Benjamin Lindsay Thornley (born 21 April 1975) is an English former professional

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 ...

and sports commentator. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for Manchester United, although making nine league appearances over a five-year stay. He also played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

, Blackpool and

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 ...

, and in the Scottish Premier League for

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 ...

. He finished his playing days in non-league football with

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

, Bacup Borough, Salford City, Wilmslow Albion and Witton Albion. He was capped three times by the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

team. Thornley now works in media and is a sports commentator for MUTV.

Playing career

Manchester United

Thornley was born at

Fairfield General Hospital Fairfield General Hospital is a hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester. It is managed by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the Bury Union Workhouse Infirmary which was completed in 1905. The f ...

in Bury, Greater Manchester. He is most widely known for his career as a youth and reserve team player at Manchester United, where he played in the left wing position from 1991 to 1998 (becoming a professional in 1992 after helping United win the FA Youth Cup) but was occasionally used as a striker. Thornley made his debut for United on 26 February 1994 as a substitute in the

match against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

which ended in a 2–2 draw at

Boleyn Ground The Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium located in Upton Park, east London. It was the home of West Ham United from 1904 to 2016, and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic in the early 1990s during their years ...

. A quick and tricky right-footed left winger, he was highly regarded by Alex Ferguson and at one point was expected to become a regular player at Old Trafford. Although he did make nine league appearances for United, serious injury and increasing competition for places prevented him from making the expected impact at first-team level. The most notable injury came in April 1994, when he suffered knee ligament damage in a reserve match against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

due to a reckless tackle by opposing defender Nicky Marker; the injury kept him out of action for over a year. This came days before the FA Cup semi-final against Oldham Athletic, for which Alex Ferguson was reportedly considering selecting Thornley (at least for a place on the bench) in case Ryan Giggs was not fully fit. Thornley was not fit again until the start of the 1995–96 season. He was rated by contemporaries including David Beckham (one of the players who went on to eclipse him in the first team), as well as club legend and former youth coach

Nobby Stiles Norbert Peter Stiles (18 May 194230 October 2020) was an English footballer and manager. He played for England for five years, winning 28 caps and scoring one goal. He played every minute of England's victorious 1966 FIFA World Cup campaign. In ...

, as one of the finest young players at the club during that era. In 1997, Thornley sued Marker and Blackburn Rovers for millions over the tackle, claiming a loss of earnings that resulted from him being kept out of the Manchester United first team because of the injury. In 1996, he won three caps for England at U-21 level.

Huddersfield Town

After loan spells at

and

, Thornley finally left United on a free transfer in May 1998 and went on to make 127 appearances for Huddersfield Town, scoring 8 goals and helping them come close to a First Division play-off place – and the chance of a place in the FA Premier League. From June 1999 until November 2000, he was playing under former Manchester United teammate Steve Bruce, who was Huddersfield's manager. When Bruce was dismissed, his successor was another former Manchester United player –

Lou Macari Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Ken ...

, who had left United before Thornley joined them. Thornley's spell at Huddersfield brought mixed fortunes. In his first season they finished 10th in the First Division and in his second they finished eighth (being in contention for a play-off place right up to the last match of the season), but in his final campaign they suffered relegation to the Second Division.

Aberdeen

In August 2001 he signed a two-year deal at

, which gave him another crack at top division football – this time north of the border in the Scottish Premier League. In 30 appearances for Aberdeen, he scored three goals – the opening goal in a 4–2 victory against Motherwell, and both goals in a 2–0 victory over Kilmarnock. He also scored in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,St Johnstone, and in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

against Queen of the South.

Later career

He returned to England and signed for Second Division club Blackpool on an 18-month contract in November 2002, but was released from his contract at the end of the 2002–03 season. Thornley signed for

in September 2003, but was released less than two months later after making just five appearances. He then joined

on non-contract terms in March 2004, ending his professional career just before his 29th birthday to play in the Conference. He then joined the

non-League 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 d ...

scene with Bacup Borough where he was joined by former Manchester United teammate David May. He joined Salford City at the beginning of 2006. Alongside his younger brother, Rod, a striker, Thornley played for Witton Albion in the Northern Premier League between 2008 and 2010.

Post-playing career

Thornley now works as a television commentator for MUTV.

Personal life

His younger brother, Rod Thornley, also a former academy player at Manchester United, used to be a sports therapist at the club.

Honours

Manchester United * FA Charity Shield:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornley, Ben 1975 births Living people Footballers from Bury, Greater Manchester English footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football wingers Manchester United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Bury F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Bacup Borough F.C. players Salford City F.C. players Wilmslow Albion F.C. players Witton Albion F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players National League (English football) players