Biography
Experienced outside left Tom Dryburgh joined the Tigers in May 1954 for a £5,000 fee as manager Bob Jackson assembled a squad designed to launch a promotion drive during the 1954/55 season. Dryburgh slotted straight into the City first team ahead of Brian Bulless and when the Tigers won four of the first five league games Jackson’s plans seemed to be coming to fruition. Dryburgh missed four matches in September and when he returned in October City claimed three more victories, including a 2-1 win over Port Vale that saw Dryburgh score his first goal for the club. However ten winless games followed in which Dryburgh played intermittently and by the turn of the year the Tigers were drifting toward the lower reaches of the table. Tom scored further goals in December, a 2-2 draw at Doncaster, and February, a rare 2-1 victory at Middlesbrough, but in March Bob Jackson was removed from his post and Bob Brocklebank took over as City manager. Brocklebank did just enough to secure City’s Second Division status but he preferred local products Brian Cripsey and Brian Bulless on the left wing and Dryburgh left the club during the 1955 close season.
Thomas James Douglas Dryburgh was born in Kirkcaldy, deep in Scotland’s Fifeshire, and spent his younger years serving in the military during World War Two. After the war Dryburgh played for Fifeshire Scottish junior side Lochgelly Albert and in April 1947 he was chosen to represent the Scottish Junior FA against their Welsh counterparts, an honour repeated when chosen to play Ireland in May 1947 – this footballing recognition came on top of Tom’s selection for a Scottish All-Stars ice hockey team. He attracted the attention of several Scottish sides but opted to join English Division Three South side Aldershot in June 1947. After finding his feet in the reserves Dryburgh broke into the Shots’ first team in late September and made 19 appearances in the 1947/48 season, scoring his first goal in a September 4-1 defeat against Queens Park Rangers.
In the 1948 close season Dryburgh joined Division Three North side Rochdale and quickly established himself as a first team regular on the Spotland left wing, scoring 17 goals in 77 league starts across two seasons. After scoring 12 times for Dale in the 1949/50 season Dryburgh joined Second Division side Leicester City in August 1950 for a £7,500 fee. Tom missed much of the 1950/51 season, making only ten starts, but was a first team regular throughout the next two seasons as Leicester challenged at the upper end of the Second Division table, contributing regular goals from the wing. Dryburgh again fell out of favour in the 1953/54 season as the Foxes powered to the Second Division title, he started just ten games which did include the FA Cup Quarter Final defeat to Wembley-bound Preston North End, In four seasons at Filbert Street Tom made 99 starts and scored 30 goals in all competitions ahead of his 1954 close season move to Hull City.
In the 1955 close season Dryburgh joined Midland League side King’s Lynn alongside another Bob Jackson signing Johnnie Downie. After two seasons in the Fens, Tom returned to Greater Manchester where he had come to prominence ten years earlier and had short spells at Oldham Athletic (just one appearance in August 1957), Lancaster City and a brief return to Rochdale where he made five starts in November and December 1957. He then spent a season at Morecambe, for whom he struck an FA Cup qualifying round hattrick against Netherfield, before hanging up his boots in the 1959 close season. He remained living in Rochdale for the rest of his life, dying there in May 2008.
Details
Nationality: Scotland
Date/Place of Birth: 23 April 1923, Kirkcaldy
Hull City First Game: 21 August 1954, Leeds United H (Division Two), 31 years, 120 days old
Hull City Final Game: 18 April 1955, Ipswich Town A (Division Two), 31 years, 360 days old
Clubs
Lochgelly Albert (1946-1947), Aldershot (1947-1948), Rochdale (1948-1950), Leicester City (1950-1954), Hull City (1954-1955), King’s Lynn (1955-1957), Oldham Athletic (1957), Lancaster City (1957), Rochdale (1957-1958), Morecambe (1958-1959)
Hull City Record
Career: 24 apps, 3 goals
Tom Dryburgh| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954/55 | 23 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |