Francis William Thompson (2 October 1885 – 4 October 1950) was an Irish international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager who played professionally in Ireland, England and Scotland.

Career

While playing with

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

, Thompson won the Irish League once and the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

twice. He then played briefly with

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and Linfield before moving to England to play with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

in December 1910. In his three years with the ''Bantams'', he won the

1911 FA Cup Final The 1911 FA Cup Final was the 40th FA Cup final. It was contested by Bradford City and Newcastle United. The first game resulted in a goalless draw at Crystal Palace. A single goal scored by Jimmy Speirs for Bradford won the replay at Old Traffor ...

and earned seven international

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for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. (he collected twelve in total between 1910 and 1914). He then moved to Scotland with

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

, eventually becoming their player-manager, and also spent time as manager of

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

, before returning to Ireland to become manager of

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

. His

winners medal sold for £19,000 at a London auction for sporting memorabilia in 2003.

Honours

Player

Clyde *

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 rules ...

: 1914–15

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Frank 1885 births 1950 deaths Irish association footballers (before 1923) Association football managers from Northern Ireland Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Cliftonville F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Clyde F.C. managers Ayr United F.C. managers Glentoran F.C. managers People from Ballynahinch, County Down NIFL Premiership players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League managers Men's association football outside forwards English Football League players Association footballers from County Down