George Herbert Thompson (15 September 1926 – 7 March 2004) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the 1950s and 1960s for

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

including playing on the losing side in the

1954 FA Cup Final The 1954 FA Cup Final was a football match between West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End, played on 1 May 1954 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. It was the final match of the 1953–54 staging of English football's primary cup c ...

Football career

Thompson was born in Maltby, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of George Thompson, the York City (and later Southampton) goalkeeper. His brother, Des, also played as a goalkeeper, for York City, Burnley and Sheffield United. Thompson's professional career started when he signed for Chesterfield in June 1947. He spent three years at Saltergate without making a first-team appearance. In June 1950, he joined Scunthorpe & Lindsey United for their first season in the Third Division North of the Football League, making his debut on the opening day of the season on 11 August 1950 against Shrewsbury Town, also newly elected to the Football league. Thompson kept a clean sheet as the match finished 0–0. Over the next two seasons, he became a first team fixture, making 92 league appearances for Scunthorpe. In October 1952, Thompson joined

, replacing Malcolm Newlands, and made his debut in a 5–2 victory at Portsmouth on 25 October. He made 30 appearances during the 1952–53 season, keeping ten clean sheets, as Preston finished runners-up to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

for the First Division title. On 14 February 1953, Preston North End were playing Sheffield Wednesday at Deepdale; Derek Dooley was chasing a long pass from

Albert Quixall Albert Quixall (9 August 1933 – 12 November 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside-forward. He joined Sheffield Wednesday as a youth and debuted in their professional side in 1951. He played almost 250 league game ...

when he collided with Thompson just as he made contact with the ball, breaking the centre-forward's leg in two places. Dooley never recovered from his injuries with

gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...

setting into his leg, and as a result had to have his right leg amputated just above the knee, thus ending his playing career. In the 1953–54 season, Thompson made 39 league appearances and was part of the Preston team which reached the final of the FA Cup. In the match against West Bromwich Albion, on 1 May 1954, led 2–1 thanks to goals from Angus Morrison and Charlie Wayman. A penalty conceded by Tommy Docherty and a late goal from Frank Griffin who slipped the ball under Thompson turned the game which ended 3–2. Thompson played regularly over the next two seasons before losing his place to the younger

Fred Else Fredrick Else (31 March 193320 July 2015) was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. Else gained over 600 professional appearances in his career playing for three clubs, Preston North End, Blackburn Rovers and Barrow.England 'B' honours; his international appearance came on 22 May 1954 when he was a half-time substitute for Ray King in a 2–0 defeat by their Swiss equivalents. Thompson joined Manchester City in June 1956 as understudy to Bert Trautmann, making only two first-team appearances in his year at Maine Road. In the summer of 1957, Thompson joined

where he stayed for five seasons making 206 appearances before retiring in 1962, dropping down to

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

with

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

Private life

Thompson was a "brilliant artist," well known for his caricatures of League footballers.

Honours

;

* First Division runners-up: 1952–53 * FA Cup finalists:

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

References

External links

Autographed photograph of Thompson.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, George 1926 births People from Maltby, South Yorkshire 2004 deaths English footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Chesterfield F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players English Football League players England men's B international footballers Footballers from Yorkshire FA Cup final players