Tom Finney, the plumber who revolutionized English football

Last update 26 March, 2024 por Alberto Llopis

Football in the decade of the 50 It was another story, almost we speak of a time when football was in its infancy far from professional sports today where a story would be unthinkable like Tom Finney, a player of Preston triumphing on the pitch when ended his long, hard day repairing water leaks at home.

Tom Finney, the goal plumber

Tom Finney fue conocido como “Preston Plumber”. And that combined his football with his office by going to the emergency room at home, reparando fugas de agua y atendiendo los problemas que ocasionan las molestas inundaciones cuando alguna tubería se rompe o atasca. And despite all this, chroniclers of the time say Finney English was the most complete player of the time. Among them it is Bill Shankly, legendary Liverpool manager.

It was a big one in the British Isles but unknown outside them for two reasons: the Second World War which cut its progression and coincide in time with it one of the best players that has given English football in its history, the long-lived Sir Stanley Matthews. Above they played in the same position although their play was very different.

La prensa lo comparaba con Stanley Matthews

As often happens in these cases and it happened in England that the 50-60, la prensa buscó comparaciones y hasta enfrentamientos entre ambos. Pero la verdad es que se llevaban tan bien que incluso Matthews Finney included in his biography as one of the best ever alongside Pele, Maradona etc.. Both shared selection for 21 parties. Finney en total vistió la casaca inglesa en 76 occasions.

So the young man who had to combine for a time his work as a plumber with the world of football, besides having been called up in the Second World War, se convirtió en uno de los mejores de su tiempo. Pero por desgracia cayendo en el olvido en el gran público. Otra cosa hubiera sido en el mundo actual con Youtube, Google e Internet en general. En definitiva, which possibly he would never have gone unnoticed. But that was another football, another time, more romantic.