Dean Thomas (born 19 December 1961) is a Welsh former football player and manager. Thomas managed Hinckley United throughout almost the entirety of their fifteen year history and also managed

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

Playing career

Thomas was a professional footballer with

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

Tampereen Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the cit ...

, Alemannia Aachen,

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

. During his second loan spell with Ilves, Thomas won the

Finnish championship Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

in 1983. While at Notts County, he was club captain and played twice at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

Managerial career

His first managerial post was with Bedworth United, his hometown club. In 1997, he became newly formed Hinckley United's first manager. He led the club to the Southern Football League Western Division championship in the 2000–01 season and the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

second round in December 2001 and December 2004. Thomas resigned as manager on 10 October 2012. In his 15 years with the club, he managed the club in 972 games. Thomas took over as manager of

of the Southern League Division One Central at the beginning of the 2013–14 season. He lost most of his first games, but eventually pulled together results, going 21 games unbeaten. The Poppies finished in 3rd place, thus qualifying for the play-offs. They beat

Daventry Town Daventry Town F.C. is a football club based in the town of Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, formed in 1886. They are members of the . History The club was established in 1886 as a local-town club playing in the Northampton Town League. T ...

1–0 in the semi-final and progressed to the play-off final against

Slough Town Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...

in the final. Kettering took a two-goal lead in the final but ultimately lost 3–2. In May 2014, Thomas announced that he was stepping down as Kettering Town FC manager.

Personal life

Since his absence from the football pitch, Thomas now sings covers of swing songs at local entertainment venues.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Dean 1961 births Living people People from Bedworth Welsh men's footballers Welsh expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Men's association football forwards Wimbledon F.C. players Ilves (football) players Fortuna Düsseldorf players Northampton Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Bedworth United F.C. players Hinckley United F.C. players English Football League players Bundesliga players Welsh football managers Bedworth United F.C. managers Hinckley United F.C. managers National League (English football) managers Kettering Town F.C. managers Welsh expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Finland 2. Bundesliga players