Thomas Smith Cummings (12 September 1928 – 12 July 2009) was an English football player and manager. Cummings was born in Sunderland, County Durham and started his football career at Hylton Colliery Juniors. Such was his quality as a centre-half he was invited to Strasbourg in 1947 to represent

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

in a junior international tournament. In the same year he signed a professional contract with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

, also opting to continue his apprenticeship as a mining engineer. Cummings made his league debut for

in December 1948. He also played for England B three times. He played in the 1959–60 championship winning season and in the

1962 FA Cup Final The 1962 FA Cup Final took place on 5 May 1962 at Wembley Stadium and was won by Tottenham Hotspur over Burnley, by a 3–1 scoreline. Due to the lack of passion and excitement, replaced by patience and cautious play, the final was dubbed "The Che ...

, and in all made 479 appearances for the Clarets, standing fifth in their all-time list of Football League appearances with 434. He played his last game for the club nearly 14 years after making his debut. In March 1963 he was appointed

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

leading them to promotion from Division Four at the end of the season. He was appointed Aston Villa manager in the summer of 1967 but sacked in November 1968. After retiring from football he went on to becoming a licensee and ran pubs in and around Burnley, including the Shooters Arms in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

Honours

;

* Football League First Division champions: 1959–60 *

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 ...

runner-up:

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

References

External links

Tommy Cummings profile
at Clarets Mad *
Tommy Cummings Tribute
at Much Loved Memorial website, created by his Granddaughter. 1928 births 2009 deaths Footballers from Sunderland English footballers Association football central defenders Burnley F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players English football managers Mansfield Town F.C. managers Aston Villa F.C. managers English Football League players English Football League representative players FA Cup Final players {{England-footy-defender-1920s-stub