Thompson: Alan

2007- 2008 (Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: 22-12-1973

Debut: West Bromwich Albion: 20-01-2007

6’0” 12st 8lb (2007)

Alan Thompsons's career was plagued with injury. In 1989 he was involved in a near-fatal car crash, breaking his neck in five places. He defied medical expectation and managed to return to professional football. He started off as a trainee with Newcastle United, his hometown club and the team he supported as a boy, signing professionally for them on 11th March 1991. In League games he played sixteen games including three as a substitute but did not score, while in the Cups he played four games. He moved to Bolton Wanderers on 22nd July 1993 for £250,000, where he became an integral part of the team which won promotion to the EPL twice, in 1995 and 1997. He also scored Bolton's goal in the 1995 English League Cup Final as they lost 2-1 to Liverpool. When ‘The Trotters’ were relegated in 1998, Thompson became John Gregory's first signing at Aston Villa, arriving at the club for a £4.5million fee on 12th June 1998. With Bolton he scored thirty-seven goals in one hundred and forty-three starts and fourteen games as a substitute in the League and he scored eight times from thirty-seven starts and four games from the bench in the Cup and other competitions. The midfielder added width on the left when playing in a 4-4-2, or accurate passing and great vision from centre midfield when in a 3-5-2 formation. Injuries limited the number of performances he was able to make during his two year spell at Villa Park and in September 2000 Thompson decided to try his luck in Scotland and moved to Celtic in Martin O’Neill’s first season. At Villa he scored four goals in thirty-six starts and ten games from the bench in the League and one goal in seven starts and four substitute appearances in the Cups. His £2.75 million move to the Hoops was the making of him. A hardworking and tenacious midfielder, Thompson enjoyed his best season for the club during the 2003/04 campaign. He scored eleven League goals in twenty-six appearances and helped Celtic claim the Scottish Premier League title. After such a great season he signed a deal tying him to the club until 2007. Although he was out injured for much of October, Thompson continued his fine form into the 2004/05 campaign, playing forty-four games and scoring ten goals, including the winner in the Scottish Cup Final against Dundee United, which saw the outgoing Martin O’Neill clinch his seventh trophy. The only blot on his record was a sending off in a fiery encounter with Rangers in November 2004. 2005/06 proved slightly less prolific with the added competetion of Roy Keane and a fit again Shaun Maloney, yet Thompson still managed nineteen games, scoring three goals. After a somewhat difficult pre-season, Thompson criticised the club’s pre-season commitments and was sent home from their American training camp for an apparently non-existent thigh injury. It looked as though his time was numbered as under new Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, Thompson went out of favour and found very limited first team opportunities, often not even securing a place on the subs bench. However his record for the Glasgow side was impressive having scored thirty-seven League goals in one hundred and fifty-eight games of which twelve were from the bench, while in Cup and European competition he scored fourteen times from sixty-one starts and eight from the bench. On 12th January 2007, Thompson secured a loan move to Leeds until the end of the 2006-07 Championship season in a bid to play first-team football. He scored on his debut for Leeds against West Bromwich Albion in the 3-2 defeat on 20th January 2007. In his next game he once again scored a trademark free kick with the winning goal against Hull City in a 2-1 victory. Thompson left Leeds at the end of the 2006-07 season after his loan period and Celtic contract ended. He did however hint that he may carry on at Elland Road, with his agent saying "He was very happy at Leeds, and there's a chance he could go back there". Thompson signed a one-year contract with Leeds on 9th August 2007. He was made club captain for the 2007-08 season, their first in League One. He scored from a free kick against Southend United in the first home league game of the season. Thompson was made acting Assistant Manager after the departure of Gus Poyet but returned to his playing role upon the arrival of Dave Bassett. In January 2008 he joined another League One side, Hartlepool United, on a one-month loan deal and returned to Leeds when it expired having scored once in seven League appearances. He retired as a player at the end of the 2007-08 season. On 16th July, 2008 Thompson was appointed new Academy Coach at Newcastle United. He was given the role of looking after the clubs young talents by Kevin Keegan. He was later made Reserve team coach. On 17th June 2010, he became First Team Coach at Celtic. Thompson played for England once, against Sweden in 2004, and was also honoured at Youth level and played twice for England Under-Twenty-ones and once for England ‘B’.