Tommy Cheetham

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]

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. Cheetham died in 1993, aged 83.[1]