Drain: Thomas (Tom)

1905-1906 (Leeds City Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Pollokshaws, Glasgow: 26-06-1879

Debut: v West Bromwich Albion (h): 09-09-1905

5’9” 11st 7lb (1907)

Tom Drain will always be remembered as the player who scored the first goals for Leeds City after their election to the Football League. He scored both goals as City earned their first point in the third game in a 2-2 draw with Lincoln City at Elland Road on 11th September 1905. Drain started his career in his native Scotland with Drongan Juniors before joining Celtic, and then Ayr United on 14th August 1901. He played two seasons there,1901-02 and 1902-03, at Division 2 level before joining Maybole. It was from the latter club that he was signed by the English Second Division side, Bradford City, on 15th October 1903. He had good success at Valley Parade, scoring twelve times in thirty-two League appearances and scored a hat-trick on his Football League debut against Burnley in a 3-3 draw at Valley Parade. However, after such a flying start much was expected of him and he was deemed to have faded after such an auspicious debut. He did gain recognition in the Bradford City Reserves and he was selected for the Midland League XI that played the champions, Sheffield United at Bramall Lane at the end of the season. He saw the joining of the newly-formed Leeds City in July 1905, to help in their first season in the Second Division of the Football League, as a good career move. He joined Leeds with team-mate Jimmy Henderson, but found that he had to play second fiddle to Fred Hargraves and only scored three times in his nine League appearances. As two of those had come in his once more flying start for a new club, he was again seen as a player whose star quickly waned. So with first team appearances at a premium he returned north of the border to join Kilmarnock on 5th May 1906 and played twice, without scoring, for his new club prior to the end of the 1905-06 season. He added to that record in the following season to bring his appearances to seventeen and added three goals before moving on to Aberdeen on 11th of June 1907. He made seven League appearances without scoring whilst at Pittordrie as he was now recognized as a central defender. A Junior International, who was often nicknamed "Digger", he was twenty-eight when he made his debut for them at centre half in a 1-4 defeat by Dundee at Dens Park, before a crowd of 3,000 or so, in an East Scotland League fixture on 15th August 1907. He also played in a further game without scoring. He joined Vale of Leven, who were members of the Scottish Second Division at the time, on 8th October 1907 and had a short stay before moving back over the border to Carlisle United, then of the North-Eastern Football League in January 1908. He was again soon on the move as he went much further south to join Exeter City then of the Southern League in June 1908. Described as ‘unsurpassed as a dribbler on his day, being speedy, quick and alert’, he made his debut with the Grecians in the second game of the season which saw Exeter draw 3-3 with Bristol Rovers at St James Park. He scored once in fourteen League games, that season. He was unable to secure a regular place in the team and at the end of the season, he was released and joined Woolwich Arsenal of the First Division, on 12th May 1909. He made his debut in a 5-1 home defeat by Aston Villa on the opening day of the season and playing once more before joining Blackpool in October 1909. At Bloomfield Road, he made four appearances as a half back. He finally returned to Scotland firstly with Nithsdale Wanderers in October 1910 and finally with Galston in September 1911, before retiring at the end of the 1911-12 season. After football he worked as a fireman in Fife. He died in Edinburgh on 19th September 1952 at the age of seventy-three.