Alfred Thomas Lyons (5 July 1885 – October 1938) was an English

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 ...

and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He played as a wicket-keeper for

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

in the 1913 Minor Counties Cricket Championship. He played for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

from 1907 to 1915, and then joined

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 January 1917. Five years later he moved on to Walsall as a player-

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He helped Villa to win the First Division in 1909–10 and the FA Cup in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

. They also finished second in the league in 1907–08, 1910–11, 1912–13, and 1913–14, and was also on the losing side in the

1910 FA Charity Shield The 1910 FA Charity Shield was the third Charity Shield, a football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Football League and Southern League competitions. The match was played on 5 September 1910 between 1909–10 Football Lea ...

Career

Lyons played for

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of the Red & Whites and Hill Top.

and Bridgtown Amateurs, before joining

as a professional in April 1907 after a trial three months earlier. The "Villans" ended the 1907–08 campaign in second place in the First Division, nine points behind champions

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. They dropped to seventh spot in 1908–09, before being crowned champions of the Football League in 1909–10. He played at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

in the

, which ended in a 1–0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion. Villa went on to finish the 1910–11 season in second place, just one point behind Manchester United. They then dropped to sixth in 1911–12, before finishing second in 1912–13 just four points behind champions

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. He played against Sunderland in the

1913 FA Cup final The 1913 FA Cup Final was contested by Aston Villa and Sunderland on 19 April 1913 at London's Crystal Palace. Playing as the home side, Aston Villa won 1–0 on a goal by Tommy Barber on a crossed ball from Charlie Wallace. Wallace had ear ...

at Crystal Palace, which ended in a 1–0 victory for Villa. They then finished second in the league once again in 1913–14, finishing seven points behind champions Blackburn Rovers. Villa dropped to 14th place in 1914–15, and league football was suspended due to World War I. In his eight years at Villa Park, Lyons played 238 competitive games. Lyons joined

, initially on guest terms, in January 1917. He was a member of the side that lifted the Staffordshire Senior Cup and shared the North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup in 1920. He played 32 Second Division games in the 1919–20 season, and played 32 league and FA Cup games in the 1920–21 campaign. He was released from

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditio ...

in the summer. He had played a total of 146 first-team games and scored three goals for the club. Lyons later played for Walsall in a player-

capacity.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Aston Villa *

Football League First Division 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 ...

: 1909–10 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

runner-up:

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

* FA Cup:

Port Vale * Staffordshire Senior Cup: 1920 *North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup: 1920

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Tom 1885 births 1938 deaths People from Hednesford Footballers from Staffordshire Cricketers from Staffordshire English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Hednesford Town F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Walsall F.C. players English Football League players Association football coaches English cricketers Staffordshire cricketers Wicket-keepers