John Ross Thomson (6 July 1906 – 1979) was a Scottish

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 ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

Playing career

Thomson, a

wing half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, started his career with Thornton Rangers in his native

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

, before moving to

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, where he played for four years. In 1929 he moved to Everton. His Everton career had an inauspicious start, with the club suffering relegation in his first season. The following season, he gained a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

winners medal as Everton made an immediate return to the top flight, and then added a First Division medal in 1932 as Everton became champions. He played in the

1933 FA Cup Final The 1933 FA Cup Final was a football match between Everton and Manchester City on 29 April 1933 at Wembley Stadium in London. The deciding match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (better known ...

, helping Everton to a 3–0 win against

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 t ...

. Later in his time at Everton, first team appearances became more uncommon for Thomson as he was displaced from the team by

Joe Mercer Joseph Mercer, OBE (9 August 1914 – 9 August 1990) was an English football player and manager. Mercer, who played as a defender for Everton and Arsenal in his footballing career, also went on to manage Aston Villa, Manchester City and Engl ...

. Thomson retired from playing in 1939, having made 299 appearances for Everton, in which he scored five goals. He made his only full international appearance in 1932, representing

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in a 5–2 home international defeat against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Managerial career

In 1947 Thomson became manager of Manchester City, replacing Sam Cowan. In his first season in charge the club finished tenth in the First Division, though they failed to win any of the final six games of the season. p190 The 1948–49 season saw a slight upturn with a seventh-place finish. In October 1949 Thomson made the decision to sign

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

Bert Trautmann Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann EK OBE BVO (22 October 1923 – 19 July 2013) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City from 1949 to 1964. In August 1933, (aged 9), he joined the Jungvolk, the junior ...

, attracting criticism for signing a former German paratrooper so soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. p245 Trautmann justified Thomson's decision by going on to play for the club for 15 years. The 1949–50 season proved to be Thomson's last. With two thirds of the season gone City had won only five matches. Thomson was dismissed, and at the end of season the club were relegated. After leaving Manchester City, Thomson returned to Scotland, where he ran a pub until his retirement. He died in 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Jock 1906 births Dundee F.C. players Everton F.C. players Manchester City F.C. managers Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Fife Aberdeen F.C. wartime guest players Heart of Midlothian F.C. wartime guest players Aldershot F.C. wartime guest players Fulham F.C. wartime guest players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish football managers 1979 deaths Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players English Football League players English Football League managers Men's association football wing halves