Thomas Younger (10 April 1930 – 13 January 1984) 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 as a
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
for
Hibernian,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
,
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
,
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
,
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 ...
and the
Scotland national team.
Career
Born in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Scotland, Younger signed for his hometown club
Hibernian in 1948. He was part of the successful side of the early 50s, winning two titles in
1950–51 and
1951–52.
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
manager
Phil Taylor signed Younger in June 1956 for £9000. He made his debut at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
on 18 August 1956 in a league match against
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...
. Huddersfield spoilt Younger's day by taking both points from a 3–2 win. He kept his first clean-sheet two games later at
Gigg Lane
Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gig ...
as the Reds beat
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...
2–0. Younger immediately took over the No.1 jersey at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
and played in 43 of Liverpool's 45 matches in his first season. Younger spent three years at Liverpool, only missing six matches during this time making a total of 127 appearances. In 1959, he was allowed to leave to take on a player/manager role in Scotland.
Younger joined
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
as player manager in 1959. A back injury led to his retirement as a player.
After finding out that the injury was not as bad as first diagnosed, he signed for
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 ...
in 1960.
Younger played ten league games for Stoke towards the end of the
1959–60 season.
He endured a difficult time playing in a struggling side at the
Victoria Ground
The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League.
History
...
. In his ten matches Stoke lost nine of them with Younger conceding 22 goals. He was released at the end of the season.
He played three matches for Welsh league side
Rhyl
Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at ...
before
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
manager
Don Revie
Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England manage ...
, who was bringing experienced players to cope with declining fortunes at the club, signed Younger in 1961. He made 42 appearances for Leeds in 13 months before retiring for a second (and final) time in October 1962. In 1961, he played in the
Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League
The Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada. The league operated for six seasons from 1961 to 1966 across four cities in two Canadian provinces and one American state. In the 1960s, the Eastern Canada Professional ...
with
Toronto City
Toronto City was a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario. Between 1961 and 1967, teams using this name competed in both the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League and the United Soccer Association.
History
ECPSL
In 1961, along with ...
.
International career
Younger was
capped
In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...
by
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 ...
24 times, in an unbroken sequence spanning three years.
He made his debut on 4 May 1955 in a friendly international against
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
at
Hampden Park
Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...
, Glasgow.
The Scots were too strong for their
Iberian counterparts, winning the game 3–0 and thus gaining Younger his first clean-sheet at national level. Younger also had the honour of keeping goal for the Scottish side during the
1958 World Cup in Sweden. His appearance at the finals against
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
was also his last appearance for the national side.
After playing
After his retirement he stayed on at Leeds as a scout. He then took a coaching role in Canada at Toronto City.
After his stint in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
he returned to Hibs as this time as director. Younger became vice president of the
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...
to
Willie Harkness taking over as president after Harkness retired from that in May 1983. Younger held the position until his death eight months later on 13 January 1984, aged 53.
[scottishfa.co.uk "David Will - An Obituary" 25 September 2009]
/ref> He was survived by his wife, Mary, three daughters and a son.
Career statistics
Club
Source:
International
Source:
See also
*List of Scotland national football team captains
This article lists all the captains of the Scotland national football team. As of 16 November 2022, Scotland have played 816 officially recognised international matches and have had 155 different team captains. George Young captained Scotland m ...
References
*
External links
*
Player profile at LFChistory.net
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Younger, Tommy
1930 births
1958 FIFA World Cup players
1984 deaths
Falkirk F.C. managers
Falkirk F.C. players
Hibernian F.C. directors and chairmen
Hibernian F.C. players
Leeds United F.C. players
Liverpool F.C. players
Scotland men's international footballers
Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland
Scottish Football League players
Scottish football managers
Scottish men's footballers
Scottish expatriate men's footballers
Scottish expatriate football managers
Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League players
Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada
Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Canada
Stoke City F.C. players
Toronto City players
Toronto City coaches
English Football League players
Footballers from Edinburgh
Scottish Football League representative players
Scottish Football League managers
Men's association football goalkeepers
20th-century Scottish businesspeople