Michael Thomas

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For other persons named Michael Thomas, see Michael Thomas (disambiguation).

Personal information
Michael Thomas
Full name	Michael Lauriston Thomas
Date of birth	August 24, 1967 (1967-08-24) (age 40)
Place of birth	Lambeth, London, England
Playing position	Midfielder (retired)
Youth clubs
1982–1984	Arsenal
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1984–1991 1986 1991–1998 1998 1998–2000 2000–2001	Arsenal → Portsmouth (loan) Liverpool → Middlesbrough (loan) Benfica Wimbledon Total	163 (24) 003 0(0) 126 0(9) 010 0(0) 005 0(0) 008 0(0) 315 (33)
National team
1987–1989 1989–1992 1988–1989	England U21 England B England	012 0(3) 005 0(0) 002 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Michael Lauriston Thomas (born August 24, 1967 in Lambeth, London) is an English former footballer. He is remembered most for the last minute goal he scored for Arsenal against Liverpool, scored in the final minute of the final First Division match of the 1988-89 season, winning Arsenal the League title on goals scored. The match was later featured in detail in a film based on the Nick Hornby book Fever Pitch.

1 Career
2 Honours
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Arsenal

Thomas signed for Arsenal as a schoolboy in 1982, turning professional on December 31, 1984. He was loaned out to Portsmouth F.C. in early 1987, playing three times, before returning to Arsenal. His Gunners career started with a baptism of fire, as Thomas made his debut in the first leg of a League Cup semi-final, against Tottenham Hotspur at Highbury on February 8, 1987; Arsenal lost 1-0 but would go on to win the League Cup after a comeback in the second leg.

Thomas soon became a regular in the Arsenal side, and played 37 times, mainly at right-back in the 1987-88 season. With the arrival of Lee Dixon, Thomas was moved forward into midfield for the 1988-89 season, and also played the first of his two games for England awarded to him by Bobby Robson. His debut came on 16 November 1988 in the 1-1 friendly draw with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.

Thomas' greatest moment came on May 26, 1989. The First Division match between Liverpool and Arsenal had been postponed due to the Hillsborough disaster until the very end of the season; in the meantime Liverpool had won the FA Cup and had the chance of completing a historic second Double. Before the match, Arsenal were on 73 points with 71 goals for and 36 against (a goal difference of +35); Liverpool were 3 points ahead on 76 points with 65 goals for and 26 against (a difference of +39). It meant that Arsenal needed to win by at least two goals to take the title on goals scored; Liverpool had not lost by two goals at Anfield for nearly four years.

After a goalless first half, Alan Smith scored soon after the restart, heading in a free kick from Nigel Winterburn, but as full time approached it looked as if Arsenal were not going to score the second goal they needed. However, in injury time, in Arsenal's last attack, Thomas surged forward from midfield, running onto a Smith flick-on, evaded a challenge by Steve Nicol and shot low past the advancing Bruce Grobbelaar to score Arsenal's second, and win the title, Arsenal's first in eighteen years.

Thomas enjoyed another two seasons at Arsenal, winning a second League title in 1990-91. In all he played 206 matches, scoring 30 goals. However, he fell out with Arsenal manager George Graham in the autumn of 1991. As a result he was sold to the side he had conquered in 1989, Liverpool, with Graeme Souness paying the Gunners £1.5million for Thomas' services on 16 December 1991.

[edit] Liverpool

Thomas made his Liverpool debut two days after signing, on December 18, 1991; in a repeat of his Arsenal debut, it was against Tottenham Hotspur (though this time at White Hart Lane), coming on for Jan Mølby in the 56th minute of a 2-1 victory.

He scored his first goal for the Reds on 18 January 1992 in a 3-2 league victory over Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park, the only goal in a 1-0 win. His first season at the club culminated with an FA Cup final appearance at Wembley against Sunderland. After a goalless first 45, Thomas scored the opening goal after 47 minutes with a spectacular shot from a Steve McManaman cross; a second from Cup final specialist Ian Rush made it 2-0, which was enough to win the Cup and earn Thomas his first medal for his new club. However, after that, injuries began to blight his career, so much so he became a squad player who was used as cover for the likes of Jamie Redknapp and John Barnes who was now being employed as a central midfielder.

The 1994-95 saw Thomas grab his only other winner’s medal during his time at Anfield, when the Reds reached the League Cup final against Bolton Wanderers; Thomas was only an unused sub for the game that saw McManaman turn in a man-of-the-match performance, scoring both the goals as Liverpool won 2-1. He then helped Liverpool to the 1996 FA Cup final where he saw five minutes of action, coming on as an 85th minute sub for Rob Jones; however, he couldn't help the Reds prevent a 1-0 defeat at the hands of bitter rivals Manchester United.

On 2 February 1998 he was allowed to go out on loan to Middlesbrough and made his debut two days later on 4 February, in a 3-0 league win over Tranmere Rovers at the Riverside. He played 10 times for the Boro before he returned to Anfield; by this time manager Roy Evans was fielding Øyvind Leonhardsen and Danny Murphy ahead of Thomas, which led to him being surplus to requirements at Anfield.

Thomas's impression on the Anfield faithful during his time at the club was confirmed when he was voted in at No. 83 in 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, a poll conducted by Liverpool FC's official website in 2006 that was voted on by over 110,000 fans.

[edit] Benfica and Wimbledon

Portuguese side Benfica, then managed by former Liverpool boss Graeme Souness, took Thomas to the Estádio da Luz on 1 August 1998, but his stay in Lisbon was an unsuccessful one as he found himself banished to the reserves after Souness was replaced by the German Jupp Heynckes. After two years with Benfica, he returned to England on 29 July 2000 to join Wimbledon, but after a single season in which he played nine times he retired from playing on 31 May 2001.

[edit] Retirement

After retiring from football, Thomas set up his own security service, which he runs to this day.^[1] He can also be seen playing for the Liverpool legends side from time to time.