Kevin Thomas (born 25 April 1975) is a Scottish 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 lea ...

Career

Early career

Thomas began his career with Heart of Midlothian, and represented the

Scotland national under-21 football team The Scotland national under-21 football team, controlled by the Scottish Football Association, is Scotland's national under 21 football team and is considered to be a feeder team for the Scotland national football team. As a European under-21 t ...

. He failed to build on an exciting early breakthrough to the Hearts first team. He had initially been seen as the new John Robertson as one of the most exciting young strikers to break through for many years. He represented Scotland at Under 21 level on many occasions. His early promise was cut short by an horrific injury which kept him out for the best part of two years – an injury which he never fully recovered from. Eventually, he was loaned to

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

in 1998 and then sold to

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

later that year. Thomas found some form at Morton, scoring 12 goals in 25 league games.

Sandy Clark Alexander Clark (born 28 October 1956) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who manages Scottish Lowland Football League club Albion Rovers. Career Clark played for several clubs in his playing career including his h ...

, Thomas' former manager at Hearts, signed Thomas for

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

in August 1999 for a fee of £150,000.

Later career

Thomas had suffered a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

injury in October 2000, which meant that he had to undergo an operation to repair the ligament. He was expected to be unavailable for the rest of the 2000–01 season. However, following a cocaine arrest in December 2000, Thomas was sacked by St Johnstone, along with team-mate

George O'Boyle George O'Boyle (born 14 December 1967) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer and now manager. Playing career Club football O'Boyle, a striker, began his career in 1984 as a youth-team player with Manchester City. He was part of th ...

.Sandy Clark on his struggle with George O'Boyle and Kevin Thomas drug scandal at St Johnstone
/ref> After recovering from a knee injury, Thomas signed short term deals with lower league clubs Montrose and

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in England, who play in the Scottish football system. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite being ba ...

during the 2001–02 season. After leaving Berwick, he played for Edinburgh Athletic in the

East of Scotland Football League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior association football, football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowlan ...

and worked for an hotel booking agency run by his mother.

References

External links

*
London Hearts profile
* http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/st-johnstone/2012/05/06/sandy-clark-on-his-struggles-to-deal-with-george-o-boyle-and-kevin-thomas-drug-scandal-at-st-johnstone-86908-23849896/
Scotland U21 stats
at Fitbastats {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Kevin 1975 births Men's association football forwards Living people Footballers from Edinburgh Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scottish men's footballers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Stirling Albion F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Berwick Rangers F.C. players Montrose F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Bo'ness United F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Expatriate men's footballers in Finland