Background
Finan was born in Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire.
Finan was born in Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire.
He played as a forward. He started his career at Scottish junior club Yoker Athletic before signing for Blackpool, managed by fellow Scot Sandy MacFarlane, in 1933. He made his debut for the club in the penultimate league game of the 1933-1934 season, a 7–0 defeat at Grimsby Town on 28 April 1934.
He went on to score three more goals during that league campaign.
Finan scored his first professional goal in the opening game of the following 1934-1935 campaign, a 5–1 victory at Bury on 25 August 1934. In 1935-1936, with Jimmy Hampson injured, Finan deputised at centre-forward and ended the season as the Second Division"s joint-top scorer with 34 goals.
The following campaign, 1936-1937, Finan (28) and Hampson (16) scored 44 league goals between them, as Blackpool finished the season as runners-up in the Football League Second Division and were promoted to the Football League First Division. As he grew older, his speed began to wane, and he was moved to outside-left, where he laid on goals for Willie Buchan and, later, Jock Dodds.
Finan scored 85 league goals for Blackpool before finally leaving the club in 1947, when he signed for Crewe Alexandra, scoring 14 goals in 59 games.
In 1949 he moved to non-League football with Wigan Athletic, with whom he finished his career in 1950 having scored 12 goals in 31 games in the Lancashire Combination. After his playing career ended, Finan returned to Blackpool as chief scout. As the conflict progressed, he went on to serve in the Middle East and was a regular in the Royal Air Force (Egypt) side, once severely injuring his knee in a Cairo Canal-area match at El Alamein.