Thomas Keetley (16 November 1898 – 18 August 1958) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward. He scored 284 Football League goals between 1919 and 1934

Tom Keetley, a footballer who played for Notts County between 1929 & 1933 scoring 98 goals from 110 appearances including FA Cup, a phenomenal number at nearly a goal a game.Tom held the record for most goals in a season for Notts till Macaulay Langstaff beat Tom's record in the 2023/23 season.

Life and Career.

Keetley was one of eleven brothers and one sister he was born in Derby and came from a footballing family with several other brothers who played professionally including Arthur, Harry, Joe, Frank and  Charlie.

The first Football League side he played for was Bradford Park Avenue, and he first played in the league for them in 1919–20, going on to make 22 league appearances for them over a four-season period. In 1923–24 he first played league football for Doncaster Rovers, a club which three of his brothers (Harry, Joe and Frank) played for in their careers.

He remains the all-time top scorer for Doncaster with 180 league goals. He also holds the club record for scoring six goals in one game, against Ashington in the Third Division (North) on 16 February 1929.

In 1929  he moved to Notts County for £750, where he scored his first hat-trick for the club on his debut, in a 3–1 win against Bristol City on 30 August 1929. Keetley scored 39 league goals for Notts during the 1930–31 season, a record that would stand for 92 years until surpassed by Macaulay Langstaff in 2023. He left Notts in 1933 to join Lincoln City, having scored 94 goals in 103 league appearances and four goals in seven FA Cup ties.

He played just ten games for Lincoln in 1934 before briefly moving onto non-League Gresley Rovers in 1934, and then Heanor Town.

He is 29th in the all-time top scorers list in league football in England and Scotland having the 9th highest goals per game ratio of 0.75. As of June 2005 he was ranked 19th in the all-time list of highest scoring players scoring in English league football, having scored 284 goals between 1919 and 1934.

After his professional career ended he was landlord of the Rose and Crown in Chellaston, Derby.

(Source Wiki)

we have had some very good players over the years, tom keetley etched his name into our history books and thankfully the great season we had last season brought his name back into the minds of our fans with macaulay langstaff's record breaking season. i wished we had footage of keetleys time tho.

On 02/01/2024 at 23:23, liampie said:

we have had some very good players over the years, tom keetley etched his name into our history books and thankfully the great season we had last season brought his name back into the minds of our fans with macaulay langstaff's record breaking season. i wished we had footage of keetleys time tho.

Just imagine the adulation that Tom would have had in his day, just like Macaulay now. Tom must have been some player.