Tommy Cheetham

Tommy Cheetham

Personal information
Full name	Thomas Miles Cheetham[1]
Date of birth	(1910-10-11)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]
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
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)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.^[3]

Cheetham was born in Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne.^[4] 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.^[3][5] In August 1935, aged nearly 25, he signed for London club Queens Park Rangers,^[5] then playing in the Football League Third Division South.^[6] 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.^[6] He set a new club record by scoring in 9 consecutive games at QPR's home ground, Loftus Road.^[7]

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.^[8] 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".^[9] Though his next two seasons were less productive,^[10][11] 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.^[12][13]

Brentford brought in Cheetham and inside forward Les Boulter to help their fight against relegation,^[8] though The Times suggested that their weakness lay less in attack than in defence.^[14] Cheetham made his debut in the top division in a 4–2 home defeat to Aston Villa,^[15] 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,^[16] by which time his club had achieved a mid-table position.^[17] He finished the 1938–39 season with eight goals.^[8]

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.^[8] During the war, he joined Lincoln City from Brentford for a £500 transfer fee.^[4] He played for them in wartime competitions, and also turned out for West Ham United.^[18][19] 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.^[4] . He then scouted for Lincoln City in the London area.

Cheetham was a member of the Territorial Army during the Second World War and was injured at Dunkirk.^[8] 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]