Kenneth Gordon Thomson (25 February 1930 – 15 June 1969) was a Scottish

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 in

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 ...

for

Hartlepools United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Har ...

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 ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. He made 278 appearances for Stoke.

Career

Born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Thomson was poised to sign for Stoke in 1946 from Scottish club Banks O' Dee but he was called up for

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. After his

demob Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and militar ...

Thomson joined his home town club

. Stoke manager Frank Taylor finally got his signature for a fee of £22,000 in September 1952. A strong and commanding defender Thomson was soon made captain by Taylor. His first season with the club, in 1952–53, saw relegation to the Second Division. In the final match against Derby County he chose to take a penalty awarded and missed, had he scored Stoke could have stayed up. Despite this Thomson went on to make over 300 appearances for Stoke in all competitions before new manager Tony Waddington sold him to

in December 1959 for £8,500. He spent two seasons with Boro and ended his career with

Personal life

His career was tinged with controversy surrounding his involvement in the

1964 British football match-fixing scandal The British betting scandal of 1964 was a scandal in English association football in which ten professional players were gaoled for offences arising from match fixing. History Former Scottish youth international and Swindon Town, Plymouth Argyle ...

which saw him jailed for six months. Thomson died of a heart attack in 1969 at the age of 39.

Career statistics

Source:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Ken Scottish men's footballers Stoke City F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players English Football League players 1930 births 1969 deaths Footballers from Aberdeen Scottish Football League players Banks O' Dee F.C. players Men's association football central defenders Sportspeople convicted of crimes Sportspeople involved in betting scandals