Andy Thomson

[DoDTS]

I came across an article in a Queen of the South programme about Andy Thomson the following is an extract:

Dalglish was one of many scouts attracted to Thomson during his five year spell at Palmerston (Queen of the South), A lot ofclubs including Chelsea, Rangers, Spurs, Leicester, Aberdeen, Manchester city, Liverpool, Tranmere, Dunfermline, Celtic were amongst those keen to sign him.

At One point Aberdeen offered £150,000 to secure his signature. This was rejected by the Queens Board - who had a much higher price tag in mind.

Twice voted "Second Division player of the Year" in his final season at Palmerston he received the Daily Record "Golden Shot" award. This was in 1994 when he became the first player in Scotland to score 30 goals. He ended the season with 32 goals a remarkable feat when you think of the completion Mark Hateley (Rangers) Richard Cadette (Falkirk) etc.

Yet when it came down to it despite all the apparent interest from clubs both sides of the border - only two, Blackpool and Southend made what seemed to be realistic offers. So in July 1994, Andy Thomson signed full time for First Division Southend.

It was future England manager Peter Taylor who signed Andy for Southend, he did so to fill the boots of one of the most lethal strikers in Britain at that time Stan Collymore who had leftRoots Hall for a fee of £2.5 million.

In four "very enjoyable" years at Roots Hall playing under Taylor, Ron Whelan and Alvin Martin he scored 29 goals in 95 appearances leaving to join Oxford United for the start of the 1998-99 season. Despite a more than one in four goals ratio, his stay at the Manor Ground was short lived. He was described the move as a nightmare, one big mistake and could not wait to move on. in August 1999 he teamed up with Peter Taylor at Gillingham.

From Wikipedia it states:

Southend United then offered £250,000 and a deal was agreed between the two clubs that led to Thomson leaving for Essex on 4 July 1994 to join Peter Taylor's Shrimpers at Roots Hall. As well as being a record transfer fee paid at that particular time by the "Shrimpers", this still remains the highest fee received by Queens.

I remember going to away match at Barnsley just after he had signed and a number of QOS fans travelled down just to watch him and stood in the away end.

 

[Napster]

Of course I interviewed him for the All at Sea fanzine. He's coaching now up in Scotland.

 

[Firestorm]

The end of the season ,when Steve Thomson kept us up , his partnership with Gary Jones was brilliant.

My Son , as a 8 year old, had Thomson on the back of his shirt. at a Meet the blues day Mike Marsh spotted it and asked my son about it. He told him he got it the previous year and wanted Ricky Otto but we sold him...

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Thommo was a real favourite of mine, although it never quite happened for him at Southend.

We'd sold Stanley the previous season and Fry splashed out on Tommy Mooney, Jason Lee and Gary Jones to replace him.

Thommo would have therefore been replacing Tommy Mooney (who we idiotically gave away to Watford who couldn't have believed their luck that we were taking Keith Dublin) and Jason Lee who we rather more cannily sold to Forest.

A Thomson and Mooney partnership would have been great.

 

[danburyshrimper]

The movement off the ball from Thomson & Gary Jones was superb .... It made the game look so easy as our midfield always had options ..... Something i believe has been missing all these years right up until Fortune started playing for us.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I came across an article in a Queen of the South programme about Andy Thomson the following is an extract:

Dalglish was one of many scouts attracted to Thomson during his five year spell at Palmerston (Queen of the South), A lot ofclubs including Chelsea, Rangers, Spurs, Leicester, Aberdeen, Manchester city, Liverpool, Tranmere, Dunfermline, Celtic were amongst those keen to sign him.

At One point Aberdeen offered £150,000 to secure his signature. This was rejected by the Queens Board - who had a much higher price tag in mind.

Twice voted "Second Division player of the Year" in his final season at Palmerston he received the Daily Record "Golden Shot" award. This was in 1994 when he became the first player in Scotland to score 30 goals. He ended the season with 32 goals a remarkable feat when you think of the completion Mark Hateley (Rangers) Richard Cadette (Falkirk) etc.

Yet when it came down to it despite all the apparent interest from clubs both sides of the border - only two, Blackpool and Southend made what seemed to be realistic offers. So in July 1994, Andy Thomson signed full time for First Division Southend.

It was future England manager Peter Taylor who signed Andy for Southend, he did so to fill the boots of one of the most lethal strikers in Britain at that time Stan Collymore who had leftRoots Hall for a fee of £2.5 million.

In four "very enjoyable" years at Roots Hall playing under Taylor, Ron Whelan and Alvin Martin he scored 29 goals in 95 appearances leaving to join Oxford United for the start of the 1998-99 season. Despite a more than one in four goals ratio, his stay at the Manor Ground was short lived. He was described the move as a nightmare, one big mistake and could not wait to move on. in August 1999 he teamed up with Peter Taylor at Gillingham.

From Wikipedia it states:

Southend United then offered £250,000 and a deal was agreed between the two clubs that led to Thomson leaving for Essex on 4 July 1994 to join Peter Taylor's Shrimpers at Roots Hall. As well as being a record transfer fee paid at that particular time by the "Shrimpers", this still remains the highest fee received by Queens.

I remember going to away match at Barnsley just after he had signed and a number of QOS fans travelled down just to watch him and stood in the away end.

Didn't we pay £400k for Gary Poole a season earlier.

 

[AndyT]

The movement off the ball from Thomson & Gary Jones was superb .... It made the game look so easy as our midfield always had options ..... Something i believe has been missing all these years right up until Fortune started playing for us.

Spot on 'Danbury'.

Thommo had a simple system. Get the ball into midfield early and release Thommo and Gary Jones, who peeled off their markers into the channels.

There's a great example of this, I think, in the away match at Derby.

Here it is. It's the second one of these two :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiZKhIeETjY

:happy:

 

[Napster]

This is the interview with him:

This month, I spoke to Andy Thomson, who scored 195 goals in 549 appearances in total, and for Southend he scored 29 in 124, after we bought him from Queen of the South in 1994.
What are you up to now Andy?
I am assistant coach at Stirling University where I am also studying part time for a masters qualification in performance coaching. We play in the 4th tier of professional football in Scotland and the team is made of up of students who combine their education with training as full time footballers.
How did you settle in when you moved to Southend – did you ever get homesick?
I never once got homesick and it was very easy to settle in especially because we had a good set of players who made me feel very welcome straight away.
Did you feel pressure at all, as we’d paid £250k for you?
I didn't feel any real pressure which was probably down to the confidence that Peter Taylor showed in me, which gave me belief that I could do well for him and the team.
What was your favourite goal for Southend?
Scored the winner in a 1-0 victory away at Sunderland in front of 25 friends and family who had travelled from Scotland and they all had money on me to score the 1st goal! Also the very 1st goal I scored v Portsmouth at home after a great pass from Andy Sussex…
Who was your best manager and what were the others like?
Peter Taylor was my best manager – I really liked his coaching /training and also his man-management skills were very good. I felt that he was very unfortunate to lose his job when he did and it was very difficult for me as well as I felt some responsibility for that, as he had spent a lot of money on me.
Ronnie Whelan was the best of the rest was he was well liked and respected by the players - maybe it came a bit early for him, but I think he had all the skills needed to be a good manager.
Which players could have played at a higher level?
Chris Powell, Ricky Otto, and Mike Marsh were the players I felt had the ability to play at the highest level.
Who was the dressing room character?
Paul Byrne was the life and soul of the dressing room. There was never a dull moment when he was around!
Do you keep in touch with any Southend players?
I see Marshy at least once a year and (Mark) McNally lives nearby.
What Southend game sticks in the memory?
Portsmouth away 1st game of the new season stands out when I scored both goals in 2-2 draw. Also Bolton at home - I missed a penalty at 0-0 they went 1-0 up and I managed to score the winner in 2-1 victory. Leicester away 3-0 Julian Hails hat trick.
Who was your trickiest opponent?
Tony Adams in a pre-season friendly couldn't believe how good he was! Then for Gillingham I played upfront on my own at Stamford bridge in the quarter-final of the FA cup against Marcel Desailly and John Terry!
Best Southend XI you played with:
1 Neville Southall
2 Gary Poole
3 Chris Powell
4 Ronnie Whelan
5 Mike Lapper
6 Mark McNally
7 Paul Byrne
8 Mike Marsh
9 Jeroen Boere
10 Dave Regis
11 Ricky Otto
What happened after Southend – any highlights?

After Southend, I went to Oxford - this didn't work out, I was injured, and I suffered from a lack of confidence.

Then Gillingham, which was great, I loved working with Peter again. I scored the winner at Wembley, and we were promoted to the Championship in the first time ever for the club

QPR was great - Holloway was brilliant to work with. I did well for them – I was the first player since Les Ferdinand to score over 20 league goals in a season

Partick Thistle - again injuries made it difficult to play well or regularly

I enjoyed my next club – Falkirk, where we won the league and got promoted to the top division

Then back at Queen Of the South, my first club, it was good to be playing where it all started for me

Finally, I ended up at Stenhousemuir, We played on a 3G pitch, which didn't suit me. I enjoyed more being on the coaching side here, so I retired as a player.


Thanks, Andy and best of luck with your studies.

 

[AndyT]

Good interview, that. :thumbsup:

I think we lost that Pompey match 4-2, though.

 

[palexander]

The end of the season ,when Steve Thomson kept us up , his partnership with Gary Jones was brilliant.

My Son , as a 8 year old, had Thomson on the back of his shirt. at a Meet the blues day Mike Marsh spotted it and asked my son about it. He told him he got it the previous year and wanted Ricky Otto but we sold him...

I loved that spell where Steve Thompson turned it around, went 4-3-3 and stuck Keith Dublin up top to provide the muscle for the relatively lightweight Thommo and Jones.

I was gutted when (Steve) Thompson left for Notts County to be a no.2, it was a great spell for us.