Tom Edmond was 24 when he left Scotland for Preston. Having never featured in the side that won the Football League’s Division II in 1904, he moved on to have a season in the Lancashire Combination with Southport Central, winning the Lancashire Senior Cup with them before Southampton offered him Southern League football.

His progress at The Dell was hindered by a succession of unsettling injuries, which restricted him to nine Southern League appearances, all across the half-back line. So it was no surprise when he returned to play for Southport Central again while becoming a mining contractor at the Preston Links Colliery. At Southport his unconventional methods and agility earned him the nickname the “India Rubber Man”.

A scratch golfer, Tom won several amateur titles and was a prominent member of the Kilspindie Golf Club in his native East Lothian.