Tommy Ring


Thomas Ring was a Scottish footballer, who played at outside left for Ashfield Juniors, Clyde, Everton, Barnsley, Aberdeen, Fraserburgh, Stevenage Town and for Scotland.

Club career

Ring was born in Glasgow and is best known for his time with Clyde, during which he won the Scottish Cup in 1954–55 and also in 1957–58. Ring scored the winning goal in the 1955 Scottish Cup Final replay versus Celtic. Clyde also won Scottish Division Two Championships in 1951–52 and 1956–57.
He scored scored 178 goals in 384 appearances for Clyde.
Ring was transferred to Everton in January 1960 for Β£12,000. He made a significant contribution for the Toffees in the 1960–61 season; many headlines were written concerning him, such as 'Blues could just Ring for service'.
Ring departed Goodison Park after a broken leg injury in November 1961 and then signed for Barnsley. He returned to Scotland in 1963 to sign for Aberdeen for a short spell before ending his career with further brief spells at Fraserburgh in the Scottish Highland Football League and then Stevenage Town in the English Southern Football League.

International career

Ring was capped a dozen times for Scotland whilst playing for the Bully Wee and scored two goals, with one versus the famous Hungary team with Ferenc PuskΓ‘s during the 1954–55 season. The other was scored versus England at Wembley in 1957. Ring scored in the first minute, although England went on to win 2–1. Five of Ring's dozen caps were earned whilst the Bully Wee were playing in Division Two. Ring also represented the Scottish League XI.
His goal against England was as a Division Two player. He was the last player to achieve this feat until Lawrence Shankland against San Marino in 2019.

In popular culture

Ring's name is now a running gag on BBC Radio Scotland's Off the Ball radio programme, as his surname has multiple connotations. This ensures that he makes it into the show's 'team of the week' almost every Saturday.

Honours

;Clyde
Scottish Cup:
Scottish Division Two:
B Division Supplementary Cup:
Glasgow Cup:
Glasgow Charity Cup:
;Individual
Clyde FC Hall of Fame: 2016
Abbeyleix Hall of Fame