Steven John Thompson (born 12 January 1963) is an English
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
manager and former player and former manager of
Dorchester Town. He played for
England at semi-professional level and also played for the RAF and Combined Services sides.
Career
Thompson joined the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
from school and played for
Saltash United in the
Western League. He progressed to be a Fitness Instructor in the RAF, but continued his football career, joining
Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...
in July 1981 and making his
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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
debut the following season.
He joined
Torquay United
Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...
in February 1983 on a free transfer, but made just one appearance, as a substitute, before returning to the
Western League with
Falmouth Town
Falmouth Town Association Football Club is a football club based in Falmouth, Cornwall, United Kingdom. They are currently members of the and play at Bickland Park. The club were the first Cornish team to reach the first round proper of the FA ...
and then rejoining
Saltash United. In 1987, he was on the verge of joining
Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to:
* Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town
* Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset
* Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...
, but the RAF posted him to West London and he joined
Slough Town instead.
He joined
Martin O'Neill
Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who played as a midfielder. After a brief early career in the Irish Leag ...
's
Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system.
Founded in 188 ...
in February 1992 for a fee of £15,000 and was part of the
Conference
A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...
and
FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...
double-winning side. The following season, Wycombe's first as
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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
side, Thompson played in the victorious
Division Three
The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...
Play-off final at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...
in 1994.
He moved to
Woking
Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...
in August 1996, winning a second
FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...
winners medal against Dagenham and Redbridge in 1997 and scored the last minute equaliser in Woking's surprise 1–1 draw with
Premiership side
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 ...
in the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
.
Together with
Kevan Brown
Kevan Barry Brown (born 2 January 1966) is an English retired professional association football, footballer who played at Defender (association football)#Full-back, full back in the Football League for Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., Brighton & Hov ...
, Thompson joined
Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to:
* Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town
* Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset
* Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...
in March 1998 for a combined fee of £7,500,
playing in the side while also acting as the club's fitness coach and working part-time in the postal service. When Yeovil manager Colin Lippiatt resigned at the end of September 1999, Thompson took over, initially as caretaker, but was awarded the job permanently on 10 November 1999.
In March 2000,
David Webb took over as manager, with Thompson becoming player-assistant manager. He remained as assistant manager after Webb left, working under
Colin Addison
Colin Addison (born 18 May 1940) is an English former professional footballer and manager.
Born in Taunton, Somerset, Addison started his playing career with York City before moving to Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Sheffield United. His m ...
and
Gary Johnson
Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 29th List of governors of New Mexico, governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republica ...
. Johnson left to manage
Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...
in September 2005 and Thompson was appointed as manager for a second time the following month.
In May 2006, Thompson reverted to his first team coaching role at Yeovil and was replaced as manager by
Russell Slade
Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English former professional football manager and coach.
Having had an extended career at reserve team level, Slade entered professional sports coaching with Notts County in 1993. He briefly took ...
, and enjoyed a successful spell as assistant to Slade, the highlight of which was reaching the
League 1 Play-off Final
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
* ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...
at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
in 2007.
Since leaving the first team at Yeovil Thompson took up positions there as coach, assistant manager and eventually manager. However, during his time on the coaching staff Thompson appeared in some friendlies and reserve team games. Despite being 45 years old and believed to be retired from first team football, Thompson was selected as a substitute on 12 August 2008 for the first team's
League Cup win over
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Their home ground is ...
due to a lack of players, but he never made it onto the pitch.
Thompson returned yet again to the caretaker role for just 1 game after the resignation of
Russell Slade
Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English former professional football manager and coach.
Having had an extended career at reserve team level, Slade entered professional sports coaching with Notts County in 1993. He briefly took ...
on 16 February 2009. Two days later he was released from the club after nearly 11 years. He was replaced by new player-manager
Terry Skiverton
Terence John Skiverton (born 26 June 1975) is an English former footballer who enjoyed a long playing career at Yeovil Town for 11 years that led him to appear 382 times in all competitions. He then became their manager and subsequently, assist ...
.
After leaving Yeovil he started playing again at the age of 46 on non-contract basis for
Bridgwater Town and also had a spell at Shaftesbury Town.
On 29 December 2009 Thompson was appointed manager of
Southern Football League Premier Division
The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and ...
team
Truro City
Truro City Football Club is an Association football in England, English football club based in Truro, Cornwall. They currently compete in the National League (English football), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...
.
On 29 March 2010 Thomson left the club by 'mutual consent' after only winning 5 out of his 18 games in charge and any chance of reaching the play-off's unrealistic
Following the appointment of
Garry Hill
Garry Hill is an English football manager who was last the manager of National League club Ebbsfleet United. He previously managed Woking, Heybridge Swifts, St Albans City, Dagenham & Redbridge, Hornchurch, Weymouth and Rushden & Diamonds.
...
as manager of Woking in January 2011, Thompson was appointed as assistant manager at the
Conference South
The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...
club. He helped the team win the Conference South title, the club finishing the season with over 100 points.
On 20 September 2017, Thompson was hired as the new first-team manager of
Southern League Premier Division side
Dorchester Town.
He was sacked by Dorchester Town Fc on 5 March 2019 due to poor run form and the club relegated to a lower zone than what they were previous to his joining; fans called for his removal.
Managerial stats
''Updated 20 February 2010''
References
External links
Steven Thompson profileat the League Managers Association
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Steve
1963 births
Footballers from Plymouth, Devon
Living people
English men's footballers
England men's semi-pro international footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Bristol City F.C. players
Torquay United F.C. players
Falmouth Town A.F.C. players
Saltash United F.C. players
Slough Town F.C. players
Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players
Woking F.C. players
Yeovil Town F.C. players
Bridgwater United F.C. players
Shaftesbury F.C. players
English Football League players
English football managers
Yeovil Town F.C. managers
Yeovil Town F.C. non-playing staff
Dorchester Town F.C. managers
Truro City F.C. managers