Steven Thompson (Scottish footballer)

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Steve Thompson
Personal information
Full name Steven Thompson
Date of birth 14 October 1978 (1978-10-14) (age 29)
Place of birth    Paisley, Scotland
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Cardiff City
Number 20
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1996–2003
2003–2006
2006–		 Dundee United
Rangers
Cardiff City		 133 (18)
062 (17)
093 (15)   
National team2

2002-2004		 Scotland U21
Scotland		 012 0(4)
016 0(3)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 15:11, 18 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 18/11/2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Steven Thompson (born October 14, 1978 in Paisley, Scotland) nicknamed "Thommo" is a professional football player who currently plays for Cardiff City. He plays as a striker and due to his large frame and prowess in the air is often used as a target man. He is also a massive St. Mirren fan.[1]

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career in Scotland

He started his career at Dundee United in 1996 and made his debut as a substitute against Hearts in 1997 in the SPL. By season 1998-1999 he had become a regular in the Dundee United team and been capped for Scotland at Under-21 level. He won his first full Scotland cap against France in 2002. In 2003 he completed a dream move to Rangers in a swap deal with Billy Dodds[2] and scored on his debut in a 3-1 win over Dundee. However he struggled to established himself in the Rangers first team with the arrivals of Dado Prso and Nacho Novo, despite important goals against the likes of Celtic and Artmedia Bratislava.

[edit] Cardiff City

In January 2006 he completed a move to Cardiff City for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £250,000,BBC becoming the first player Cardiff had signed from Rangers since Bob Calder in 1933.

During his first year at Ninian Park he was a regular first team member and spent the year forming a partnership with fellow striker Michael Chopra. He played a total of 45 games in both league and cup competitions during his first year but only managed to find the net 6 times. Thompson was transfer listed in the summer of 2007 due to his inability to score goals consistently at Championship level but a bizarre injury prevented him from leaving the club. Thompson was on holiday in the U.S. when he fell off a banana boat, being towed behind another boat, which caused him to sustain a groin injury that required surgery.[3][4] He returned from the injury on 15 September where he came off the bench to grab a late equaliser in a league match against Plymouth Argyle and continued to progress making his first start for Cardiff in five months in November. However despite his increasing form he has not been formally taken off the transfer list and is reportedley a transfer target for Aberdeen.[5]

During November and the beginning of December Thompson was first choice striker for the Bluebirds and normally lined up alongside Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in the squad and he found the net three times during this period, against Hull City, Colchester United and Blackpool. After these matches Thompson held an interview with Scottish newspaper The Herald in which he claimed that manager Dave Jones had made him a scapegoat for Cardiff's failure to reach the play-offs the previous year. During the interview he also revealed that he and Jones rarely speak to each other anymore after he was placed on the transfer list.[6] A day later on 15 December he was sent off in a derby match against Bristol City after a foul on Bristol goalkeeper Adriano Basso by referee Uriah Rennie, who was heavily criticised by Dave Jones for his handling of the game.[7] The club appealed against the three-match ban handed out but the appeal was rejected and he sat out the matches against Sheffield United, Watford and Preston North End.

On 14 January Cardiff manager Dave Jones revealed that the club had received two offers from another Football League Championship club but they had been turned down.[8] During the second half of the season, Thompson played a large part in the sides efforts as, alongside Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, he was the clubs only recognised striker fit at the time. He played in 5 of Cardiff's 6 matches, including the final, on their way to the FA Cup final before losing 1-0 to Portsmouth.

[edit] International career

Thompson has so far won sixteen caps for the Scotland national football team but due to his struggles at Cardiff and players such as Kris Boyd, Kenny Miller and Lee McCulloch consistently playing well in higher divisions there have been few spaces in the squad in which to win and he has therefore found himself a long way down the order. He made his debut for the national side in March 2002 coming on as a substitute for Stevie Crawford during a 5-0 thrashing by France. He has also won caps at under-21 level for Scotland.

[edit] Scotland goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 23 May 2002 Hong Kong, China Flag of Hong Kong Hong Kong 4–0 Win Friendly
2 15 October 2002 Edinburgh, Scotland Flag of Canada Canada 3–1 Win Friendly
3 13 October 2004 Chisinau, Moldova Flag of Moldova Moldova 1–1 Draw World Cup 2006 qualifying

[edit] Club stats

As of 18 May 2008

Club Performance
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Dundee United 1996-97 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
1997-98 8 0 3 0 2 1 1 0 11 1
1998-99 15 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 19 1
1999-00 27 1 3 2 4 3 0 0 34 6
2000-01 31 4 4 0 2 0 0 0 37 4
2001-02 31 6 3 2 3 2 0 0 37 10
2002-03 20 6 0 0 3 3 0 0 23 9
Subtotal 133 18 17 4 14 8 0 0 164 30
Rangers 2002-03 8 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 11 2
2003-04 16 8 1 0 0 0 2 0 19 8
2004-05 24 5 1 0 4 3 4 2 33 10
2005-06 14 2 0 0 1 0 7 1 22 3
Subtotal 195 35 22 4 19 11 13 3 249 53
Cardiff City 2005-06 14 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 4
2006-07 43 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 45 6
2007-08 36 5 5 1 1 0 1 1 43 7
Total 288 50 29 5 20 11 14 4 351 70

[edit] Personal life

Thompson is an accomplished musician and in May 2008 he penned a song for Cardiff's FA Cup Final appearance.[9] His dad Graham is also a musician and plays in a Glasgow pub band called Dr.Cook and the Boners.[10]

[edit] Honours

Rangers
2004-05
2002-03
2004-05
Cardiff City
2007-08

[edit] References

  1. ^ Natasha Woods: "Switched allegiance not a problem for Thompson", Sunday Herald, 22nd April 2001
  2. ^ "Slow start to Scot's transfers" BBC Retrieved 30 September 2007.
  3. ^ "Thompson close to Cardiff return" Teamtalk Retrived September 30 2007
  4. ^ "Thommo injury setback" South Wales Echo Retrieved on 25 November 2007
  5. ^ "Ex-Ger Thompson linked with Dons" ThisisAberdeen.co.uk Retrieved on 25 November 2007
  6. ^ "Thompson: Boss made me a scapegoat" Wales On Sunday Retrieved on 17 December 2007
  7. ^ "Jones in dismay at referee Rennie" BBC Sport Retrieved on 17 December 2007
  8. ^ "Bluebirds rivals in bid for Thommo" South Wales Echo Retrieved on 14 January 2008
  9. ^ "City's Thommo adds his voice to Do The Ayatollah!" South Wales Echo Retrieved on 10 May 2008
  10. ^ Stephen Halliday: "Crisis torn Scotland place faith in Thompson", The Scotsman, 13th October 2004

[edit] External links


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Cardiff City F.C. – current squad

2 McNaughton • 3 Capaldi • 4 Rae • 5 Purse • 6 Loovens • 7 Whittingham • 8 Fowler • 10 McPhail • 11 Parry • 12 Johnson • 14 Feeney • 16 Ledley • 19 Scimeca • 20 Thompson • 23 Blake • 25 Sak • 26 Brown • 30 Ramsey • 31 Magennis • 36 Hasselbaink • –– Flood • Manager: Jones
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