With the hardly inspiring statistic of seven goals in his thirty-three
League appearances for lowly Doncaster Rovers, Tommy Gaynor could hardly
have dreamed that some nineteen months later he would be playing in
front of a packed house at Wembley. His last appearance for Rovers had
been in front of 1, 647 hardy souls at Belle Vue, whilst 76, 130
witnessed his moment of glory in Forest's 3-1 Littlewoods Cup final
victory over Luton Town. Chosen to play in an unaccustomed
right-midfield role, ahead of City Ground favourite Franz Carr, it was
Tommy's superb cross-field ball to provide Neil Webb with the third goal
that clinched the game for the Reds. Just three weeks later the
Irishman was back at Wembley again as Forest carried off the Simod Cup
with a highly entertaining 4-3 success over Everton.
Gaynor was was
expected to be nothing more than a squad player following his £25,000
move to the East Midlands club but Brian Clough proved, yet again, that
reputations counted for nothing with him. If you performed you stayed in
the team - it was as simple as that. Prior to the Wembley win over
Luton the man from Limerick had played on the right flank just four
times for Forest, and those games all came in an eleven day spell
shortly before the final, but as the man in possession he got the nod.
That 1988-89 season proved to be Tommy's most memorable and the next few
years saw him as little more than a bit-part player at the City Ground.
He was released in the summer of 1992 with his last appearance for the
Reds coming as a substitute in a 1-1 draw at Queen's Park Rangers in
April '92. (David Scranage) |
League appearances.
1981–1982 Limerick United 25 (7)
1982–1983 Shamrock Rovers 22 (7)
1983–1984 Dundalk 22 (4)
1984–1986 Limerick City 58 (35)
1986–1988 Doncaster Rovers 33 (7)
1988–1992 Nottingham Forest 57 (10)
1990–1991 Newcastle United (loan) 4 (1)
1992–1993 Milwall 3 (0)
1993–1994 Derry City 29 (11)
1994–1995 Cork City 27 (7)
1995–1996 Athlone Town 27 (12)
1996–1997 Cork City ? (?)
1996–1997 Athlone Town ? (?)
1997 Bohemians 7 (2)
1997–1998 St Patrick's Athletic 11 (1)
1998–1999 Limerick ? (?)
1998–1999 Kilkenny City ? (?)