Everyone at Aberdeen Football Club was saddened to hear the news this week that former player Lewis Thom had passed away at the age of 75.

The AFC Former Players’ Club was notified of his passing on Friday 28th June.

Lewis made 39 appearances for the Dons across three seasons and scored six goals. His brother Hugh was also a good footballer and played in the Highland League for many years.

More recently Lewis was a very keen – and a very good – golfer and had been talking to the AFC FPA only a few weeks earlier about wanting to go on their annual golf day but unfortunately, he was too ill to attend.

Our thoughts are with Lewis’ friends and family.

 

LEWIS THOM

Derek Giles from the AFC Heritage Trust looks back on his career:

Manager Tommy Pearson had originally been interested in signing Lewis when he was just a fifteen-year-old boy.

However, talks with the player’s father had seen him content to hold a watching brief on the youngster as he continued to star for Banks o’ Dee ‘A’. In May 1961 Lewis finally signed for Aberdeen and made his debut against Dundee in September 1961.

Replacing the injured George Mulhall, Lewis had no reason to feel dissatisfied with his debut in a 3-1 win. Despite not showing anything spectacular he demonstrated good ball control and sensible distribution, parting with the ball at the earliest possible opportunity. The consensus was that with experience he would make the top flight.

However as an outside left Lewis found it impossible to displace  and break into the first team. George was one of the best players to pull on an Aberdeen jersey in the early 60s and went on to play for Scotland.

His big opportunity came in September 1962 when Mulhall was transferred to Sunderland and Lewis was given the job of replacing him.

A few weeks later Manager Pearson’s faith appeared to have been vindicated as Lewis scored twice in 4-1 victory over Third Lanark. He would score twice more that season and despite holding down a regular left wing spot, Tommy Pearson seemed to lose faith in him and in March 1963 he signed experienced campaigner Tommy Ring.

After only two appearances Tommy was dropped in favour of Lewis. The 1963-64 season saw the Dons start with Bobby Hume on the left wing and Lewis in the reserves.

Hume though was far from convincing and in September 1963 after scoring a hat-trick for the young Dons the previous Saturday he was back in the first team against Airdrie.

Again Manager Pearson’s faith was rewarded as Lewis proved himself to be fast and direct and scored a good fifth goal in a 7-1 victory.

However, in a struggling Dons team he soon found himself replaced by Hume but soon found himself back in the side in January 1964.

Despite being lively enough on the wing and putting in a good overall performance he was dropped from the side. He returned to the side in February but a leg injury saw him lose his place to debutant Tommy Donaldson. Tommy’s reign in the position was short lived and within a couple of matches Lewis was back in the side and all but kept his first team status until the end of the season. Despite this Lewis was released at the end of April 1964 and promptly signed for Dundee United.

He made his debut against Aberdeen in a sectional Summer Cup tie in May 1964, which resulted in a 4-1 win to the Tannadice men. Lewis was almost ever present until the arrival of Orjan Persson in December 1964 and from then on his appearances were fairly sporadic. He eventually moved to Shrewsbury in September 1965 and then followed a nomadic five years playing football in England.

He returned to Scotland in 1970 and spent three years in the Highland League before retiring to focus on his golf. An excellent golfer Lewis was well respected in amateur circles until an accident offshore saw him lose a leg. Despite this he continued to play golf to a very good standard and was consistently to be found on the golf course until only recently.

Lewis McDonald THOM
Role: Outside Left (1961-64)
Height – 5’ 6” Weight – 9st. 5lbs
Born Stornaway, 10th April 1944
Died: Aberdeen, 28th June 2019

CAREER:
Banks o’ Dee ‘A’/Aberdeen 31st May 1961, Freed 30th April 1964/Dundee United 16th May
1964/Shrewsbury Town 15th September 1965, Freed 10th May 1967/Lincoln 1st May
1967/Bradford Park Avenue 1st June 1969/Altrincham/Elgin City/Inverness Clach 15th May
1971/Huntly 13th August 1972
Debut: Aberdeen v. Dundee D1 16th September 1961 W3-1

Aberdeen FC Heritage Trust | player profile click here