Tom Finney: Preston's Forward for Either Wing

A debut delayed by the war

Tom Finney had turned 24 by his official Preston North End debut in August 1946. His signing had come before the Second World War interrupted the route into league football. He scored against Leeds to begin his peacetime first-team career, then did the same a month later on his England debut against Northern Ireland.

The fourteen post-war years we remember were only part of his time at Preston. In another era, a young player with Finney’s gifts might have had an uninterrupted start. That was denied him, yet he went on to become the footballer who defined his home-town club.

Either wing, then the middle

Look at the positions in the National Football Museum’s account: right, left and centre-forward, all comfortable territory for Finney. An old team sheet needs to be read with that range in mind. Outside-right was a starting position from which he could influence other parts of the attack; England used him on either flank.

For us, the all-round attacking skill comes before any particular trick. Finney could get past his defender and supply a teammate, or arrive to score himself. His contemporary Stanley Matthews made the duel on the wing a speciality. Both were admired at the time. Comparing them helps us see how much of the forward line Finney could cover, without needing to cast them as opposites.

Preston came close to the biggest prizes

Preston finished the First Division campaign one place short of the title in 1953, and did so again in 1958. In between was their 1954 FA Cup final: a 3-2 win for West Bromwich Albion. Finney’s standing was growing in a side that challenged for the leading honours, even as the trophies went elsewhere.

His final Preston appearance came in April 1960, according to the FA’s career chronology. The same account gives 473 appearances and 210 goals across the club record. A player expected to create was doing a substantial amount of scoring too. Those figures extend beyond league football, so a comparison with someone else’s league-only record must account for the different scope.

England and recognition from the writers

Finney’s 76 England appearances brought 30 goals, with World Cups in 1950, 1954 and 1958 along the way. Several outstanding players promised better than the results England achieved. International trophies do not explain the reputation he earned for England.

His standing in retrospective lists has contemporary backing. He was the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year in 1954 and again in 1957, as the museum’s account of the award records; nobody had won it twice before. The award was recognition during his playing days, rather than nostalgia from years afterwards.

Why he is tenth in the right-wing list

Tenth is our place for Finney among the best right wingers of all time. The right was a real part of his career, even if the left wing and the middle also have to feature in the assessment. We value the sustained attacking quality and versatility, while allowing for the limits of the film available and the difficulty of comparing eras.

George Best could move across the attack too, although his defining club, Manchester United, brought a different setting and different achievements. Finney does not need a European Cup medal to earn his place in the all-time wingers discussion. The range of his forward play, his repeated selection by England and the recognition from his own era provide the evidence.