I never saw him play football competitively; the only time I ever saw him in action was in Turf Moor testimonials, the last of them being for John Angus in 1973 when he was past his 50th birthday.
So I have to rely on others for views on him. My dad said he was the finest footballer he ever saw. Bill Shankly once described him as the best footballer who ever lived and Jimmy McIlroy told me around four years ago that he was, by some distance, the greatest footballer he ever played against. Jimmy even said he'd have been happy to play him at centre-half or in goal because he would still have been the best player on the pitch.
If my dad said it, and Shanks said it, and the great Jimmy Mac said it, then that is more than good enough for me.
Shankly once said of him: "Tom Finney would have been great in any team, in any match and in any age, even if he had been wearing an overcoat."
He was held in such esteem in his native Preston that when, a few years ago, North End announced he was making a comeback in his 70s as an April Fool's joke, there was instant demand for tickets for the next game.
The simple stats are that he played over 430 league games for Preston and was capped by England 76 times. For just a short period, following the death of former Wolves goalkeeper Bert Williams last month, he was the oldest living former England player.
Tonight's news without doubt is a very sad day for English football and certainly for Preston, its football club and the town itself.
One of England's finest ever footballers has left us and I would like to send my condolences and those of Clarets Mad to his family and friends and everyone involved at PNE.