Tributes paid after death of former Sheffield United player
The club have announced Tommy Hoyland has passed away
Sheffield United have announced that legend of the club, Tommy Hoyland has passed away.
He started playing for the club in 1949 - until National Service disrupted his time with the club.
His son Jamie also played at the club.
A statement from Sheffield United said:
"Sheffield United is saddened to learn of the passing of one of its oldest surviving sons, Tommy Hoyland.
"Tommy, pictured left with former team-mates, was Sheffield United to his very core. Born in Sheffield in June 1932, and brought up in Southey Green, he represented his school and Sheffield Boys as a player before joining Oaks Fold, very much a nursery club for the Blades at that time.
"Tommy became a professional for United in October 1949, and held the distinction of scoring on his Football League debut at the tender age of 17, and he went on to make several appearances the following season before National Service interrupted his progress in the first team.
"From April 1954, Tommy was pretty much a permanent fixture in our first team, and ever versatile, he could drop in at inside right when the legendary Jimmy Hagan was absent, or at right half when fellow club colossus Joe Shaw moved to the number 5 shirt - a measure of how good and also how adaptable for the cause.
"It was manager Joe Mercer who, after bringing Brian Richardson in, tried to sell Tommy to Plymouth Argyle, but ever the Blade he turned the move down to fight for his place and, just a month later, he was back in the first team following an injury to Richardson, a position he kept in the side until October of the following year.
"He finally left the club as a player in 1961 when he joined Bradford City, having made 209 appearances. A spell in non-league football with Retford and Alfreton and a few games for the reserve side at Chesterfield, which was sadly ended by injury, was followed by his talents being used as a scout for Fulham, and many will recall firstly his shop at Greenhill and also the years that he and his wonderful wife Connie were the hosts at The Sheldon on Hill Street, just a short free kick from Bramall Lane.
"A regular face down the years at games and also with Senior Blades, all who knew Tommy liked him, and that is the best epitaph anyone can give. A genuine man who loved his family and his football family, and the club will be a much colder place without him around it.
"Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to the Hoyland family, including his son Jamie, also a former player, at this saddest of times."