Thomas Thompson (10 November 1928 – 15 September 2015) 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 ...

who played in

the 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

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 ...

, Barrow,

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, Preston North End and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

as well as the England national team.

Career

Tommy "Topper" Thompson was born in

Fencehouses Fence Houses, or ''Fencehouses'', is a small village within the parish of Houghton-le-Spring, on the edge of the City of Sunderland, England for the South with the North under the control of Durham County Council as part of County Durham. It cam ...

, Houghton-le-Spring,

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

in 1928. He played for Lumley YMCA at junior level and while only 17 he was signed by

in January 1946. He made his league debut in the 1947-48 promotion season at

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

and scored twice in his four

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

appearances. Over the next two seasons he played only 16 games, scoring 4 goals. When manager

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

left Tyneside in 1950, Thompson soon followed Martin to

for £12,500. He made his debut against

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 ...

in September of that year, the first of 149 league games for Villa, in which he scored 67 goals. Whilst at Villa Park he earned himself an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

cap. He played for England in the 1-1 draw with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

on 20 October, 1951. He reached double figures in all but one of his five seasons, managing only 9 in the 1952-53 season. At the end of the 1954-55 season Aston Villa announced they would sell Thompson, but only for the right price. On top of his league record he scored 9 goals in 16

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 ...

appearances, to total 76 goals in 165 matches. Thompson was sold to Preston North End in August 1955 for £27,000, after their initial offer of £20,000 was rejected. New signing Thompson scored after two minutes on his debut, a 4–0 away win at Everton. In quick time he and

Tom Finney Sir Thomas Finney (5 April 1922 – 14 February 2014) was an English international footballer who played from 1946 to 1960 as a winger or centre forward for Preston North End and England. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of the s ...

created a formidable partnership. Thompson finished his first season with 23 goals with Finney netting 18. The following season Thompson scored 26, his contribution in a 57 goal partnership with Finney. His third season saw him score 34 goals in 41 league games, setting a club record for most goals in a top flight season that still stands today. He also won his second England cap, six years after his first, as England beat

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

2-1 at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

on 6 April, 1957. The next two seasons saw him play only 34 times, scoring 14 goals. After six seasons at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

he ended his Preston career after scoring 129 goals in 212 matches. He joined

in August 1961 and scored on his debut against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

, as he top scored for the Potters with 16 league goals. He played five more times for Stoke, scoring once more the following season, before leaving to join Barrow, who played in the fourth division. Over the next two seasons at Barrow, he scored 16 goals in 44 league appearances. He retired at the end of 1963-64 season, ending his league career with 222 goals in 444 appearances. 187 of those goals were scored in the first division, which ranks Tommy Thompson at 37 of the all-time top scorers in the top flight of English football. He died at the age of 86 on 15 September 2015.

International career

He acquired his first cap against Wales during the 1951–52 season. He won his second cap in April 1957.

Career statistics

Club

Source:

International

Source:

References

External links

*
Tommy Thompson Preston profile
at pneformerplayers.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Tommy 1928 births 2015 deaths Sportspeople from Houghton-le-Spring Footballers from Tyne and Wear Men's association football inside forwards England men's international footballers Aston Villa F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Barrow A.F.C. players English men's footballers