| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 14 October 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Middlesbrough | ||
| Number | 8 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2000–2001 | Coventry City | ||
| 2001–2003 | Hibernian | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2003–2007 | Hibernian | 80 | (2) |
| 2007–2010 | Rangers | 71 | (2) |
| 2010– | Middlesbrough | 23 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2007 | Scotland B | 2 | (0) |
| 2008– | Scotland | 3 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 October 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Kevin Thomson (born 14 October 1984 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish association footballer who plays for Middlesbrough and the Scotland national football team. Thomson began his career with Hibernian before joining Rangers in 2007 for a £2m transfer fee. He plays as a defensive midfielder with key attributes of passing and tackling. Thomson won five major trophies with Rangers, including back to back Scottish Premier League championships in 2009 and 2010. Thomson was also part of the Rangers side which reached the 2008 UEFA Cup Final. Thomson joined up with ex-Rangers teammate Kris Boyd at Middlesbrough for a fee of £2m on 16 July 2010.
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Thomson grew up in Peebles, in the Scottish Borders. His first club was Peebles Thistle, who play in the Eastern Region Youth League. He then moved on to play for Edinburgh side Hutchison Vale before being signed by Coventry City on a four year contract.[1] Thomson suffered from homesickness and returned to Scotland with Hibernian.[1]
Thomson joined Hibernian on 10 August 2001.[2] He was one of a group of young players who came through their youth team during the early 2000s, also including Steven Whittaker, Derek Riordan, Scott Brown and Garry O'Connor. Thomson established himself as a regular in the Hibernian first team during the 2003–04 season and played in that season's Scottish League Cup final defeat by Livingston, but he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury during a game against Partick Thistle near the end of that season. The injury meant that he was out of football for almost a year, and he consequently made only four league appearances in the 2004–05 season.
In the 2005–06 season Thomson made his comeback from his injury, establishing himself as one of Hibernian's most important players. He signed a long term contract (until 2010) in March 2006. Thomson was appointed as club captain by Tony Mowbray after the previous captain Gary Caldwell left the club to join Celtic. Despite signing a long term contract with Hibernian, it was still speculated that Thomson would soon leave Hibs. On 31 August 2006, Premier League club Bolton Wanderers made an offer that was rejected by Hibernian.[3]
Speculation about Thomson's future increased after he (and Scott Brown) appointed Willie McKay as his agent. McKay demanded that Hibernian offer Brown and Thomson wages commensurate with the transfer fees Hibernian were demanding for the players.[4] Hibernian would have needed to significantly break their pay scale in order to offer such wages.[5] Hibernian refused to meet with McKay to discuss improved contracts, which resulted in Brown submitting a written transfer request.[4]
On 20 December 2006, Charlton Athletic made a joint offer for Brown and Thomson, which was rejected by Hibernian.[6] This sparked a further round of speculation, as Brown and Thomson demanded to know why they had not been informed of the offer before it was rejected. Thomson was stripped of the captaincy on 2 January 2007 and was replaced by Rob Jones.[7] Thomson was told by manager John Collins to concentrate on his game because he believed that Thomson's performance levels had dropped since the transfer speculation began.
Thomson signed for Walter Smith's Rangers for a fee of £2 million on 30 January 2007.[8][9] Less than two months earlier, Smith had been critical of Thomson's behaviour, calling on him to show more "responsibility",[10] although this was a month before Smith had been appointed as Rangers manager. Thomson made his Rangers debut on 11 February in a 3–1 victory over Kilmarnock, although he was substituted at half-time after suffering a hamstring injury.[11]
Thomson established himself as a regular in the Rangers first team. He scored his first goal for Rangers in a victory over Celtic on 29 March 2008[12] and he played in the club's run to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final[13] and winning the League Cup[14] and Scottish Cup[15] in his first full season.
Thomson scored his second goal of the 2008–09 season when he scored an equalising goal in injury time against Dundee United at Ibrox Stadium, on 4 November 2008.[16] In the following league match against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, a 4–0 victory for Rangers was overshadowed by Thomson suffering a serious knee injury. This injury ruled him out for the rest of the 2008–09 season.[17] Thomson had surgery to save his career on 31 December 2008.[18] The surgery was a success and Thomson hoped to be fit for the following season.[18] On his return to the Rangers first team, Thomson was sent off in the 13th minute of a 2-1 win over Hearts.[19]
Thomson was sent off in the 2010 League Cup Final in the second half for a poorly timed challenge, although Rangers won the match 1–0 despite Danny Wilson also being shown a red card.[20] Thomson helped Rangers win their second title in a row in 2010.[21]
Rangers accepted a £2m offer from Middlesbrough for Thomson in July 2010.[22] Middlesbrough then confirmed that Thomson had passed a medical, despite the player having suffered two serious knee injuries earlier in his career, and completed his transfer.[22] In his second league match for Middlesbrough, Thomson suffered a fractured fibula against Leicester City, which prevented him from playing for two months.[23]
Thomson made his debut for Scotland in a goalless draw against Northern Ireland on 20 August 2008.[24]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Hibernian | 2003–04[note 1] | 23 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 1 |
| 2004–05 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2005–06 | 31 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 0 | |
| 2006–07 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 1 | |
| Total | 80 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 98 | 2 | |
| Rangers | 2006–07 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| 2007–08 | 26 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 44 | 1 | |
| 2008–09[note 2] | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 2 | |
| 2009–10 | 25 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 39 | 0 | |
| Total | 71 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 109 | 3 | |
| Middlesbrough | 2010–11 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| 2011–12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | |
| Career total | 174 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 231 | 5 | |
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