William Marshall Thomson (10 February 1958 – February 2023) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Thomson played for Partick Thistle, St Mirren,

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

, Clydebank, Motherwell, Rangers and Dundee. He played for Dundee United in the

1987 UEFA Cup Final The 1987 UEFA Cup Final was a football tie played on 6 and 20 May 1987 between IFK Göteborg of Sweden and Dundee United of Scotland. Göteborg won 2–1 on aggregate, their second UEFA Cup triumph, following victory in 1982. It was Dundee Uni ...

and two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

between 1980 and 1983. Thomson was a goalkeeping coach with Dundee, Rangers, Kilmarnock and Stranraer.

Playing career

Partick Thistle

Thomson started his pro career at Partick Thistle. The youngster was highly regarded and given first team experience in

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rul ...

games. He also collected his first two Scotland under 21 caps. In August 1978 a bid was made for him of £50,000Billy Thomson profile
at Stmirren.net that was considered remarkable for a 20-year-old reserve at a relatively unfashionable club at the time. Thistle accepted the bid. He played only once on league duty there as understudy to

Alan Rough Alan Roderick Rough (; born 25 November 1951) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He won 53 caps for Scotland and played in two FIFA World Cups. He also had a long club career, principally with Partick Thistle and H ...

.Billy Thomson on scotlandepistles.com 25 February 2016
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St Mirren

Jim Clunie Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

signed the 20-year-old for St Mirren for £50,000 in August 1978. He played for the Paisley club for six seasons, making 317 first team appearances. His debut was against Dumbarton in the League Cup. He broke through to the Scotland squad and was to collect seven full caps, all while with the ''Saints''. Thomson enjoyed good form at club level, being well remembered particularly for

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

saves from AS Saint-Étienne's

Johnny Rep John Nicholaas Rep (born 25 November 1951) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right winger. He holds the all-time record for FIFA World Cup goals for the Netherlands with 7. Playing career Rep played as a right-footed ...

and

Laurent Roussey Laurent Roussey (born 27 December 1961) is a French football manager and former player, who played as a striker. He was most recently manager of Lyon-Duchère. Career On 22 October 2013, Roussey joined FC Sion as manager for the third time. ...

. In season 1983–84 he was fined by St Mirren for critical remarks regarding wages and conditions.

Alex Miller Alex Miller (born 4 July 1949) is a Scottish football manager and former player. As a player, he had a 15-year career with Rangers, winning several trophies. As a manager, he won the 1991–92 Scottish League Cup with Hibernian. He subsequen ...

was manager and said Thomson would never play for Saints again. Thomson was sold for £75,000 in June 1984.

Dundee United

Thomson signed for

Jim McLean James Yuille McLean (2 August 1937 – 26 December 2020) was a Scottish football player, manager and director. He managed Dundee United between 1971 and 1993, becoming the longest-serving and most successful manager in the club's history, winn ...

in 1984 and spent the first season as cover for

Hamish McAlpine Hamish Robert McAlpine (born 21 January 1948) is a retired Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Dundee United for twenty years, between 1966 and 1986. Whilst with the club, he won the Scottish Football League title once ...

. Thomson began the 1984–85 season as first choice. However McAlpine had re-established himself in the team by the end of September. After injury to McAlpine in October 1985, Thomson took over in goal in October 1985 and was first choice until the early 1990s. United made it to the final of the

1986–87 UEFA Cup The 1986–87 UEFA Cup was the 16th season of the UEFA Cup, a football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for clubs affiliated to its member associations. The competition was won by IFK Göteborg of Sweden ...

. En route they defeated

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

F.C. Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded i ...

side featuring

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has ...

and

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

home and away in the quarter-final, and in the return leg of the semi-final against Borussia Mönchengladbach they inflicted a first home defeat on the opposition in Europe in 55 games, going back to 1970. In

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

, Thomson was injured after five minutes of the first leg diving at the feet of Lennart Nilsson and needed five stitches for a blow just behind his left ear. Some reports said Thomson almost lost his ear. Thomson though repelled attack after attack and was beaten only once when Stefan Pettersson scored. McLean described Thomson's performance as "magnificent". Despite Clark scoring in the final in the 1–1 second leg draw at Tannadice, United lost 2–1 on aggregate.Remembering Dundee United in 1986–87: 70 matches, two finals, no silverware

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, 5 June 2017The forgotten story of ... Dundee United's glory years under Jim McLean

, 19 April 2017 Thomson also played in two consecutive

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, though both resulted in narrow defeats (the first to former club St Mirren). In the 1987 semi-final 3–2 win against Dundee, Thomson pulled off numerous saves in a display described in

as "fantastic". Thomson eventually lost his place to Alan Main who played in goals in the 1991 Scottish Cup Final 4–3 defeat to Motherwell.

Later playing career

Thomson left Dundee United for Motherwell in 1991 for a £50,000 fee, spending three years with the ''Steelmen'' in which he replaced

Ally Maxwell Alistair Espie Maxwell (born 16 February 1965) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. He is currently a youth coach for SC Del Sol Soccer Club in the United States, having previously played for Motherwell, Rangers a ...

but then lost his place to

Sieb Dijkstra Sybrandus Johannes Andreas Dijkstra (born 20 October 1966) is a Dutch football coach and former professional footballer, who is goalkeeping coach at Fortuna Sittard. As a player, he was a goalkeeper who notably played in the Premier League for Qu ...

. Aged 36, he moved to Rangers where the experienced keeper spent two years as backup to

Andy Goram Andrew Lewis Goram (13 April 1964 – 2 July 2022) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Bury, Lancashire, England, he started his career with Oldham Athletic and Hibernian, but he is best remembered for playing for Ra ...

. His final club was Dundee.

International

Thomson made his full international debut for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in Belfast on 16 May 1980. Scotland lost 1–0 to a goal from Billy Hamilton. Thomson was mainly second choice goalkeeper, to

, during this period. His next two caps were also against Northern Ireland (the middle of the three was a 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifier and not the Home Internationals). Hamilton gave the Irish the lead in the 70th minute.

John Wark John Wark (born 4 August 1957) is a Scottish former footballer who spent most of his playing time with Ipswich Town. He won a record four Player of the Year awards before becoming one of the four inaugural members of the club's Hall of Fame. W ...

equalised in a 1–1 draw.Billy Thomson
at the Scottish Football Association With Scotland already qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, Thomson played in the last qualifier against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in Lisbon. Scotland lost 2–1 despite

Paul Sturrock Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player. As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989. He w ...

scoring the opening goal. Thomson didn't make the squad for the finals, with

Jock Stein John "Jock" Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish ...

selecting Rough, George Wood and a then uncapped

Jim Leighton James Leighton (born 24 July 1958) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Leighton started his career with Aberdeen, where he won seven domestic trophies and the 1982–83 European Cup Winners' Cup under the m ...

. His fifth cap was another Home International match against Northern Ireland, which ended goalless. He also played in a 2–0 win in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. His seventh and last cap was in another dead rubber when Scotland finished their poor

UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying The qualifying round for the 1984 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into seven groups; three of four teams and four of five teams. The qualifying round was played at various times between May 1982 and December 1983, wit ...

campaign. They lost 2–1 to

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

in Halle, with

Eamonn Bannon Eamonn John Bannon (born 18 April 1958) is a Scottish former internationalist footballer who played in midfield. His most successful seasons were with Dundee United where he won two league cups and the 1983 League Championship. Numerous runs w ...

scoring the Scottish goal.

Coaching and later life

After retiring, Thomson joined Dundee's coaching staff before returning to Rangers as goalkeeping coach in May 2001, remaining there until his departure in August 2007. Two months later, Thomson took up a similar, part-time role with Kilmarnock. Thomson became goalkeeping coach of Stranraer in June 2021, shortly after leaving Kilmarnock. Thomson died in February 2023, at the age of 64.

Career statistics

Honours

Dundee United *

: runner-up 1986–87 *