Thomas Arneill Dickson (16 July 1929 – 31 December 2007) was a Northern Irish international

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 most notably played with Linfield from 1948 to 1965. He played 660 times for Linfield, scoring 454 goals. He has been cited as one of the greatest Irish League players of all time. His popularity among Linfield fans led to him being nicknamed ''

The Duke of Windsor Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...

''.

Club career

Dickson began his youth career with Roosevelt Street Boys Club, before moving to the Irish Intermediate League in 1947 to join Brantwood as an amateur. After a fine season he was approached by

Elisha Scott Elisha Scott (24 August 1893 – 16 May 1959) was a Northern Irish football goalkeeper who played for Liverpool from 1912 to 1934, and still holds the record as their longest-serving player. Life and playing career Elisha Scott played for Lin ...

to play for Belfast Celtic, however Dickson - a lifelong Linfield supporter - turned him down. After beginning his senior career with reserve side Linfield Swifts, he spent sixteen seasons in the Linfield first team, winning eight Irish League titles and five

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

s among many other achievements. In the 1961–62 season, he led Linfield to an amazing seven trophy wins over the course of the season. Feats such as this led to interest from cross-channel clubs such as Rangers and

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, the latter of whom made a bid of £8,000 which was rejected by Linfield as it did not meet their £10,000 valuation of the player. For a spell in the early-sixties Dickson operated as Linfield's player-coach, and was responsible for team selection (but not transfer policy). After Linfield dramatically announced that Dickson would not be retained for the 1965–66 season, he shockingly signed for their biggest rivals

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

. However, after just nine appearances and three goals with the east Belfast club, his appetite for the game diminished and he retired. In 1966, Linfield presented him with a life membership. He died aged 78 on 31 December 2007.

International career

In the 1955–56 season, he captained the Irish League to a famous 5–2 victory over the Football League, scoring two goals in the game. He also earned one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in 1956.

Style of play

Despite being thin and frail-looking in stature, and with a petulant temperament, he could absorb punishment better than most players and could also tackle hard himself. His qualities as a footballer lay in his creativity, vision and immense skill which allowed more goalscoring opportunities for the team as a whole, as well as himself. Although Dickson never actually topped the Irish League's goalscoring charts in a particular season, his unerring strike rate and longevity have ensured a place in the top-five all-time list of Irish League goalscorers.

Legacy

Dickson was beloved at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual renta ...

and was so revered that he was known to Linfield supporters as "The Duke of Windsor." In 2011, he was named as the greatest Linfield player of all time by the Belfast Telegraph. The year after his death, a mural was painted in his honour in

Taughmonagh Taughmonagh () is a small housing estate in south west Belfast, Northern Ireland, within the civil parishes of Drumbeg and Shankill, and barony of Belfast Upper. When the area was first built, the houses consisted of very basic, small, prefabr ...

, south Belfast.

Honours

;Linfield * Irish League (8): 1949–50, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62 *

(5): 1949–50, 1952–53, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1962–63 * Gold Cup (8): 1949–50, 1950–51, 1955–56, 1957–58, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64 *

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football competition held by the Irish Football League for senior clubs. History Beginning in 1949, it was held on fifty-one occasions until being suspended after the 1998/99 season and discontinued after a one-of ...

(3): 1955–56, 1959–60, 1961–62 *

City Cup The City Cup was a rugby league competition involving Australian premiership teams. The post season tournament was a regular feature in the years 1912–1925. City Cups were also played in 1937, 1942 and 1959. The inaugural city cup was contested ...

(6): 1949–50, 1951–52, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1961–62, 1963–64 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Fo ...

(7): 1952–53, 1954–55, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63 *

North-South Cup The North-South Cup was a short-lived all-Ireland football tournament. It was played for two seasons in the 1960s and on both occasions won by teams from Northern Ireland. The 1960-61 competition was played to the semi-final stage, however d ...

(1): 1961–62 ;Linfield Swifts *

Irish Intermediate Cup The Irish Intermediate Cup is a Northern Irish football competition for teams of intermediate status, including NIFL Premiership reserve sides. It is a straight knock-out tournament and is currently sponsored by McCombs Coach Travel. The curre ...

(1): 1948–49 *

Steel & Sons Cup The Steel & Sons Cup (also referred to as the Steel Cup) is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North East Ulster Football Association (also known as the County Antrim & District Football Association). The compe ...

(1): 1948–49 ;Brantwood *Irish Intermediate League (1): 1947–48 *Clements Lyttle Cup (1): 1947–48 ;Individual *

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

(1): 1962–63

References