Tommy Thompson (footballer, born 1938)

Last updated

Tommy Thompson
Personal information
Full name Thomas William Thompson [1]
Date of birth (1938-03-09) 9 March 1938 (age 85) [1]
Place of birth Stockton-on-Tees, England [1]
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) [2]
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
?–1961 Stockton
1961–1970 Blackpool 156 (1)
1970–1972 York City 4 (0)
Total160(1)
International career
1959–1960 England Amateurs 4 (0)
1959–1960 Great Britain 5 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas William Thompson (born 9 March 1938) is an English former professional footballer. He spent nine years at Blackpool in the 1960s, making more than 150 Football League appearances for the club. He played as a defender, specifically at full back. He also played briefly for York City. He also represented Great Britain at the 1960 Summer Olympics. [3]

Contents

Club career

Thompson signed for Ron Suart's Blackpool in August of the 1961–62 season, from Stockton, making his debut on 14 October in a 2–1 victory over Bolton Wanderers at Bloomfield Road. [4] [5] He went on to make a further five league appearances for the club that season. He also made two appearances in their FA Cup campaign, as they reached the semi-finals stage. [5]

The following season, 1962–63, Thompson made three league starts, his only appearances of the campaign. [6]

In 1963–64, with his chances again limited, he made eight league appearances. [7]

It was in 1964–65, however, that he made his breakthrough as a first-team regular. He replaced the departed Barrie Martin at left-back, and went on to appear in 43 of Blackpool's 45 league and cup matches. [8]

Thompson scored his only goal for the club in 1965–66, in a 5–3 home League victory over Arsenal on 16 October, en route to making 36 appearances. [9]

He switched between the left- and right-back berths throughout 1966–67, deputising in the latter position when Jimmy Armfield was unavailable. He made 36 league, one FA Cup and four League Cup appearances. [10]

The 1967–68 season was Stan Mortensen's first full season in charge of Blackpool, after replacing Ron Suart two-thirds of the way through the previous term, and he gave twelve starts to Thompson, plus one appearance as substitute. Thompson did, however, appear in both of the club's FA Cup ties and one of their three League Cup fixtures. [11]

Thompson's final season at Blackpool, 1968–69, saw his make sixteen league appearances, the final one being in a 3–2 defeat at home to Charlton Athletic on 11 January. [12] He spent the 1969–70 season playing in the reserves. [4]

He joined York City, who were then in the Fourth Division, in July 1970 and played four matches for the team, with these appearances coming after an injury to Chris Topping after the opening day of the 1970–71 season. [4]

International career

Thompson made his debut for the England national amateur team on 26 September 1959, in a 1–1 draw with Northern Ireland in the 1959–60 British Amateur Championship. [13] He played in a 2–1 win over Scotland on 26 March 1960, which saw England win the 1959–60 British Amateur Championship. [13] Between 1959 and 1960, Thompson played four matches for the England amateur team. [13]

He first played for the Great Britain Olympic team on 21 November 1959 in a 3–2 win over the Republic of Ireland in a qualifier for the 1960 Summer Olympics. [13] He played in all four of Great Britain's qualifying matches, as the team qualified for the tournament after finishing top of their qualifying group. [13] Thompson was part of the Great Britain squad for the 1960 Summer Olympics, [14] and started in their first match against Brazil. [13] He was stretchered off with a broken leg on 56 minutes with Great Britain leading 2–1, after which the Brazilian team capitalised on their numerical advantage to win 4–3. [13] He did not play again in the tournament, and Great Britain were eliminated after finished third in their group. [13] Thompson made five appearances for Great Britain between 1959 and 1960. [13]

Honours

England Amateurs

Related Research Articles

Brian Peterson is a South African professional footballer. He spent six years at Blackpool in the 1950s and 1960s, making over 100 Football League appearances for the club. He played as a forward.

Ronald Suart was an English football player and manager. His only honour was winning the Division Three North championship as manager of Scunthorpe & Lindsey United in 1957–58.

William John Slater,, also commonly known as W. J. Slater, was an English professional footballer. Slater made the majority of his appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers, with whom he won three league championships and the FA Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Johnston (footballer, born 1919)</span> English footballer (1919-1973)

Henry Johnston was an English footballer. He was the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year in 1951. He spent his entire professional playing career with Blackpool, with whom he appeared in three FA Cup Finals, winning one. During his career, he appeared in all three half-back positions, and even moved up to centre forward when needed.

David George Durie was an English professional footballer. He played as a forward and spent the majority of his playing career at Blackpool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Hill (footballer)</span> English footballer

Stephen Hill was an English professional footballer. He played as a forward.

Edward Glyn James is a Welsh former professional footballer. He played as a defender. He spent his entire professional career with Blackpool.

Leslie Lea is an English former professional footballer. He played as a midfielder.

Ian Moir was a Scottish footballer who played as a midfielder.

Graham Oates is an English former professional footballer. He played as a midfielder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Blackpool F.C. (1887–1962)</span> Aspect of history of English football club

The history of Blackpool Football Club between 1887 and 1962 covers the years from the club's foundation, via a split from another Blackpool-based club; the period of nine years before they gained membership to the Football League; their recovery after losing their League status after only three seasons; and finally their rise into Division One, which was then the top tier of English football. Aside from the League, Blackpool also appeared in three FA Cup Finals in six years, finding success in their third attempt, in 1953. The same year, the club supplied the England team with four players for an international game against Hungary.

Robert Crewdson was an English professional footballer. He spent nine years at Blackpool in the early 1900s, making over 200 Football League appearances for the club. He played as a defender.

Percy Downes was an English professional footballer. He spent six years at Blackpool in the early 20th century, making over 150 Football League appearances for the club, and over 350 league appearances in total. He played as a midfielder.

Thomas William Jones was an English professional footballer. He spent five years at Blackpool in the 1930s, making over 150 Football League appearances for the club. He played as a forward.

John Green was an English professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played a total of 250 league games in the English Football League.

James Leaver was an English professional footballer. He spent six years at Blackpool in the early 1900s, making over 100 Football League appearances for the club. Born in Blackburn, he played as a defender.

Barrie Martin was an English professional footballer. He spent seven years at Blackpool in the 1950s and 1960s, making almost 200 Football League appearances for the club.

John Wright was an English professional footballer who played as a defender – specifically, a full back.

James Frederick Mitchell, also known as Jim Mitchell, and sometimes Fred Mitchell, was an English footballer who played at both professional and international levels as a goalkeeper. Mitchell played professionally for five different clubs – Blackpool, Northern Nomads, Preston North End, Manchester City and Leicester City – across two different leagues – the Football League and Lancashire Combination. Mitchell played in the 1922 FA Cup Final and also earned one cap for the England national side in 1924.

Christopher Thompson was an English footballer who played as a midfielder or a forward.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tommy Thompson". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "Tommy Thompson". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Tommy Thompson". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Windross, Dave; Jarred, Martin (1997). Citizens and Minstermen: A Who's Who of York City FC 1922–1997. Selby: Citizen Publications. p. 103. ISBN   978-0-9531005-0-7.
  5. 1 2 Calley, Roy (1992). Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 298. ISBN   1-873626-07-X.
  6. ↑ Calley. Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992. p. 300.
  7. ↑ Calley. Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992. p. 302.
  8. ↑ Calley. Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992. p. 304.
  9. ↑ Calley. Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992. p. 306.
  10. ↑ Calley. Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992. p. 308.
  11. ↑ Calley. Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992. p. 310.
  12. ↑ Calley. Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992. p. 312.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "England's matches: Amateurs: 1947–1962". England Football Online. Chris Goodwin, Glen Isherwood & Peter Young. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  14. ↑ Plunkett, Paul (23 April 2012). "London 2012: GB team at 1960 Games united by love of football". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.