One of the finest strikers ever to ply their trade in the South West, Tommy Tynan also ranks amongst the best centre forwards never to grace the top flight of English football.
Liverpool-born Tynan started his career with his boyhood idols Liverpool, after winning a competition in the Liverpool Echo newspaper searching for the club's next star. Whilst at Anfield, he served under their legendary manager Bill Shankly, but never made a first team appearance for the Reds - but spent time on loan at Swansea City.
A brief spell with Dallas Tornados in the North American Soccer League followed after he left Liverpool before Sheffield Wednesday was next port of call for Tynan in 1976, where he spent two years prior to a brief spell with Lincoln City in 1978.
However, it was at Newport County where Tynan would really make his mark as he helped the Welsh side as he formed a formidable partnership with John Aldridge. The duo helped them win promotion from the 'old' Fourth Division and the Welsh Cup in the 1979-80 season.
Winning the Welsh Cup earned County entry to the European Cup Winner's Cup for the 1980-81 campaign, which saw Newport reach the quarter finals where they beaten 3-2 by East German side Carl Zeiss Jena on aggregate. Tynan netted both goals in the first leg staged beyond the Iron Curtain, but they lost the return leg at Newport's Somerton Park home 1-0.
In 1983, Tynan headed to the South West when Bobby Moncur signed him for Plymouth Argyle; in his first season at Home Park, he played a key role in helping the Pilgrims reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup under Moncur's successor, Johnny Hore in the 1983-84 campaign. Tynan famously scored the winning goal in their fifth round win over West Bromwich Albion, which was Argyle's only win over top-flight opposition during the run.
The goals continued to flow for Tynan in the 1984-85 season, in which he saw another change of manager after Hore was sacked and replaced by the charismatic Scotsman Dave Smith.
Tynan was on the move again in the summer of 1985 for domestic reasons as he returned to South Yorkshire to sign for Rotherham United. Nevertheless, he would return to the Pilgrims on loan towards the end of the 1985-86 campaign, after falling out with Millers' boss Norman Hunter.
His second spell at Home Park to be a glorious one, as he found the back of the net ten times in nine appearances as promotion to the 'old' Second Division was secured with a 4-0 win over Bristol City. Tynan then made the move permanent and played a starring role as the Pilgrims achieved their second highest post-war league finish of seventh in the 'old' Second Division in the 1986-87 season.
Following his release by Argyle in 1990, Tynan linked up with Dave Smith again at Torquay United as player-coach, as he helped the Gulls complete a then club record run of 15 league matches as United topped the Fourth Division table. He finished the 1990-91 season as the Gulls' joint top scorer with 19 goals, which included his 300th career goal in a 3-0 home win over Carlisle United in October 1990.
A brief spell with Doncaster Rovers and a stint as player-manager of Goole Town then followed for Tynan before he returned to Plymouth, where he ran a pub, worked for Plymouth Argyle as commercial manager and later became a taxi driver.
