Tom Booth (original) (raw)

Thomas Booth was born in Ardwick, Manchester, on 25th April 1874. He played local football for Hooley Hill and Ashton North End. A centre-half, Booth signed for Blackburn Rovers in 1896.

Booth joined the club at a time when it had an outstanding group of young players. This included Bob Crompton, Kelly Houlker, Sam McClure, Tommy Briercliffe, Arnie Whittaker and Fred Blackburn.

Blackburn Rovers had experienced a great deal of success under Tom Mitchell, Blackburn's club secretary/manager. However, in October, 1896, Mitchell resigned. His replacement was Joseph Walmsley, a local cotton mill manager. It seemed Blackburn missed Mitchell as they slumped to 14th place in the First Division of the Football League in the 1896-97 season.

In the 1897-98 season Blackburn Rovers finished second from bottom. Only a decision to increase the size of the First Division of the Football League to 18 clubs saved Blackburn from relegation. The following season saw a revival with the team finishing in a respectable 6th place.

Tom Booth won his first international cap for England in 1898. England beat Wales 3-0. It was another five years before Booth played for his country again.

Blackburn found itself in another relegation struggle in the 1899-1900 season. The club had to win one of its last two games against Notts County and Preston North End in order to avoid the drop to the Second Division. Blackburn lost to Preston but managed to beat Notts County 2-0.

The Blackburn Times criticized the performance of the Blackburn team arguing: "There can be no such thing as standing still in the football world as in many other things, and as the Rovers have not made headway they must have been going backwards. Alas, this is only too plain. The rovers of today are not the Rovers of yore, when their fame spread far and wide".

In 1900 Tom Booth joined Everton. In his time at Blackburn Rovers he had scored 10 goals in 111 games. Booth helped his new club to do well in the First Division of the Football League: 1901-02 (2nd), 1903-04 (3rd) and 1904-05 (2nd). In 1903 Booth played for England against Scotland.

After playing 175 games for Everton Booth joined Preston North End in 1908.

Tom Booth died in 1939.