Thomas Forsyth (23 January 1949 – 14 August 2020) was a Scottish football player and coach. Forsyth played as a defender for Motherwell, Rangers and

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 ...

Playing career

Club

Forsyth started his career at

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club Stonehouse Violet, then spent five years at Motherwell, playing over 200 times for the club before being signed by Rangers in October 1972. He scored the winning goal in the

1973 Scottish Cup Final The 1972–73 Scottish Cup was the 88th staging of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Rangers who defeated Celtic in the final. First round Replays Second round Replays Third round Replays ...

against

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

rivals

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

from six inches. During his Rangers career, Forsyth made 332 appearances in all competitions and won three league championships, four

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,League Cups; these successes included two domestic trebles, in 1975–76 and 1977–78.

International

Forsyth played 22 times for

, including at the

1978 World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

. He captained Scotland once, against Switzerland in 1976.

Managerial career

After his playing retirement, Forsyth was appointed manager of

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

in 1982, although he relinquished the position within a year. According to his assistant and successor

Jim Leishman Jim Leishman MBE (born 15 November 1953) is a Scottish Labour Party politician and former professional footballer who is currently Provost of Fife and an honorary director of Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic. Career Player ...

, Forsyth left his role as Dunfermline manager due to frustration with the club's

part-time Part-time can refer to: * Part-time job, a job that has fewer hours a week than a full-time job * Part-time student, a student, usually in higher education, who takes fewer course credits than a full-time student * Part Time Part Time (styliz ...

status: "I think the problem when Tam came to Dunfermline was that he was geared for full-time football at the time, and Dunfermline were part-time. The players would come in and Tam wanted that much on the Tuesday and the Thursday I think he forgot that these guys were part-time." He then accepted a position as assistant-manager to former Rangers team-mate

Tommy McLean Thomas McLean Jr. (born 2 June 1947 in Larkhall) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. McLean played for Kilmarnock, Rangers and Scotland as a midfielder. He managed Morton, Motherwell, Hearts, Raith Rovers and Dund ...

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in 1983. Forsyth was appointed McLean's assistant at Motherwell then Hearts when McLean moved to these clubs in 1984 and 1994 respectively. On 14 August 2020, Forsyth died peacefully at home with his family by his side, at the age of 71.

References

External links