Tommy Younger

Scottish footballer

Thomas Younger (10 April 1930 – 13 January 1984) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Hibernian, Liverpool, Falkirk, Leeds United, Stoke City and the Scotland national team.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Younger signed for his hometown club Hibernian in 1948. He was part of the successful side of the early 50s, winning two titles in 1950–51 and 1951–52. Liverpool manager Phil Taylor signed Younger in June 1956 for £9000. He made his debut at Anfield on 18 August 1956 in a league match against Huddersfield Town. Huddersfield spoilt Younger's day by taking both points from a 3–2 win. He kept his first clean sheet two games later at Gigg Lane as the Reds beat Bury 2–0. Younger immediately took over the No.1 jersey at Anfield and played in 43 of Liverpool's 45 matches in his first season. Younger spent three years at Liverpool, only missing six matches during this time making a total of 127 appearances. In 1959, he was allowed to leave to take on a player/manager role in Scotland. Younger joined Falkirk as player manager in 1959. A back injury led to his retirement as a player. After finding out that the injury was not as bad as first diagnosed, he signed for Stoke City in 1960.

Younger was capped by Scotland 24 times, in an unbroken sequence spanning three years. After his stint in Toronto he returned to Hibs as this time as director. Younger became vice president of the Scottish Football Association to Willie Harkness taking over as president after Harkness retired from that in May 1983. Younger held the position until his death eight months later on 13 January 1984, aged 53.