McIntyre Tommy Image 1 Hibernian 1938

Description

Born in Livingston in 1919, outside right Tommy McIntyre became one of Hibernian manager Willie McCartney’s first signings when he joined the club from junior club Portobello Renton during the 1936-37 season. Making his Scottish League debut in a 1-1 draw with Queens Park at Hampden on 14th August 1937, such was McIntyre’s impact that he became an immediate first team regular, scoring 11 goals from 36 League appearances.

A member of the Hibs side that toured Ireland and Wales during the summer, at the start of a new campaign McIntyre continued where he had left off the previous season scoring 15 goals in 35 games, including three in Hibs 4-0 win against Hearts at Easter Road on 10th September 1938. His rich form invited a £10,000 double bid from Manchester United for both him and Sammy Kean, an offer that was rejected out of hand by Hibs, but his efforts gained their rewards when he was selected as one of the 17 players that made up the Scottish FA touring party that travelled to the United States and Canada just a few weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War. Unfortunately for McIntyre, because it was described only as touring party and not a full international he does not figure on the list of Scottish internationalists.

Like many hundreds of professional football players, McIntyre was enlisted into the armed forces at the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, and although he remained a registered Hibs player for the duration, he would only make 6 appearances for the club during this time. After demob McIntyre returned to Easter Road only to find that his place on the right wing had been filled by a slender 21 year old, permanently as it would turn out. It did not take him too long to realise that he had little chance of replacing 21 year old Gordon Smith, who had already made an appearance for Scotland at Wembley in a wartime international, and he reluctantly asked to be placed on the transfer list. He soon signed for Kilmarnock, making an immediate impact by scoring twice inside a minute against St Mirren on his Rugby Park debut.

Little is known of McIntyre after leaving Kilmarnock, his promising career like that of so many others, dramatically interrupted and effectively ruined by the Second World War.