|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Birthdate:
21.01.1954
Birthplace: Kirkby, Liverpool, England
Other clubs: Sheff Utd
Bought from: Local
Signed for LFC: £0 Professional 22.01.1971
International debut: 24.03.1976 vs. Wales
International caps: 42/1 - 17.11.1982
Liverpool debut:
03.04.1972
Last appearance: 20.08.1983
Debut goal: 04.09.1973
Last goal: 04.09.1979
Contract expiry: March 1985
LFC league games/goals: 340 / 7
Total LFC games/goals: 477 / 13
|
Player Notes:
Tommo is one of the greatest characters who has graced Liverpool's shirt and one of the most 'decorated' players in English football history. He captained Liverpool from 1979 to 1982 and was England's captain for a spell. Thompson had been an apprentice at Liverpool, the club he had always fervently supported as a boy. He signed professional forms for his home-town club in January 1971 and made his debut at Old Trafford on Easter Monday 1972, coming on as a substitute for John Toshack after the big Welshman had put Liverpool into a commanding 2-0 lead shortly after the hour-mark. Thompson gained some useful experience during the 'double' League & UEFA cup triumph year of 1972-73; he only played in 3 of the 12 European matches but just qualified for his first championship medal by making 14 First Division appearances, exactly a third of the maximum of 42, the percentage required to receive a medal. But by the opening day of the next season which was Bill Shankly's last as Liverpool manager, he had become an established part of Liverpool's strating line-up and would hold down his position in the team without it ever being seriously threatened for the next decade.
Thompson started out as a midfielder in the team, before settling in at centre of defence in the 1973-74 season as he had been playing for the reserves when he first arrived at Liverpool. Thompson's style was more continental than that of Larry Lloyd and most of his fellow British professionals. His distribution from defence was first class and he fitted well beside Emlyn Hughes.
Thompson added to his already impressive medal collection when he was in the Liverpool side that conquered Newcastle 3-0 at Wembley in the 1974 FA Cup Final. Fired up by Malcolm MacDonald's boasts about how he would terrorise Liverpool's defence, Thompson showed astonishing maturity and composure at the tender age of 20 to effectively reduce the twin-threat that MacDonald and his strike-partner John Tudor posed. 1974-75 was a disappointing season for the Reds even though they finished as runners-up to Derby County in the championship as Bob Paisley came to terms with managing a top club side. It would be the last season without a trophy and winners' medal of one kind or another for the rest of Phil's time or for that matter Paisley's time as Liverpool manager. In 1975-76 the club repeated their 1973 success at home and in Europe and this time Thompson could share in the 'double' triumph. He only missed one League match and scored the winning goal from close range in the UEFA cup semi-final against Barcelona which took the club through to the final with Bruges, whom they narrowly beat 4-3 on aggregate to secure the giant trophy. To top off a remarkable year of personal success, Thompson was capped at full international level by England for the first time. He would eventually go on to win 42 caps at senior level.
By now firmly-established in the Liverpool team, Thompson won his 3rd First Division championship medal in 1977 but missed out on the club's great triumph in Rome due to injury. Disappointed though he must have been, nobody could argue that the man who replaced him in the team for the, Tommy Smith, didn't do his bit to help secure the prestigious trophy! A year later it was Smith who missed the European Cup final due to injury, but it was Alan Hansen who replaced him in the team for the showdown with Bruges at Wembley. Thompson's place was never in doubt during the second-half of that season and after an uncharacteristic error by Hansen near the end of the game when his woeful back-pass had goalkeeper Ray Clemence in all sorts of trouble, it was Thompson who redeemed the situation and protected Liverpool's narrow lead by clearing the ball off the goal-line.
Successive championships followed in 1979 & 1980 with Thompson only missing 3 League games in the first of those seasons and being an ever-present in the second. Since Emlyn Hughes's departure to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Thompson had proudly taken over the captain's armband and it was he who walked up the steps first in Paris to collect the club's third European cup in 1981 after the 1-0 victory over Real Madrid, another marvellous 'double' year after the League cup replay success over West Ham eight weeks previously. Disappointed to be replaced as captain by Graeme Souness, Thompson still gave everything for the Liverpool cause on the pitch and won his 6th & 7th championship medals in 1982 & 1983, as well as winning another League cup winners' medal in 1982 although he missed the chance to play in the 1983 final with Manchester United because of injury.
Thompson was by now approaching his 30th birthday and the younger Mark Lawrenson had become Alan Hansen's partner in the centre of Liverpool's defence. Thompson eventually brought the curtain down on a wonderful playing-career at Anfield by agreeing to join Sheffield United in March 1985, after being on loan at Bramall Lane for 4 months. Phil Thompson refused to leave Liverpool, having made two returns since his playing days ended. He was hired as a coach by Kenny Dalglish in the summer of 1986 and stayed in the job 7 years until he and Souness had an altercation that lead to his unfair dismissal. Houllier called him back in 1998, but after the Frenchman's reign was over, Thompson went with him as well. A true Liverpool legend if there ever was one! |
|
|
|
|
