Nicknamed "Tiny", but Thomas Bradshaw was a giant of a man in the Liverpool team at the time. He was a veteran of 208 league games with Bury in the Second and First Division when he arrived at Liverpool for a club-record fee. He played his only game for Scotland two years prior in one of the most famous games in the nation's history. Scotland beat England 5-1 in front of 80,000 people at Wembley and the Scottish players were subsequently dubbed "The Wembley Wizards".
Used as a right-half in his debut season, 1929/30, Tiny played in the last 17 league matches. He was just as comfortable at centre-half, a position he made his own over the next seven seasons, captaining the side from 1931-34. Tiny was literally a tower of strength in defence for the club which unfortunately had a below-average decade in the 30s.
Leslie "Bee" Edwards at the Echo was a big fan: ‘A giant at 6ft 3in [190 cm], but amazingly agile. He had the build of Ron Yeats and the touch of Alan Hansen, who were also Scottish. Tiny was a marvellous defender and the only man I have ever seen come anywhere near him was John Charles.’ Liverpool’s main foe was Everton’s goal machine, Dixie Dean, who had great respect for Tiny: "In all the times I played against him he never used any of those sly little tricks that others did, like pulling you back by your shirt or shorts. Tiny went out to play football and let the best man win."
Bradshaw signed for South Liverpool on Friday 2 September 1938 and featured for them against Fleetwood the following day. He had registered for the non-league club with the understanding that if a league club came in for him, he would be off. Tiny's stay was short as George Kay was negotiating with Third Lanark for his transfer the very same weekend. He moved for 600 pounds from Liverpool to the Scottish league club on the following Monday and was therefore a South Liverpool player for only three days! Tiny only stayed for one season in Scotland before rejoining South Liverpool on 18 July 1939. Tiny died in 1986 in his hometown of Coatbridge.