Tom Finney, (born 5 April 1922 -14 February 2014) ) was an English footballer who spent his entire footballing career with his home town club Preston North End for whom he played 433 league games, scoring 187 goals.  He played 76 times for England and scored 30 goals, making him his country’s leading scorer up to that time.  Although he won no medals as a player, he was voted Footballer of the Year in both 1954 and 1957 and played in three World Cup tournaments for England.  Finney had to wait until the age of 24 before making his professional debut because of the Second World War.  He soon demonstrated great versatility, playing in all the orthodox positions of the day for Preston and appearing for England at right-wing, left-wing and centre-forward.  Naturally left footed Finney practiced with his right and could boast an explosive shot with either.  He had speed, great balance, was an incisive passer and, despite his lack of height, an awesome header of a ball. Finney had always wanted to be a footballer, his father insisted that he learned a trade and he became an apprentice plumber –  and in the days of the maximum wage he would earn his living as a plumber despite his international reputation as one of the world’s greatest players. Ironically, in 1952 the Italian club Palermo offered Finney a £10,000 signing fee, £130 a month wages, bonuses of up to £100 a game, a Mediterranean villa and a luxury car but Finney turned them down.  Finney remained at Preston and played in the 1954 FA Cup Final.  Those hoping for that he could repeat Stanley Matthew’s feat of the previous year were disappointed with Preston losing to WBA. He retired in 1960 having never been booked or sent off. Three years later he played in a European Cup tie for Irish League team Distillery against Benfica (the result was 3-3).  Bill Shankly always considered Finney one of the country’s greatest ever footballing talents declaring ‘Tom Finey would have been great in any team and in any age…even if he had been wearing an overcoat’.  Finney was knighted in 1998.