Tommy Randall (25 March 1885 – 17 November 1946) 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 as a defender for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Playing career

Randall was born in

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

and started his football career with

in the

South Essex League The South Essex League was a football league that was held in Essex and East London. History The league was formed for the 1892–93 season. Only four clubs in the league managed to fulfill all their fixtures, with Barking Excelsior winning th ...

. Starting for West Ham as an amateur and playing as an

inside-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

he scored on his debut against Fulham on 27 April 1907. Fans took an immediate dislike to Randall because of his slow, methodical approach to the game and he was subjected to constant barracking and was nicknamed "Old-Mother Randall". On the verge of giving the game up he was persuaded to play at left half-back. He was such a success that he signed a full-time contract for 30

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...

a week and gained a reputation as one of the best defenders in the league. Going on to captain West Ham, Randall made 205 appearances in all competitions, scoring ten goals. He died in 1946.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randall, Tommy 1885 births 1946 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham People from Barking, London English men's footballers Men's association football defenders West Ham United F.C. players Southern Football League players