Tommy Cheetham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tommy Cheetham
Tommy Cheetham (footballer).jpg
Personal information
Full name Thomas Miles Cheetham[1]
Date of birth 11 October 1910
Place of birth Byker, England
Date of death 23 December 1993(1993-12-23) (aged 83)[1]
Place of death Mansfield, England[1]
Position(s) Centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1929– Byker
0000–1935 Royal Artillery
1935–1939 Queens Park Rangers 115 (81)
1939– Brentford 19 (8)
1941–1948 Lincoln City 47 (29)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Tommy Cheetham". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 57. ISBN 978-1905891610.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Tommy Cheetham". The Lincoln City FC Archive. Lincoln City F.C. Retrieved 15 April 2010. Access individual season statistics via Season Stats dropdown menu.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Cheetham Tommy Image 1 Brentford 1939". Vintage Footballers. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Westerberg, Kenneth. "Queen's Park Rangers 1935–36" (Excel spreadsheet). QPRnet. Ron Norris. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  6. ^ "A Potted History of QPR (1882–2010)". Queens Park Rangers F.C. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006. Harefield: Yore Publications. p. 36. ISBN 978-0955294914.
  8. ^ "Association Football. International Trial Match". The Times. 26 March 1936. p. 6.
  9. ^ http://qprnet.com/misc/seasonalstats/excels/QPR1936.xls
  10. ^ http://www.qprnet.com/misc/seasonalstats/excels/QPR1937.xls
  11. ^ http://www.qprnet.com/misc/seasonalstats/excels/QPR1938.xls
  12. ^ Westerberg, Kenneth. "Queen's Park Rangers 1938–39" (Excel spreadsheet). QPRnet. Ron Norris. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  13. ^ "The F.A. Cup. To-Day's Fifth Round Ties". The Times. 11 February 1939. p. 5.
  14. ^ "Association Football. Brentford Lose At Home". The Times. 9 February 1939. p. 6.
  15. ^ "Brentford's Good Win. Chelsea Outplayed". The Times. 27 February 1939. p. 5.
  16. ^ "League Notes. Low-Scoring and Drawn Matches". The Times. 3 April 1939. p. 5.
  17. ^ Marsh, Steve. "WW2 Guest Players". theyflysohigh.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  18. ^ "Tom [ww 2] Cheetham". westhamstats.info. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
Retrieved from ""