Tommy Cheetham | |
|---|---|
| File:Tommy Cheetham (footballer).jpg | |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
11 October 1910 Byker, England |
| Died |
23 December 1993 (aged 83)[1] Mansfield, England[1] |
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Thomas Miles Cheetham (11 October 1910 – 23 December 1993)[1] was an English professional footballer. He scored 118 goals from 181 appearances in the Football League playing as a forward for Queens Park Rangers, Brentford and Lincoln City.[2]
Football career[]
Cheetham was born in Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne.[3] A late entrant to the professional game, he played local football before joining the Army and played for his regiment while serving in the Royal Artillery.[2][4] In August 1935, aged nearly 25, he signed for London club Queens Park Rangers,[4] then playing in the Football League Third Division South.[5] He made his debut on 4 September 1935 in a 1–1 draw away to Brighton & Hove Albion. Although he did not score in that first game, his next two games brought six goals, a six-game spell running up to Christmas produced 11 and from the 35 games he played in his first League season as a professional footballer, Cheetham scored 36 times.[5] He set a new club record by scoring in 9 consecutive games at QPR's home ground, Loftus Road.[6]
His performances earned him an invitation to play for the Possibles against the Probables in March 1936 in a trial match for selection for the England national team.[7] The quality of the Probables' defence, with Alf Young outstanding, meant Cheetham had little chance to shine – The Times' correspondent reported that "Cheetham did not receive a pass for nearly half an hour", but "considering the brilliance of Young, the play of Cheetham could hardly be considered unsatisfactory".[8] Though his next two seasons were less productive,[9][10] in 1938–39 he scored 22 league goals from the 26 games before he left the club on 7 February 1939 to join First Division club Brentford for a fee of £5,000.[11][12]
Brentford brought in Cheetham and inside forward Les Boulter to help their fight against relegation,[7] though The Times suggested that their weakness lay less in attack than in defence.[13] Cheetham made his debut in the top division in a 4–2 home defeat to Aston Villa,[14] but he went on to score twice as Brentford beat fellow relegation strugglers Chelsea 3–1 and created both goals in a 2–0 defeat of Leicester City in early April,[15] by which time his club had achieved a mid-table position.[16] He finished the 1938–39 season with eight goals.[7]
The outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 put a stop to the Football League for the duration and caused a major interruption to Cheetham's career.[7] During the war, he joined Lincoln City.[3] He played for them in wartime competitions, and also turned out for West Ham United.[17][18] Then in the 1946–47 Football League season, the first full season after the war, Cheetham resumed his prolific goalscoring; 30 goals from 41 games in League and FA Cup made him Lincoln City's leading scorer. He played only infrequently in 1947–48. His last game came on 6 April 1948 against Rochdale and he retired from professional football at the age of 37.[3]
Personal life[]
Cheetham was a member of the Territorial Army during the Second World War and was injured at Dunkirk.[7] After his retirement as a player he worked for a Croydon-based building contractors firm in the mid-1950s and lived in North London.[citation needed] Cheetham died in 1993, aged 83.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Barry Hugman's Footballers – Tommy Cheetham". http://hugmansfootballers.com/player/3420. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 57. ISBN 190589161X.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Tommy Cheetham". The Lincoln City FC Archive. Lincoln City F.C. http://www.redimps.com/archive3/index.mv?cat=players&drop=playerdetsdrop&play=chee01. Retrieved 15 April 2010. Access individual season statistics via Season Stats dropdown menu.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Cheetham Tommy Image 1 Brentford 1939" (in en-GB). http://vintagefootballers.com/product/cheetham-tommy-image-1-brentford-1939/. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Westerberg, Kenneth. "Queen's Park Rangers 1935–36" (Excel spreadsheet). QPRnet. Ron Norris. http://qprnet.com/misc/seasonalstats/excels/QPR1935.xls. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
- ↑ "A Potted History of QPR (1882–2010)". Queens Park Rangers F.C. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140703220821/http://www.qpr.co.uk/club/history/potted-history/. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006. Harefield: Yore Publications. p. 36. ISBN 978-0955294914.
- ↑ "Association Football. International Trial Match". 26 March 1936. p. 6.
- ↑ http://qprnet.com/misc/seasonalstats/excels/QPR1936.xls
- ↑ http://www.qprnet.com/misc/seasonalstats/excels/QPR1937.xls
- ↑ http://www.qprnet.com/misc/seasonalstats/excels/QPR1938.xls
- ↑ Westerberg, Kenneth. "Queen's Park Rangers 1938–39" (Excel spreadsheet). QPRnet. Ron Norris. http://qprnet.com/misc/seasonalstats/excels/QPR1938.xls. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
- ↑ "The F.A. Cup. To-Day's Fifth Round Ties". 11 February 1939. p. 5.
- ↑ "Association Football. Brentford Lose At Home". 9 February 1939. p. 6.
- ↑ "Brentford's Good Win. Chelsea Outplayed". 27 February 1939. p. 5.
- ↑ "League Notes. Low-Scoring and Drawn Matches". 3 April 1939. p. 5.
- ↑ Marsh, Steve. "WW2 Guest Players". http://theyflysohigh.co.uk/ww2-guest-players/4580849090. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ↑ [ww_2_Cheetham "Tom [ww 2] Cheetham"]. http://www.westhamstats.info/westham.php?west=2&ham=900&united=Tom_[ww_2]_Cheetham. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
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