Joseph William George Tomlinson (born 9 June 2000) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a full-back for club

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

Club career

Early years

Tomlinson played for the academies of

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

, before joining the under-23 side of

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

at the age of 17. He spent time on loan with non-league club

Bognor Regis Town Bognor Regis Town Football Club is an English football club based in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Nicknamed 'The Rocks’, the club is an FA Chartered Standard Community club affiliated to the Sussex County Football Association. They currently co ...

, but was released by Brighton at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Non-league

Ahead of the 2019–20 season, Tomlinson joined

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

club Hungerford Town, where he was later appointed

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

at the age of 19. He then signed for

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...

ahead of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. In his first season, Tomlinson finished as the club's top scorer with 12 goals in 42 appearances in all competitions, despite playing from

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He was later named the club's Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year for the

season.

Peterborough United

After catching the eye of several football league clubs, Tomlinson joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

in July 2021, signing a three-year deal. With first team opportunities limited, he signed for League Two club

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

on loan in January 2022. After impressing on loan at Swindon, Tomlinson was awarded the

EFL Young Player of the Month The EFL Young Player of the Month is an award for young players in all three divisions of the English Football League. To be eligible players must be under-21 or turn 21 during the current season. It was first awarded in December 2009. Victor Mos ...

award for February 2022, contributing with three assists and a goal across the month. In January 2023, Tomlinson re-signed for Swindon on loan until the end of the season with a view to a permanent transfer, which later failed to materialise.

Milton Keynes Dons

On 1 September 2023, Tomlinson joined League Two club

for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut the following day, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute in a 3–1 away league defeat to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

. Tomlinson scored his first goal for the club on 24 October 2023, in a 4–1 home league win over

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

. Having become a regular part of the first-team, on 9 September 2024 Tomlinson signed an extended contract with improved terms.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Young Player of the Year:

*Eastleigh Player of the Year: 2020–21 *

February 2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomlinson, Joe 2000 births Living people English men's footballers Southampton F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Bognor Regis Town F.C. players Hungerford Town F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century English sportsmen