 Thomas " Tommy " Lawton ( 6 October 1919 – 6 November 1996 ) was an English football player and manager . A strong centre @-@ forward with excellent all @-@ round attacking skills , he was able to head with the ball with tremendous power and accuracy . Despite losing much of his best years to World War II , he scored 260 goals in <unk> league and cup competitions in 14 full seasons in the Football League . 
