Billy Thomson

For the Viz comic character named Billy Thompson, see Billy the Fish.
Billy Thomson
Personal information
Full name William Marshall Thomson
Date of birth (1958-02-10) 10 February 1958
Place of birth Linwood, Scotland
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1975–1978 Partick Thistle 1 (0)
1978–1984 St Mirren 206 (0)
1984–1992 Dundee United 165 (0)
1989–1990 → Clydebank (loan) 2 (0)
1992–1994 Motherwell 52 (0)
1994–1996 Rangers 6 (0)
1996–1997 Dundee 25 (0)
National team
1977–1980 Scotland under-21[1] 10 (0)
1980 Scottish League XI[2] 1 (0)
1980–1983 Scotland 7 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


William 'Billy' Marshall Thomson (born 10 February 1958) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is a goalkeeping coach with Kilmarnock.

Career

After a fall-out at his previous club St Mirren,[3] Thomson, a former Scotland international, signed for Dundee United in 1984 and spent the first season as cover for Hamish McAlpine. After a serious injury to McAlpine, Thomson took over in goal in October 1985 and wasn't to give up his place as No. 1 until the early 90s. A big keeper who caught crosses with one hand, he was in fantastic form throughout the UEFA Cup campaign of 1986–87, but just about lost an ear in a horrific clash in the 1st leg of the Final in Gothenburg. Thomson also played in two consecutive Scottish Cup Finals for United in 1987 and 1988. Thomson eventually lost his place to Alan Main and left for Motherwell in 1992, spending two years with the Steelmen. A surprise move to Rangers followed, where he spent two years as backup. Thomson remains however the club's oldest debutant at 37 years 50 days on 1 April 1995 against Dundee United. His final club was Dundee.

After retiring, Thomson joined Dundee's coaching staff before returning to Rangers as goalkeeping coach in May 2001,[4] remaining until August 2007, when he left with no reason for his departure.[5] Two months later, Thomson took up a similar, part-time role with Kilmarnock.[6]

Thomson won seven Scotland caps during his time with St Mirren and was perhaps unfortunate not to add to that total during his time with Dundee United.

Career statistics

Club Season League Cup Lg Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
St Mirren1978–79340N/AN/AN/A340
1979–80360N/AN/AN/A360
1980–81360N/AN/AN/A360
1981–82350N/AN/AN/A350
1982–83350N/AN/AN/A350
1983–84300N/AN/AN/A300
Total 206 0 N/A N/A N/A 206 0
Dundee United1984–85110003010150
1985–86280500050380
1986–873906040120610
1987–88360703040500
1988–89350604040490
1989–9070001030110
1990–9150003020100
Total 161 0 24 0 18 0 31 0 234 0
Motherwell1991–92430N/AN/AN/A430
1992–9390N/AN/AN/A90
1993–9400N/AN/AN/A00
Total 52 0 N/A N/A N/A 52 0
Rangers1994–955000000050
1995–961000001020
Total 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 0
Dundee1995–9625020200040
Total 25 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 29 0
Career total 454 0 26 0 20 0 32 0 532 0

Honours

Dundee United
1986–87
1986–87, 1987–88

References

  1. ↑ http://www.fitbastats.com/scotlandu21/player.php?playerid=36
  2. ↑ http://www.londonhearts.com/SFL/players/billythomson.html
  3. ↑ "Player Profile: Billy Thomson". www.stmirren.info. Archived from the original on 4 March 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2008.
  4. ↑ "McLean makes Rangers return". BBC Sport. 11 May 2001.
  5. ↑ "Stewart nets Gers coaching role". BBC Sport website. 1 August 2007.
  6. ↑ Baillie, Michael (16 October 2007). "Thomson in to Give Killie Keepers A Hand". Daily Record.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.