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Ian Thompstone

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Ian Thompstone
Personal information
Full name Ian Thompstone
Date of birth (1971-01-17) 17 January 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth Bury, England
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Manchester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1990 Manchester City 1 (1)
1990–1992 Oldham Athletic 0 (0)
1992 Exeter City 15 (3)
1992–1993 Halifax Town 31 (9)
1993–1995 Scunthorpe United 60 (8)
1995–1996 Rochdale 25 (1)
1996–1997 Scarborough 19 (2)
1997 Bury 0 (0)
1997 Atherton LR
1997 Flixton
Walshaw Sports
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ian Thompstone (born 17 January 1971) is an English former footballer who played for Manchester City, Exeter City, Halifax Town, Scunthorpe United, Rochdale and Scarborough as a midfielder. In his only Manchester City appearance, he became the club's youngest ever goalscorer, a record he held until 2013.

During the 1990s he played for a number of clubs in the lower divisions of the Football League, and made a total of 150 league appearances.

Career

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Thompstone was born in Bury, Greater Manchester. He started his career with Manchester City, who in the 1980s had a strong reputation for youth development. He received a call-up to the first team for a match against Middlesbrough in April 1988, when several senior players were unavailable due to injury. Thompstone was named as a substitute. He replaced Trevor Morley in the second half, and scored with his second touch of the ball. The goal made him the youngest known goalscorer in club history, aged 17 years and 82 days.[1] The record stood until January 2013, when it was broken by Marcos Lopes.[2] As Lopes' goal came in an FA Cup match, Thompstone's goal remains a record for a Manchester City player in a Football League match.[1] Despite his goalscoring debut, Thompstone never played for the club again.

Thompstone was still eligible for youth team football in the 1988–89 season, despite having made his first team debut. Manchester City's youth team progressed to the final of the 1989 FA Youth Cup, where they faced Watford. Thompstone played both legs of the final. In the first leg, Thompstone redirected a Michael Hughes corner into the path of Mike Wallace, who scored the only goal of the game.[3] However, Watford won the second leg 2–0 to win the cup.[4] An ankle injury sidelined Thompstone for much of the following season. Manchester City offered him a short-term contract, but he opted to sign a longer deal at Oldham Athletic instead.[1]

Injury disrupted Thompstone's Oldham career, in which he failed to make a senior appearance.[1] In the 1992 close season he moved to Exeter City on a free transfer. In one of his early games for the club he scored a hat-trick against Northampton Town.[5] In early January his total for Halifax reached nine with two goals at Darlington,[6] though those were his last for the club. On the March 1993 transfer deadline day he moved from Halifax to Scunthorpe for a £15,000 fee.[7] In October 1993 he scored in a 7–0 win for Scunthorpe against Northampton Town.[8] Thompstone left Scunthorpe in the 1995 close season, and joined Rochdale. In total, he made 70 appearances for Scunthorpe, and scored nine goals.[9]

At Rochdale Thompstone played in an FA Cup tie against Liverpool at Anfield, though his team ended the match on the wrong side of a 7–0 scoreline.[10] At the end of the season he again changed clubs, with a move to Scarborough. The Yorkshire club was where Thompstone made his final Football League appearances; he had a short spell at Bury in 1997 but did not play any first team matches. In April 1997 he moved from Bury to non-league Atherton LR.[11] He proceeded to play for a number of non-league teams in North West England, including Flixton[12] and Walshaw Sports.[13] As of 2013, Thompstone was working as a financial advisor.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Stuart Brennan (11 January 2013). "You're not famous any more! Ian Thompstone loses record he didn't know he had". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  2. ^ Stuart Brennan (7 January 2013). "Marcos Lopes enters the City record books". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  3. ^ Peter Ball (3 May 1989). "Watford's defence frustrates City". The Times.
  4. ^ Andrew Longmore (10 May 1989). "Thomas clinches Youth Cup". The Times.
  5. ^ Geoff Brown (27 September 1992). "Derby rise from the bottom". The Independent. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  6. ^ "Spotlight on Divs 2 and 3". Sunday Mirror. 10 January 1993.
  7. ^ "On the move". The Independent. 28 March 1993. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  8. ^ Ray Jackson (28 March 1993). "Scunthorpe 7 Northampton 0". The People.
  9. ^ "Ian Thompstone". Soccerbase. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  10. ^ Neil Bramwell (8 January 1996). "Rochdale transfixed by Rush's late entrance". The Independent.
  11. ^ "Crowd trouble at LR". Lancashire County Publications. 14 April 1997.
  12. ^ "Flixton 1 Matlock Town 0". Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside Counties Publications. 29 August 1997.
  13. ^ "Bury GSOB take derby honours". Lancashire Telegraph. 12 March 2001. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
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