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Fullname: Alan Thompson
aka: Thommo
Height: 6ft
Weight: 12st
Born: 22 Dec 1973
Birthplace: Newcastle, England
Signed: 1 Sep 2000
Position: Midfielder
Internationals: England
International Caps: 1 cap,
International Goals: 0 goals

Trivia

• A stalwart in the side on the Road to Seville (UEFA Cup final 2003)
• First Celtic player to be capped for England whilst playing for Celtic! Sadly his one and only cap.
• Scorer of the single goal in the two leg-win over Barcelona in the UEFA Cup in 2004, the high point of Martin O'Neil's reign.
• Scorer of two winners against Rangers.
• One of the first signings for Martin O'Neil.
• John Robertson, Celtic assistant coach, likened Thompson's passing to David Beckham's and described his left foot as "the wand"!

Summary

Thompson was signed on a 5 year deal by O'Neill on the 1st of September 2000 (along with Didier Agathe) for a fee of £2.75M from Aston Villa [BBC]

Thompson signed a 2 year exctension to his contract in April 2004 tying him down to the summer of 2007 [BBC]

A major player in the MoN years with an important part in the Road to Seville, but also domestically where amongst other great moments he scored a screamer of a long shot against Rangers (see video below).

Biog

Alan Thompson was bought for a sum of £2.75m from Aston Villa, one of Martin O'Neil's first signings, and a bit of an unknown name for most. His appearances at Aston Villa were limited due to injuries, so coming to Celtic he was to start with a clean sheet. Having played already under Martin O'Neil, MoN knew what he was to get from him but many of us didn't. A robust midfield player, he combined both fine play and aggression very well, and fast became a firm favourite amongst the fans. John Robertson, Celtic assistant coach, likened Thompson's passing to David Beckham's and described his left foot as "the wand"!

A stalwart in the golden era under Martin O'Neil, he more than played his part in guiding the club back to respectability, scoring 51 goals in his appearances for the club, and playing a strong role in Celtic's campaign in the UEFA Cup 2003.

It wasn't just the number of goals and games, it was also the quality. He twice scored the winner twice against Rangers, one of which is an oft replayed long shot screamer v the Huns. A physical player, he had the ability to put in needed tackles when required and helped to shore up the team on the pitch on many occasions.

Famously, he was known to have a running feud with arch-hun Fernando Ricksen (who was a very unfriendly neighbour where he lived), but Thompson more than got the upper hand against him in the games, including the famous "knock-knock" episode" (see below).

Thommo's greatest moments were in Europe. Firstly, a misleading free-kick against Liverpool away (Road to Seville, UEFA Cup 2003), saw Thommo kick a strong low shot that bulletted beneath the jumping Liverpool defence into the back of the net. Up to that point, there were worries if we'd make it through unscathed in the match. A fabulous strike. It wasn't just that strike, we had beaten a top English club and it was a real GIRUY to the critics of our league and beyond.

Must add that he was a major part of the team in the Road to Seville (UEFA Cup final 2003), and like many others in the team, he played out of his skin in a number of games.

However, his greatest moment was against Barcelona in the UEFA Cup run in 2004, scoring the winner in the home game which set us up well for the return leg in the Nou Camp, where we fought out a no score draw to take us through to the the next round, overcoming one of the top in-form sides in Europe at that time. Not his greatest personal goal for style but his goal was instrumental to the victory against Barcelona, and showed how fundamentally important he was to the team during Martin O'Neil's reign, many of the players being overshadowed by the awe we all felt for Sutton & Larrson. The victory was the highpoint of Martin O'Neil's reign at Celtic.

As a reward and measure of his ability, Thompson earned an appearance for England under then manager Sven Goran Eriksson which made him the first Celtic player to be capped by England whilst playing for Celtic at the time (Chris Sutton never played for England whilst playing for Celtic). Sadly he didn't earn more caps as he deserved.

As happens, he ended up being at Celtic for a season or so too long and was never really in the first side (or squad even), and there were too many on the terracing bemoaning his lack of pace and subtlety on the pitch when he was there, making him an easy target. He was sent off in his last "Celtic v Rangers" match for a silly two footed lunge which sealed his exit from the first team. He admitted that whilst on the bench he ended up not even watching all through the matches (just wasn't him). He was transferred to Leeds in Jan 2007 where he had fitted in well and made himself popular.

He announced his retirement from playing football on 28th May 2008 (link) ending his time with Leeds. He is currently working as a Youth Coach at Newcastle Utd Academy.

We all wish the best to him, another who is welcome back anytime.

The Knock-Knock story

One "*.gif" that had done the rounds is of Alan Thompson going past a Rangers player and doing a "knock-knock" remark (as if chapping a door)! The story behind this is that the player in question was the fud Fernando Ricksen (a complete headcase) who was Alan Thompson's next door neighbour, and apparently Ricksen was said not be a great neighbour. What occurred was that Ricksen decided one late night to chap on Thompson's door and wake him and his family up, and then proceeded to shout through his letter box! Charming.

Anyhow, the mock remarks by Thompson on top of our victories against the Hun and his team i'm sure made our victory for Thompson all the sweeter, and sourer for Ricksen.

Club __________	From __________	To __________	Fee __________	League __________		Scottish/FA Cup __________		League cup __________		Other __________
Hartlepool	22/01/2008	23/02/2008	Loan	7 (0)	1	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Leeds	09/08/2007	28/05/2008	Free	9 (4)	3	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
Leeds	12/01/2007	07/05/2007	Loan	9 (2)	2	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Celtic	01/09/2000	09/08/2007	£ 2,750,000	146 (12)	37	19 (1)	4	8 (3)	2	34 (4)	8
Aston Villa	05/06/1998	01/09/2000	£ 4,500,000	36 (10)	4	1 (0)	0	3 (3)	1	4 (1)	0
Bolton	22/07/1993	05/06/1998	£ 250,000	143 (14)	37	6 (2)	2	24 (1)	5	7 (1)	1
Newcastle	11/03/1991	22/07/1993	Trainee	13 (3)	0	1 (0)	0	13 (3)	0	3 (0)	0
Totals			£7,500,000	363 (45)	84	27 (3)	6	48 (10)	8	49 (6)	9
			goals / game	0.2		0.2		0.13		0.16
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

Honours with Celtic

Scottish Premier League Champions (4):

• 2000/2001, 2001/2002, 2003/2004, 2005/2006

Scottish Cup Winners (3):

• 2000/2001, 2003/2004, 2004/2005

Scottish League Cup Winners (2):

• 2000/2001, 2005/2006

Wetpaint

• Exclusive Q+A (Feb 2007)
  

KStreet

• Departure & Tribute Thread
• Farewell Tribute Thread
• Retirement from football
  

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Tribute by George McCluskey of KStreet Forum