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Tommy Graham (footballer, born 1955)

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Tommy Graham
Personal information
Full name Thomas Graham[1]
Date of birth (1955-03-31) 31 March 1955 (age 69)[2]
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
– Arthurlie
1978 Aston Villa 0 (0)
1978–1980 Barnsley 38 (18)
1980–1982 Halifax Town 71 (17)
1982–198? Doncaster Rovers 11 (2)
198?–198? Motherwell 1 (0)
1983–1986 Scunthorpe United 109 (21)
1986–1990 Scarborough 150 (14)
1990–1992 Halifax Town 58 (4)
– Frickley Athletic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Graham (born 31 March 1955) is a Scottish former professional footballer who made 398 appearances in the Football League and 1 in the Scottish League. A forward or midfielder, he played league football for Barnsley, Halifax Town, Doncaster Rovers, Motherwell, Scunthorpe United and Scarborough.

Football career

[edit]

Graham began his football career with Arthurlie before moving to England where, after a brief spell with Aston Villa, he signed for Barnsley in late 1978 for a £25,000 fee.[3] In his first 13 games, playing at centre forward, he scored 11 goals.[4] Graham played 38 League matches in his two years with Barnsley, and scored 18 goals,[5] before moving on to Halifax Town in October 1980 for £20,000.[6] He played regularly for Halifax until the club's financial problems forced them to release a number of players, Graham included, at the end of the 1981–82 season.[7]

After a few months with Doncaster Rovers, which included a goal in their 7–5 defeat of Reading,[8] and a spell back in his native Scotland, where he played once for Motherwell,[5] Graham signed for Scunthorpe United in March 1983.[9] To clinch promotion to the Third Division on the last day of that season, Scunthorpe needed to win at Chester and rely on Bury failing to beat Wimbledon. Bury lost, and Graham scored twice as Scunthorpe won 2–1 in a match held up for 11 minutes by fans fighting.[10] Over the next three years Graham played regularly, and finished his Scunthorpe career with 21 goals from 109 League matches.[9]

In 1986, Graham was one of numerous new signings at Football Conference club Scarborough, where Neil Warnock was the new manager.[11] He was a regular in Scarborough's midfield as they won the division, six points clear of favourites Barnet, to become the first team to benefit from the introduction of direct promotion and relegation between Conference and League in place of the longstanding re-election system.[12] In the club's second season in the League, he helped them reach the play-off semi-final, and the following season, he was a goalscorer in what the Daily Mirror dubbed "one of the most humiliating Cup defeats in [Chelsea's] history".[13] Scarborough were two goals behind on the night, 3–1 down on aggregate, to Chelsea, who were then in second place in the First Division, in the second round of the League Cup. With 24 minutes to go, Graham headed Martin Russell's cross in off the crossbar.[14] Four minutes later, Paul Robinson scrambled the ball home to bring the scores level. Then after a further four minutes, Steve Norris was fouled in the penalty area. While Chelsea claimed the player had been offside, the referee awarded the penalty kick, which Russell converted to complete the victory.[13][15]

After 150 appearances in League and Conference for Scarborough,[5][16] Graham returned to Halifax Town in January 1990. He was ever-present to the end of the 1989–90 season,[17] and even went in goal against Walsall in March when Jonathan Gould was injured and there was no goalkeeper among the substitutes. Halifax were 2–0 down at the time, but Graham kept a clean sheet while his teammates scored five goals.[18] Over the next two seasons he made a further 37 League appearances, and played non-League football for Frickley Athletic before retiring from the game.[5]

Personal life

[edit]

Graham was born in Glasgow.[2] His brothers Arthur, Jimmy and David all played English or Scottish League football.[19]

After his football career ended, Graham practised as a chiropodist in Barnsley.[20]

References

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  1. ^ "Tommy Graham". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Rollin, Jack, ed. (1990). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1990–91. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 268. ISBN 0-356-17911-7.
  3. ^ "Graham, Thomas (Tommy)". Aston Villa Player Database. Jörn Mårtensson. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  4. ^ "Daley grabs a point for Portsmouth". Daily Mirror. 31 March 1979. p. 31.
  5. ^ a b c d "Tommy Graham". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  6. ^ "Tommy Graham". Shaymen Online. Archived from the original on 8 March 2007.
  7. ^ "Rovers stay at Eastville". The Guardian. 14 May 1982. p. 24. Halifax Town, another hard-up club who almost folded this season, are also pruning their staff. They are retaining only eight professionals, and will offer new short-term contracts to three more. They are releasing eight, including striker Tommy Graham, a £20,000 signing from Barnsley only 19 months ago.
  8. ^ "Tommy Graham". doncasterrovers.co.uk. Forward Productions. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  9. ^ a b "The Iron Alphabet". Scunthorpe United F.C. 12 June 2007. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011.
  10. ^ Piper, Sean (15 May 1983). "Honest Dave goes: Divisions 3 & 4". The Guardian. London. p. 37.
  11. ^ Newman, Paul (22 August 1986). "Manager with a sense of humour". The Times. London. p. 30.
  12. ^ Oliver, Pete (22 March 2007). "Warnock back at Scarborough". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  13. ^ a b Clarke, Nigel (5 October 1989). "Chelsea yorked". Daily Mirror. p. 35.
  14. ^ Hopps, David (6 October 1989). "Scarborough festival settles Chelsea's fate". The Guardian. London.
  15. ^ Sheehan, Pat (5 October 1989). "Chelsea chumps". Daily Express. p. 59.
  16. ^ Harman, John, ed. (2005). Alliance to Conference 1979–2004: The first 25 years. Tony Williams. pp. 570, 575. ISBN 978-1-869833-52-7.
  17. ^ Rothmans Football Yearbook, pp. 267, 471.
  18. ^ Ainsworth, Phil (February 2007). "Halifax Town Histories: The number one Shaymen" (PDF). In Denton, Simon (ed.). Shaymen Down South. p. 15.
  19. ^ "Graham: Arthur". Leeds United F.C. History. Tony Hill. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  20. ^ "Catching up with winners". Scarborough Evening News. 21 March 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
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