Thomas Neilson Bannan (13 April 1930 – 4 May 2004) was a Scottish professional

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 scored 23 goals from 29 appearances in the Scottish Football League playing for Airdrieonians and Stenhousemuir, and 117 goals from 338 appearances in the English Football League playing for

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 ...

, Lincoln City and Barrow. He played as a centre forward or

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 ...

. Access individual season statistics via Season Stats dropdown menu.

Football career

Bannan was born in Darngavel, near Airdrie in

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

. He played local football around Airdrie before joining the town's

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

club, Airdrieonians. Bannan made his debut in the 1948–49 season, and in his three seasons with the club he scored 18 goals from 21 League games, as well as spending a spell on loan to Stenhousemuir. In 1951 he moved south to play in the English Football League, signing for

of the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

. Bannan scored on his Wrexham debut, on 18 August 1951 against Chester. He became a regular in the first team, averaging 45 games a season in all competitions, and his goalscoring was such that he was their leading scorer in his second, third and fourth seasons, with 22, 18 and 19 goals respectively. In 1955, he moved up a division to join Lincoln City. His first season with the club was relatively unsuccessful, but in his second season he finished as their leading scorer with 14 goals in League and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. He then returned to Wrexham for another two years. In 1958 he scored in every round of the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mos ...

up to the final, then scored the winner in the replayed final to defeat Chester 2–1. In 1958–59, his last year with the club, he again finished as top scorer, this time with 17 goals. Bannan finished his professional career with two seasons at Fourth Division club Barrow, who signed him for a fee of £1,500. He retired at the end of the 1960–61 season. Bannan died on 4 May 2004 aged 74 and was buried with his wife Mary McKay at St Joseph's Cemetery, Rochsoles in Airdrie. In 2005, he was inducted into the Wrexham Supporters Association Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannan, Tommy 1930 births 2004 deaths Footballers from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Scottish footballers Association football forwards Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Stenhousemuir F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players