Thomas George Bromilow (7 October 1894 – 4 March 1959) was an English international left half

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 for

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 ...

between 1919 and 1930. He was virtually ever-present during the back-to-back League title triumphs of the early 1920s.

Life and playing career

Born in

West Derby West Derby ( ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located East of the city and is also a Liverpool City Council ward. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West ...

, England, Bromilow was signed by Liverpool after the 24-year-old turned up 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. ...

one afternoon in 1919 asking for a trial. He had only recently been demobilised from the army. George Patterson, the then Liverpool assistant manager, agreed to give him a trial and was impressed by his skill and Bromilow was signed. Bromilow made his debut on 25 October 1919 at

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional football ...

in a

Division One 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 ...

match against

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, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, a game that the Reds won 2–1; his first goal came in the 57th minute of a 3–0 league victory at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...

over

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

on 24 January 1920. Bromilow soon became an established member of the side that was to win back-to-back League titles in 1921–22 and 1922–23. A fine tackler and distributor of the ball, Bromilow was regarded as the brains of the team and blossomed into a full England international within three years of turning professional. He continued to be an influential first team regular until the latter part of the decade, serving the club with distinction and leading by example as team captain. He was capped for

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 ...

on five occasions between 1921 and 1925. After retiring from playing, Bromilow took up a career in coaching and went to coach in

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during the summer of 1930. In October 1932 he was appointed Burnley manager, the first manager of the club to have been a former professional player, and he remained there until summer 1935. He later went on to manage

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

(two spells), Newport County (two spells) and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. In 2006, he was included in the ''100 Players That Shook The Kop'' poll, as voted by fans on the Liverpool FC official site.

Personal life

Tom was married to Lillian Mabel May Kelly. He died suddenly on a train in March 1959 while scouting for Leicester City.

Honours

As a player

Liverpool *Football League First Division winners: 1922, 1923 *Charity Shield runners-up: 1923

As a manager

Crystal Palace *Football League Third Division South (Level 3) runners-up: 1939

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bromilow, Tom 1894 births 1959 deaths Burnley F.C. managers Crystal Palace F.C. managers England international footballers English football managers English footballers English Football League managers English Football League players Leicester City F.C. managers Liverpool F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. managers Footballers from Liverpool English Football League representative players Association football wing halves