Home-town hero, one-club man, world football star – Cliff Jones on Preston legend Sir Tom Finney

Spurs fans will travel down Sir Tom Finney Way on their way to our FA Cup fourth round tie at Preston North End on Saturday evening (6pm).

Once at Deepdale, outside the Sir Tom Finney Stand, they will see one of the great club tributes, a statue called ‘The Splash’, unveiled in July 2004, inspired by a photograph taken of Sir Tom in action on a particularly rain-soaked pitch at Stamford Bridge in 1956. Inside, there’s Finney’s bar, the Sir Tom Finney Lounge and a huge picture of Sir Tom’s face designed within the seating of the stand in his name.

Sir Tom is Mr Preston North End. One of the early superstars of English football and one of the most famous players in the world in the 1950s alongside Sir Stanley Matthews, Finney was a one-club legend, a goalscoring winger who played 473 times for the Lilywhites from the resumption of football after the Second World War in 1946 through to 1960. He didn’t land a major honour but led Preston twice to runners-up spot in the old First Division in 1953 and 1958 and lost out to West Brom in the 1954 FA Cup Final.

Finney played in three World Cups for England, scoring in 1954 and 1958, and, in October, 1958, became England’s all-time record goalscorer by netting his 30th goal for the Three Lions, the first player to do so, overtaking legendary former Spur Vivian Woodward’s 29 goals, a record which had stood for 47 years.

Sir Tom played in the era of the maximum wage, and ran his own successful plumbing business, after completing his apprenticeship before embarking on a professional football career. He returned to plumbing after football, hence the nickname, the ‘Preston Plumber’.

Finney was already world star when Cliff Jones kicked-off his career at Swansea, making his debut in 1952. They first met when Wales beat England 2-1 at Ninian Park in 1955 - Cliff was on target for the Dragons that day. Finney returned the compliment when they faced each other for the last time on the international stage, a 4-0 win, Finney’s 28th goal for the Three Lions.

Finney retired at the end of the 1959/60 campaign. As we famously lifted the double, Preston were relegated the following season, 1960/61 - Cliff scored a hat-trick as we beat them 5-1 at the Lane in April, 1961 - and they haven’t returned to the top flight since. Sir Tom passed away aged 91 in February, 2014.

“I called him the ‘peerless plumber’,” said Cliff, one of our all-time greats, 88 next month. “During his career, Tom also worked as a plumber. He was special. Of course, at that time, there were always comparisons made between him and Sir Stanley Matthews, he was the ‘wizard of the wing’ and Tom, the ‘peerless plumber’.

“I remember first playing against Tom when Wales played England in 1955. Tom was 33, 34 then, I was 20. Then, when I came to Spurs in 1958, Preston were in the old First Division, and we had a number of good games against them. They were a good side at that time.

“If you ask me, Tom was more of an all-round player than Stan, because Stan was an out-and-out right winger, never really scored goals, obviously made plenty, and put bums on seats. But Tom was a goalscoring winger, and I liken myself to Tom Finney, rather than Stan.

“Tom Finney was a superstar of the game, no question. Wherever Preston played, fans came out to watch him, like Stan. But he also had a trade, he was a plumber, and he went back to that. I was the same. When I was at Swansea, my father, who had also been a professional footballer, said to me, ‘you should get yourself a trade, son, just in case’, and I served a five-year apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker. So, I was similar to Tom in many ways. What a player, one-club man and one of the greats, for sure.”