Tom Holford

Football player infobox
playername = Tom Holford


fullname = Thomas Holford
dateofbirth = birth date|1878|1|28|df=y
cityofbirth = Hanley
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath = death date and age|1964|4|6|1878|1|28|df=y
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
position = Utility player
years = 1908–1914
1919–1924
clubs =Stoke Manchester City Stoke
Port Vale
caps(goals) = 248 (30)
172 (34)

056 0(1)
nationalteam = England
nationalyears = 1903
nationalcaps(goals) = 001 0(0)
manageryears = 1919–1924 1932–1935
managerclubs = Port Vale (player-manager)
Port Vale

Thomas Holford (28 January 1878 – 6 April 1964) was an English footballer who played for Stoke, Manchester City, Port Vale and the England national team. His primary position was wing-half, but over the course of his career he played in many different positions.cite book |last=Ward |first=Andrew |title=The Manchester City Story |publisher=Breedon|location=Derby |date=1984 |id=ISBN 0-907969-05-4|pages=18]

Holford was born in Hanley, and started his career with his local club, Stoke. He won his only England cap on 14 February 1903, [cite web
url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamPlyrs/Plyr_H.html
title=England's Players - Hacking to Hurst
accessdate=2008-07-07
publisher=englandfootballonline] in a 4–0 win over Ireland at Molineux.

In 1907 Stoke were relegated to the Second Division, but less than a year later Holford was playing at the top level once more. In April 1908 he signed for Manchester City, making his debut on 21 April against Bristol City, a match which finished 0–0. In his first full season at the club he made 27 appearances and was the club's second highest goalscorer with 15 goals, which included three hat-tricks. [cite book |last=James |first=Gary |title=Manchester City - The Complete Record |publisher=Breedon |location=Derby |date=2006 |id=ISBN 1-85983-512-0|pages=303] However, Manchester City finished second-bottom in the First Division, and Holford again suffered relegation. In the 1909–10 season Holford won a Second Division championship medal as his club made an immediate return to the top flight. Though he had been an ever-present in 1912–13, [James, "Manchester City - The Complete Record", 311.] Holford lost his place in the first team in the 1913–14 season, making all but three of his 15 appearances in the first ten weeks of the season. He made his last appearance for Manchester City on 13 April 1914 against Newcastle United, [James, "Manchester City - The Complete Record", 312.] giving him a final total of 183 appearances and 38 goals for the club.

Over his full career Holford played 479 league games, an exceptionally large number for the period. He made his final appearance on 5 April, 1924 aged 46 years and 68 days. At the time this made him the second-oldest to play in the Football League, after Billy Meredith, and as of 2008 he is the sixth oldest Football League player of all time. [cite web
url=http://allfootballers.com/statsc.php?bid=oldestlp
title=Oldest League Players
accessdate=2008-07-07
publisher=Allfootballers.com] He had two spells as manager of Port Vale, the first from 1919–1924 when he was player-manager, and the second from 1932–1935. [cite web
url=http://www.soccerbase.com/manager_history.sd?teamid=2083
title=Manager History for Port Vale
accessdate=2008-07-07
publisher=Soccerbase]

References