Tom Baldwin (footballer)

Tom Baldwin (born on 15 November 1991 in Dublin) is an Irish footballer who last played in Northern Ireland for Premiership club Dungannon Swifts.

Summary
Baldwin originally from Dublin, signed for Stockport County in 2008. After two and a half years with the Hatters, he spent six months training at Port Vale before signing for the Swifts in August 2011. He was considering offers when his cousin and ex-Swifts player Bryan McCrystal intervened with his agent and recommended that the Manchester based player come back to Ireland and sign for the Swifts. He played at centre half with Stockport but is comfortable playing anywhere in defence and has developed into an accomplished right back.

Nottingham Forest and Stockport County trials
After being watched by Forest scouts whilst playing for St Pauls Artane, he was invited over on trial by academy manager Nick Marshall in August 2006. He played in several games coming up against top English clubs including Wolves, Stoke City, Norwich City, Bradford City & Leicester City. In April 2007, he went on trial with Stockport County. After a couple of weeks County Manager Jim Gannon offered him a contract which he subsequently signed.

Stockport County
Baldwin's appearances were limited in his first season at the N-Power League One club due to a persistent hamstring and consequent shin injury but in April 2009, he underwent surgery performed by Dr. Ashok Paul and Baldwin was on the road to recovery in time for the start of the 2009-10 season. He started his second season off on a flyer by starting the majority of games for the youth and reserve teams, scoring goals versus Rochdale along the way. However, in a league game versus Walsall in October he picked up a knee injury which kept him out for a couple of months. In February, Baldwin's first game back for the club was against Crewe Alexandra in the Manchester Senior Cup. The opposition number 9 on that evening was top striker Clayton Donaldson. However, the 6' 1" frame of Donaldson rarely troubled Baldwin who himself admits to study the play of fellow 5' 9" defender and former 'World Player of the Year' Fabio Cannavaro. Baldwin even appeared up the other end of the pitch on 26 minutes to score County's first goal.

By the end of that season, then manager Gary Ablett indicated that Baldwin was not getting a new contract. However, Ablett was sacked and Baldwin was back at the club for the beginning of the following season. He spent the first few months of the 2010-11 season playing for County before being medically advised to take a few months out of strenuous training in order to heal a skin condition.

Port Vale
The following January, Vale boss Jim Gannon brought Baldwin in to train with the club until the end of the season. He played some games for the club but as he was not signed with the club, these were non-competitive. At the end of the season, Baldwin left The Valiants.

Dungannon Swifts
Baldwin arrived at the Swifts in July '11 and put pen to paper the following month. After a couple of months, he found himself out of favour under manager Dixie Robinson but since Robinson resigned in December, has been ever present under current boss Rodney McAree. Baldwin left the club at the end of the season.

Dundalk FC
In June 2012, Dundalk FC manager Sean McCaffrey invited Baldwin in for a two-week trial with the club. After which, McCaffrey tried to sign him but was unable to do so due to the poor financial state of the club.

Coaching
In September 2011, Baldwin was appointed as Coach of the Mens Senior Soccer Team at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin.