David Anthony Thompson (born 12 September 1977) is an English football pundit currently working for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Thompson played as a midfielder, though he had to retire aged 29 through an osteochondral defect of the left knee sustained at age 25. He is currently a UEFA A and B licensed coach working towards his professional licence. In August 2021, he became a director of football at Europa in the

Gibraltar National League The Gibraltar Football League is the only senior tier of association football in Gibraltar, founded in 2019 as the Gibraltar National League after a merger of the Gibraltar Premier Division, which served as the top division of football on the ...

. During his career Thompson played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

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

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. Overall, he made well over 250 senior league appearances and international appearances until a persistent injury forced his early retirement in late 2007.

Career

Liverpool

Born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

, Merseyside, Thompson's Liverpool debut came on 19 August 1996, as an 87th-minute substitute in a 2–0 victory against

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 ...

. He only played one more game before being loaned to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

for two and a half months in November 1997. His good form at Swindon led him to be selected more frequently for Liverpool, these performances paying off as he scored the winning goal against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

later in the season. His 1997–98 and 1998–99 seasons were steady, and the 1999–00 season would see him back into the team on a regular basis.

Coventry City

In the summer of 2000 he moved to Coventry City for a fee of 3.5 million pounds his first game a 3–1 defeat to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

in which he was sent off in the 71st minute. Coventry were relegated during the 2000–01 season, and he sought a move back to the Premiership. However, he stayed at Coventry throughout the 2001–02 season scoring 17 goals and assisting many more collecting the player of the year and fans player of the year award and also leading goal scorer award.

Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers signed Thompson for an initial fee of £1.5 million in August 2002. His rise in division and impressive start gave him immediate international recognition, as

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; 5 February 1948 – 26 August 2024) was a Swedish association football, football player and Coach (sport), manager. After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management ...

named him in the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

squads against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

in October, although ultimately he was never capped for the senior side. Thompson suffered a knee injury which needed surgery in February 2003, sidelining him for five months. After a comeback in 2003–04, the problems returned with his knee swelling up after every game. The club's medical staff sent him to the world's top knee specialist Dr

Richard Steadman J. Richard Steadman (June 4, 1937 – January 20, 2023) was an American orthopedic surgeon and founder of The Steadman Clinic and Steadman Philippon Research Institute (SPRI) located in Vail, Colorado. Steadman revolutionized orthopedic surgery. ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. Three separate bouts of surgery failed to provide a permanent solution as, despite a muscle strengthening programme directed by

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

doctor

Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, born 12 August 1942 in Leerhafe, Wittmund, East Frisia is a German orthopedist and sports physician. He gained recognition for his roles as Germany's national football team doctor for 23 years (1995–2018) ...

, the injuries persisted during his comebacks.

Wigan, Portsmouth & Bolton Wanderers

Blackburn allowed Thompson to leave on a free transfer to

on 19 January 2006 on a six-month deal. His form was excellent for Wigan, scoring two goals and recording five assists in 10 games, helping them to their highest ever

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

finish. He left Wigan to join

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United F.C., West Ham United, Portsmouth F.C., ...

and made 14 appearances in a successful start, before joining

and

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (born 19 October 1954) is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football League, as well as brief spells in the North ...

, who were in third place in the Premier League at the time. Bolton signed him just two hours before the transfer window shut on 31 January 2007 on a short-term deal. Thompson made his debut for Bolton as a substitute in the 2–1 victory against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

on 11 February, and subsequently made his first start for the club against his former employer Wigan Athletic on 7 April. He played six more matches for the rest of the 2006–07 season, before rejecting a pay as you play deal at Bolton. In November 2007, Thompson started a trial with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

but failed to win a deal and, on 28 November 2007, announced his retirement at the age of 30 as a result of the chronic knee problem.Knee problem forces midfielder to quit
/ref>

Media

Thompson worked for BBC Radio Merseyside as a football pundit. He is now a regular on the ''Football Daily'' podcast produced by BBC Radio 5 Live.

Career statistics

:Source:

References

External links

*
BBC profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, David 1977 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Liverpool F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players England men's under-21 international footballers Footballers from Birkenhead