shores Canada * New Brighton, Calgary, Alberta, a neighborhood * New Brighton (Gambier Island), a settlement in British ...

. An inside forward, he was on the books of

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

without playing for their first team, played junior football for Clydebank Juniors and

Yoker Athletic Yoker Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Clydebank near Glasgow. Yoker is an area of Glasgow adjacent to Clydebank, however Yoker's stadium lies just outside the Glasgow boundary. Nicknamed the ''Whe Ho'', the club wer ...

, and played

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

in England for

Prescot Cables Prescot Cables Football Club is a supporter-owned football club based in Prescot, Merseyside. It was established in 1884 and has also been known as Prescot and Prescot Town. They compete in the and play their home games at Valerie Park. They ...

Life and career

Lyon was born in 1915 in

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

, which was then in Dunbartonshire. He played football for his school, Clydebank High School, and appeared for Clydebank Juniors in 1933 while still a schoolboy. He attracted interest from senior clubs: after trials 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 ...

and

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

, he signed for

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

club

. He played for Motherwell's "A" team in the Scottish Alliance, but not for the first team. At the end of the 1933–34 season, he successfully applied for reinstatement as a junior, and signed for

. Lyon's stay in the junior ranks was brief: he signed for Division One

in late September 1934, and went straight into the eleven to face

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. He scored 25 goals in 50 league matches between then and February 1936, when Rovers loaned him to

to help that club's struggle against relegation from Division One. He scored six goals from ten matches, and media speculation was that perhaps Rovers should have kept him as they slid lower in the table. The following season, Rovers themselves were on the point of relegation when they sold Lyon to

for £1200; the player did not want to leave, but agreed to do so when the club's financial problems were explained to him. He appeared little for Blackpool, and moved on to

in 1938; he was that club's top scorer in the 1938–39 season. When competitive football was abandoned on the outbreak of war, Lyon returned to Scotland. He made a few appearances for Celtic (alongside his brother

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

who was a regular in the side) in the Scottish regional league before suffering a groin injury and returning to Chesterfield. He served in the Army during the war,
and when the Football League resumed, remained with the club for two seasons before joining

for one season and then moving into

with

. Lyon died in

Old Kilpatrick Old Kilpatrick ( sco, Auld Kilpaitrick, gd, Cille Phàdraig meaning "Patrick's church"), is a village in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It has an estimated population of 4,820. It belonged to the parish of Old Kilpatrick which itself was only a f ...

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter town ...

, in 1998 at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Tom 1915 births 1998 deaths Footballers from Clydebank People educated at Clydebank High School Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Clydebank Juniors F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Yoker Athletic F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Blackpool F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players New Brighton A.F.C. players Prescot Cables F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Celtic F.C. wartime guest players British Army personnel of World War II