Tommy Ledgerwood
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Tommy Ledgerwood
Tommy Ledgerwood
● Tommy Ledgerwood (HA)

born in Scotland

Tommy Ledgerwood was born on Friday, 23rd February, 1923, in Coldstream, Berwickshire.

The 5' 10 (11st 0lbs) goalkeeper signed for Donald Turner's Thistle on Saturday, 18th January, 1947, having most recently been with Coldstream.

Aged 24, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 26th April, 1947, in a 3-3 draw away to Motherwell in the SFL First Division.

Tommy kept his first clean-sheet on Friday, 23rd May, 1947, in a 4-0 friendly win away to Norway XI.

He registered the last of his 64 clean-sheets on Saturday, 6th September, 1958, in a 1-0 win at home to Clyde in the SFL First Division.

He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 18th April, 1959, in a 10-1 defeat away to Dunfermline Athletic in the SFL First Division, having clocked up an impressive 343 appearances as a Jag.

His club-list included Coldstream, Partick Thistle and Morton.

Tommy died on Monday, 13th February, 2006, in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, aged 82.
Bio Extra

The 23-year-old Tommy was signed by Donald Turner in January 1947 and made well over 300 appearances between the sticks from April 1947 to April 1959. It was his Army career which was responsible for his late start as a footballing professional. In June 1944, Tommy was serving as a gunner in Burma, and received shrapnel wounds in his right shoulder which would trouble him for the rest of his days. That he was still able to make it as a goalkeeper was testament to his strength of character.

To all intents and purposes he was a one-club man (as far as senior football goes) although this was somewhat spoiled at the very end after a reputation-battering 10-1 defeat to Dunfermline. Almost immediately, he was unceremoniously placed on the open to transfer list and would never again play for Thistle – it was a rather sad way to finish what had been a great career. As a Jag, some of his saves were described as world class and his ability was such that he pushed for international honours and was regularly quoted as a contender. Although he played for the Scottish League (versus Irish League away - won 5-1 Sep ’52) and Scotland “B” (versus France “B” away - 0-0 draw Nov ’52) he was never quite able to displace Jimmy Cowan (Morton) or Tommy Younger (Hibs, Liverpool) as Scotland No 1.

In Tommy’s time at Thistle there was always plenty of competition for the number one jersey from the likes of Bobby Henderson, Alex Bell, Willie Smith, Dave Thomson, Freddie Renucci and John Freebairn – but as his appearances tally suggests, his quality tended to win over the management. His total was no mean feat during one of the very strongest decades in Partick Thistle’s history. He was in the Glasgow Cup winning sides of 1951 and 1954, and all three League Cup Final losses to East Fife (1953), Celtic (1956) and Hearts (1958). Tommy was also a goal scoring ‘keeper! In a match against Hearts he had to leave the field because of an injury. In the days of no substitutes he was switched out to the wing, and scored with a left field shot, in an unlikely 5-4 victory at Tynecastle!

On account of his service during WWII, Tommy is included in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle Returned →.
(DMAC)



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