Dave Thomas (born 5 October 1950) is a former professional

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 le ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international who played as a winger. An extremely skilful and fast player, for much of his career his trademark was playing without shin pads; something that would be contrary to the rules of the game today. He made his senior debut in Burnley's 8–1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion in the 1966/67 season. He had a long and successful playing career, playing for almost 20 years and totalling over 450 league appearances whilst playing for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

QPR Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus R ...

, Everton,

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. He won 8 England caps overall whilst at

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. His first England cap was given to him by manager

Don Revie Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England manage ...

on 30 October 1974 in a 3–0 win against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. He set up the first goal in the game. In England's April 1975 European Championship qualifier against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, Thomas came on as a substitute and made both of England's remaining two goals in their 5–0 victory; his cross for the first of those two goals was his first touch of the game. Thomas's most successful season was undoubtedly 1975–76 while playing for QPR. QPR led the First Division for much of the season, narrowly missing out by one point to Liverpool after the final game of the season. Thomas was a pivotal figure in the team, providing Stan Bowles, Gerry Francis and others with outstanding service from the wing. Following his transfer to Everton, Thomas continued to enjoy success in the 1977–78 season while playing for Everton. Everton's top marksman

Bob Latchford Robert Dennis Latchford (born 18 January 1951) is an English former footballer who played as a centre forward. He made more than 500 appearances in the Football League, playing for Birmingham City, Everton, Swansea City and Coventry City in t ...

scored 30 goals in the league that season, Thomas providing more of his goals than anybody else with some more accurate crosses. His transfer in October 1972 from Burnley to QPR was then a record fee for a Second Division Club: £165,000. In 1981, Thomas played a single summer season with the

in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

References

;Sources
England profile

External links

The Hall of Fame Number 44 – Dave ThomasSporting Heroes site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Dave English footballers 1950 births Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Everton F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players Middlesbrough F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players England international footballers England under-23 international footballers People from Kirkby-in-Ashfield Living people Association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer players in Canada English expatriate footballers