TOMMY LAWTON, said to be the most complete centre forward in British football history, died yesterday after a long illness aged 77.

Lawton, in a professional career that began at Burnley in October 1936 and ended at Kettering in 1957 scored over 231 goals in 390 league appearances.

I was famed for his powerful heading ability, following Dixie Dean at Goodison Park. When he joined Everton he had been greeted by team mate Joe Mercer with the comment: "Aye, son, you're a big un." Lawton replied: "Aye, and a good `un." He was true to his word, confounding those who said he could never fill the boots of Everton's greatest striker. But he did - 34 goals in 38 games that gave Everton the 1938-39 championship ensured that - and he remains a hero to all true Evertonians.

The finest moment of an international career interrupted by the war was probably the 4-0 victory in Turin over the World Cup holders Italy in 1948. The manager Sir Walter Winterbottom and all of the players involved rated the result as the best in their careers. Lawton scored one of the goals.

But Lawton, like many players of his generation, fell on hard times after football, unemployed after failing in football management at Arsenal. "I would leave home of a morning pretending I had a job just like any other working man and I would sit all day in the market square or the library till it was time to go home again. More than once it crossed my mind to walk into the Trent, to end it all." He survived a severe stroke in 1970 and had to sell all his medals and caps despite late testimonials from Brentford and Everton.

Lawton never earned more than £12 a week despite moves to Everton (£6,500, a record for a 17 year old), Chelsea (£11,500, a record), Notts County (£20,000, a record), Brentford (£12,000) and Arsenal (£10,000), a total transfer sum that would take a modern striker of his calibre a fortnight to earn in wages. His appeal was such that when he joined Third Division Notts County in 1947 gates went up from 9,000 to 35,000.