Jim Towers
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Edwin James Towers | ||
| Date of birth | 15 April 1933 | ||
| Place of birth | Shepherd's Bush, England | ||
| Date of death | 16 September 2010 (aged 77) | ||
| Place of death | Hounslow, England | ||
| Playing position | Centre forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1948–1954 | Brentford | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1954–1961 | Brentford | 262 | (153) |
| 1961–1962 | Queens Park Rangers | 28 | (15) |
| 1962–1963 | Millwall | 21 | (8) |
| 1963 | Gillingham | 8 | (6) |
| 1963–1964 | Aldershot | 32 | (15) |
| 1964–1965 | Romford | 30 | (17) |
| 1965–1968 | Gravesend & Northfleet | 77 | (46) |
| Total | 428 | (274) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Edwin James "Jim" Towers (15 April 1933 – 16 September 2010) was a professional English football centre forward, best remembered for his time in the Football League with Brentford. He is the club's all-time leading goalscorer and in 2013 was voted the club's greatest ever player.
Born in Shepherd's Bush, Towers began his career as a schoolboy, playing for his local Gaumont cinema team. He frequently played against another boy, the Acton Odeon cinema team's George Francis, with whom Towers' future professional career would be intertwined. Towers, along with Francis, progressed through the Acton and Brentford & Chiswick school teams. Towers also had a try-out at Fulham before signing for the junior team at Division Two side Brentford in 1948. Towers was offered a professional contract in 1951, prior to departing to undertake his National Service.
After returning to Griffin Park and signing another contract, Towers made his professional debut on 30 August 1954 as an outside forward, making a dream start and scoring in a 2–2 draw with Shrewsbury Town. He was soon moved back to his natural centre forward position by Bill Dodgin and made 37 appearances and scored 16 goals during the 1954–55 season as the Bees finished in mid-table. The Bees challenged for promotion during the 1955–56 season, but ultimately finished in sixth place, with Towers scoring 22 goals in 41 games. George Francis broke into the team in the following campaign and so began the most productive strike partnership in Brentford history, with one London evening newspaper dubbing the pair 'the Terrible Twins'. After a lean 1956–57 season (scoring 13 goals), Towers found his form again in the following campaign, netting 29 goals in 36 games, to set a new single-season post-war club goalscoring record. The season ended in disappointment after Brentford were edged off the top of the Division Three South by Brighton & Hove Albion.
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