“Ike” Tomlinson had played more than 90 games in the Football League for Second Division Chesterfield – just up the road from his birth-place – either side of a season at Arsenal, as they contrived to gain promotion from that division without need of his services.In January 1905, Chesterfield beat Southern League Portsmouth 2-0 at Fratton Park in the FA Cup.

Southampton’s secretary, the strangely named Er Arnfield, was not alone in being impressed by Tomlinson, a speedy, goal-scoring winger,

reminiscent of the recently departed Joe Turner. But Arnfield succeeded, despite competition, in persuading Ike that Southern League football was for him. And so it seemed as he settled in on the right flank, scoring a reasonable share of the goals (seven in 29 appearances) for a winger.

That was achieved despite his nerves, particularly at away venues, which sometimes caused him to take a pre-match walk, rather than sit in the dressing room. He left for a season with Portsmouth, where he had a dozen games. After a spell with Hearts, he returned home to play for a local side and later to become a licensee of the Greyhound Hotel in Chesterfield. But then, in 1929, he came back to Bournemouth, to run the Kings Arms in Wallisdown Rd and to scout for Bournemouth & Boscombe.