Thomas Gerard Nolan (13 June 1909 – 1969) 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 lea ...

, noted for his powerful cannonball shots. He was

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

's most prolific

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

of the 1930s.

Career

Nolan played for

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

and Manchester Central before joining

in October 1931. He hit 11 goals in 21 games to become the club's top-scorer, helping the "Valiants" to remain in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

on goal average. Nolan then scored eight goals in 17 appearances in 1932–33, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 4–1 win over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

at the

Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditi ...

on 29 April. In the 1933–34 season, he scored 22 goals in 32 appearances, including hat-tricks in home wins over Bury,

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

. He was the club's top-scorer for a second successive season in 1934–35, hitting 16 goals in 40 games. However, he was transferred to

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

in July 1935. He hit 17 goals in 42 league appearances at

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

, before he returned to Port Vale in a trade for

George Stabb George Herbert Stabb (26 September 1912 – 11 December 1994) was an English footballer who played for Torquay United, Notts County, Port Vale, and Bradford Park Avenue in the 1930s. Career Stabb played for Dartmouth United and Paignton Tow ...

in September 1936. The "Valiants" had been

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

to the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

in his absence. He hit 12 goals in 41 appearances in 1936–37, including a hat-trick over eventual league champions

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

. He was dropped at the start of the 1937–38 campaign in favour of Jack Roberts. However, he still hit the net seven times in his 20 appearances. He hit 17 goals in 41 games in 1938–39 to become the club's top-scorer for a fourth time. In February 1940, Nolan retired from the game due to his

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

duties. In his two spells with Port Vale, he scored 96 goals in 221 appearances over all competitions.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Tom 1909 births 1969 deaths Footballers from Preston, Lancashire Military personnel from Preston, Lancashire English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Preston North End F.C. players Manchester Central F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players English Football League players British military personnel of World War II 20th-century English sportsmen