Ian Thompstone (born 17 January 1971) is an English former

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 ...

who played for

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 ...

, Exeter City, Halifax Town,

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 ...

, Rochdale and Scarborough as a midfielder. In his only Manchester City appearance, he became the club's youngest ever goalscorer, a record he held until 2013. During the 1990s he played for a number of clubs in the lower divisions of the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, and made a total of 150 league appearances.

Career

Thompstone was born in

Bury, Greater Manchester Bury ( ) is a market town on the River Irwell in Greater Manchester, England. Metropolitan Borough of Bury is administered from the town, which had an estimated population of 78,723 in 2015. The town is within the historic county boundarie ...

. He started his career with

, who in the 1980s had a strong reputation for youth development. He received a call-up to the first team for a match against Middlesbrough in April 1988, when several senior players were unavailable due to injury. Thompstone was named as a substitute. He replaced

Trevor Morley Trevor William Morley (born 20 March 1961) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and pundit. As a player, he was a striker who notably played top flight football for Manchester City and West Ham United. He also playe ...

in the second half, and scored with his second touch of the ball. The goal made him the youngest known goalscorer in club history, aged 17 years and 82 days. The record stood until January 2013, when it was broken by

Marcos Lopes Marcos Paulo Mesquita "Rony" Lopes (born 28 December 1995) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or right winger for Primeira Liga club S.C. Braga. Early life Born in Belém, Pará, Brazil to a Brazilian ...

. As Lopes' goal came in an FA Cup match, Thompstone's goal remains a record for a Manchester City player in a

match. Despite his goalscoring debut, Thompstone never played for the club again. Thompstone was still eligible for youth team football in the 1988–89 season, despite having made his first team debut. Manchester City's youth team progressed to the final of the 1989

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

, where they faced Watford. Thompstone played both legs of the final. In the first leg, Thompstone redirected a Michael Hughes corner into the path of Mike Wallace, who scored the only goal of the game. However, Watford won the second leg 2–0 to win the cup. An ankle injury sidelined Thompstone for much of the following season. Manchester City offered him a short-term contract, but he opted to sign a longer deal at Oldham Athletic instead. Injury disrupted Thompstone's Oldham career, in which he failed to make a senior appearance. In the 1992 close season he moved to Exeter City on a free transfer. In one of his early games for the club he scored a hat-trick against Northampton Town. In early January his total for Halifax reached nine with two goals at

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, though those were his last for the club. On the March 1993 transfer deadline day he moved from Halifax to Scunthorpe for a £15,000 fee. In October 1993 he scored in a 7–0 win for Scunthorpe against Northampton Town. Thompstone left Scunthorpe in the 1995 close season, and joined Rochdale. In total, he made 70 appearances for Scunthorpe, and scored nine goals. At Rochdale Thompstone played in an FA Cup tie against Liverpool at Anfield, though his team ended the match on the wrong side of a 7–0 scoreline. At the end of the season he again changed clubs, with a move to Scarborough. The Yorkshire club was where Thompstone made his final Football League appearances; he had a short spell at

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

in 1997 but did not play any first team matches. In April 1997 he moved from Bury to non-league Atherton LR. He proceeded to play for a number of non-league teams in North West England, including Flixton and Walshaw Sports. As of 2013, Thompstone was working as a financial advisor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompstone, Ian 1971 births Living people English footballers Manchester City F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players Bury F.C. players Atherton Laburnum Rovers F.C. players Flixton F.C. players Footballers from Bury, Greater Manchester Association football midfielders