21st March 2021
Interview conducted by Adam Holt
I recently caught up with ex-Aston Villa, Coventry, West Brom (amongst others) striker Garry Thompson, for a chat about a range of topics from his reason for falling in love with the beautiful game in the first place to the highlights and biggest challenges of his twenty year career.
Clubs:
- Coventry City (1977 - 1983)
- West Bromwich Albion (1983 - 1985)
- Sheffield Wednesday (1985 - 1986)
- Aston Villa (1986 - 1988)
- Watford (1988 - 1990)
- Crystal Palace (1990 - 1991)
- Queens Park Rangers (1991 - 1993)
- Cardiff City (1993 - 1995)
- Northampton Town (1995 - 1997)
Check out the Q&A below!
Was there someone in particular who inspired you become a footballer?
“There’s no one person that made me fall in love with football. Obviously, growing up as a kid in the sixties and early seventies, you had George Best, Bobby Charlton, Dennis Law people like that, Kevin Keegan came to the fore, as well as the likes of John Toshack. Every team had a star, or a couple of stars – Tony Currie at Sheffield United then, going to Leeds, everyone had a maverick including the likes of Rodney Marsh. There were always people you looked at and you thought “I like him, I want to be like him.” But obviously Villa’s my team so when Brian Little came onto the scene that was me done and dusted – so Brian Little for me was a massive hero. I think what clinched it for me was watching the Brazil side in the World Cup in 1970 so there was not just one player, it was that team. Football’s a beautiful thing for me, I just loved it and I wanted to emulate them. If you watched me play I never quite got there, but it was probably the Brazil team of 1970 that made a massive impression on me and I then just wanted to reach for the stars and play football.”
What would you say is the highlight of your playing career?
“I played with some great players at Coventry (City), one of the highlights was actually playing and becoming friends with Cyrille Regis when I went to West Brom. In the England U21 we won the European Championship, we were the first ones to do it so obviously that would be a highlight playing for England. I was left with the feeling that I was going to crack on and get into the full side but that was as far as I got. A massive highlight for me was playing for my local team Aston Villa, as a kid I went to watch Aston Villa with my Dad and my brothers and to actually go on to play for them even though we got relegated the first season I was there – so the real highlight was getting the team promoted after being relegated, some say single handedly, but I’m not one to talk about myself like that! Another massive highlight for me was the fact my career went on for over 20 years and I made millions of friends and just had a great time, actually being paid to do something I loved.”
Was there something in particular that persuaded you to sign for Aston Villa in 1986?
“There was not one reason in particular that made me want to sign for Aston Villa. I supported Villa as a young lad, my Dad was a big Villa fan, my family supported Villa. Villa tried to sign me two or three times but it never got to the stage where I could make a decision and say yes or no so there wasn’t one thing, but it was always in the back of my mind – I would like to play for my local club, the team I support. I think Aston Villa tried to sign me when I was at West Brom but it didn’t happen, so then I went to Sheffield Wednesday. Howard Wilkinson rang me from Mexico and said basically “we’ve had an offer from Aston Villa, you can go or you can stay.” Now, for me I’m going anyway don’t care who it was, if it was Scunthorpe I probably would have gone because your manager appears not to want you, but that was just Howard’s way apparently. I got the chance with Aston Villa, had a conversation with them and Doug Ellis said it’s the easiest deal he ever did – they offered me peanuts and I just went “okay, I’ll sign” and I didn’t regret it, got a move to the club I supported and I was back in the Midlands, so just the chance that someone wanted me, and it happened to be the club I supported.”
Who was your favourite manager to play under throughout your career and why?
“There’s quite a few managers, having nine clubs I had a lot of managers, Gordon Milne was my first real manager, he was brilliant to me and I love him to this day. Gordon Milne would be one of the top ones. Steve Coppell, when I lost my love of football and I went to (Crystal) Palace and he helped me regain my love for football for me – Steve Coppell has got to be right up there. I’ll probably have to say Gordon Milne, because your first manager is always special.”
You played for England at U21 level, was there a point in your career where you felt you should have been capped at senior level?
“Probably when I was at West Brom. I was scoring goals for fun, I was playing with an England centre forward in Cyrille Regis and Albion as a club were not doing so well, but I was scoring goals and I thought then that I was close to getting the chance. I met with Chris Waddle at Christmas (I think we played Newcastle), who I knew from Coventry, Gary Bannister who I also knew from Coventry – we were all chatting and the word was that out of the three of us two were getting called up, one to the full side and one to the B side. Gary Bannister got called up to the B team, Waddle got called up to the full side and I got nothing. I thought at that time I probably had a chance, but there were some great strikers around, the likes of (Gary) Lineker people like that. So I don’t beat myself up too much about it – I was in and around it, but I never quite made it.”
What would you say was the biggest challenge of your football career?
“It would be when I was nineteen and I had just got into the first team, I’m scoring goals but I broke my leg in three places in a training ground incident. I’m playing Aston Villa on the Wednesday, scored in a 1-1 draw – on top of the world and I got called up for the England U21s and on the Friday we had a practice match and I got my leg snapped in three places, I was out for eleven months and I didn’t realise at the time that it was a career ending injury. So, to somehow get back from there and get a twenty year career out of it, it worked out really well I am very grateful – but that was a massive challenge. I had various injuries along the way but that was the worst one and people always talk about me being rock hard because I used to play with my socks down. I played with my socks down because I couldn’t stand having anything around my feet and my calves after breaking my leg, so I felt more comfortable doing that. So it wasn’t the case that I was an extremely hard person, it just made me freer and allowed me to go play and enjoy myself playing like that.”
How enjoyable was the process of working on your autobiography, ‘Don’t believe a word’?
“My autobiography ‘Don’t believe a word’ just came about because I had a load of stories, and some very funny stories and Bill Howell was driving me mad saying that I should write a book. I wasn’t interested, Stuart Curtis was a publisher and a big Albion fan – he kept saying the same thing. They called me one day about two and a half years ago and badgered me into doing it and I went “oh, okay then” and the process started and went on for two years. I met Bill every six weeks where we sat in the pub, drank loads of drink and talked about myself, so basically what’s not to love! It worked out really nicely, when I started reading the chapters and correcting bits and the things I went through with the loss of my parents I think it was quite cathartic, it was very good for me – I didn’t want to do it but I am actually delighted that I have done it. Now I have seen the finished article I’m really proud of it.”
I hope you enjoyed reading this Q&A, there will be more coming soon - so keep your eye out for them!
Clubs:
- Coventry City (1977 - 1983)
- West Bromwich Albion (1983 - 1985)
- Sheffield Wednesday (1985 - 1986)
- Aston Villa (1986 - 1988)
- Watford (1988 - 1990)
- Crystal Palace (1990 - 1991)
- Queens Park Rangers (1991 - 1993)
- Cardiff City (1993 - 1995)
- Northampton Town (1995 - 1997)
Check out the Q&A below!
Was there someone in particular who inspired you become a footballer?
“There’s no one person that made me fall in love with football. Obviously, growing up as a kid in the sixties and early seventies, you had George Best, Bobby Charlton, Dennis Law people like that, Kevin Keegan came to the fore, as well as the likes of John Toshack. Every team had a star, or a couple of stars – Tony Currie at Sheffield United then, going to Leeds, everyone had a maverick including the likes of Rodney Marsh. There were always people you looked at and you thought “I like him, I want to be like him.” But obviously Villa’s my team so when Brian Little came onto the scene that was me done and dusted – so Brian Little for me was a massive hero. I think what clinched it for me was watching the Brazil side in the World Cup in 1970 so there was not just one player, it was that team. Football’s a beautiful thing for me, I just loved it and I wanted to emulate them. If you watched me play I never quite got there, but it was probably the Brazil team of 1970 that made a massive impression on me and I then just wanted to reach for the stars and play football.”
What would you say is the highlight of your playing career?
“I played with some great players at Coventry (City), one of the highlights was actually playing and becoming friends with Cyrille Regis when I went to West Brom. In the England U21 we won the European Championship, we were the first ones to do it so obviously that would be a highlight playing for England. I was left with the feeling that I was going to crack on and get into the full side but that was as far as I got. A massive highlight for me was playing for my local team Aston Villa, as a kid I went to watch Aston Villa with my Dad and my brothers and to actually go on to play for them even though we got relegated the first season I was there – so the real highlight was getting the team promoted after being relegated, some say single handedly, but I’m not one to talk about myself like that! Another massive highlight for me was the fact my career went on for over 20 years and I made millions of friends and just had a great time, actually being paid to do something I loved.”
Was there something in particular that persuaded you to sign for Aston Villa in 1986?
“There was not one reason in particular that made me want to sign for Aston Villa. I supported Villa as a young lad, my Dad was a big Villa fan, my family supported Villa. Villa tried to sign me two or three times but it never got to the stage where I could make a decision and say yes or no so there wasn’t one thing, but it was always in the back of my mind – I would like to play for my local club, the team I support. I think Aston Villa tried to sign me when I was at West Brom but it didn’t happen, so then I went to Sheffield Wednesday. Howard Wilkinson rang me from Mexico and said basically “we’ve had an offer from Aston Villa, you can go or you can stay.” Now, for me I’m going anyway don’t care who it was, if it was Scunthorpe I probably would have gone because your manager appears not to want you, but that was just Howard’s way apparently. I got the chance with Aston Villa, had a conversation with them and Doug Ellis said it’s the easiest deal he ever did – they offered me peanuts and I just went “okay, I’ll sign” and I didn’t regret it, got a move to the club I supported and I was back in the Midlands, so just the chance that someone wanted me, and it happened to be the club I supported.”
Who was your favourite manager to play under throughout your career and why?
“There’s quite a few managers, having nine clubs I had a lot of managers, Gordon Milne was my first real manager, he was brilliant to me and I love him to this day. Gordon Milne would be one of the top ones. Steve Coppell, when I lost my love of football and I went to (Crystal) Palace and he helped me regain my love for football for me – Steve Coppell has got to be right up there. I’ll probably have to say Gordon Milne, because your first manager is always special.”
You played for England at U21 level, was there a point in your career where you felt you should have been capped at senior level?
“Probably when I was at West Brom. I was scoring goals for fun, I was playing with an England centre forward in Cyrille Regis and Albion as a club were not doing so well, but I was scoring goals and I thought then that I was close to getting the chance. I met with Chris Waddle at Christmas (I think we played Newcastle), who I knew from Coventry, Gary Bannister who I also knew from Coventry – we were all chatting and the word was that out of the three of us two were getting called up, one to the full side and one to the B side. Gary Bannister got called up to the B team, Waddle got called up to the full side and I got nothing. I thought at that time I probably had a chance, but there were some great strikers around, the likes of (Gary) Lineker people like that. So I don’t beat myself up too much about it – I was in and around it, but I never quite made it.”
What would you say was the biggest challenge of your football career?
“It would be when I was nineteen and I had just got into the first team, I’m scoring goals but I broke my leg in three places in a training ground incident. I’m playing Aston Villa on the Wednesday, scored in a 1-1 draw – on top of the world and I got called up for the England U21s and on the Friday we had a practice match and I got my leg snapped in three places, I was out for eleven months and I didn’t realise at the time that it was a career ending injury. So, to somehow get back from there and get a twenty year career out of it, it worked out really well I am very grateful – but that was a massive challenge. I had various injuries along the way but that was the worst one and people always talk about me being rock hard because I used to play with my socks down. I played with my socks down because I couldn’t stand having anything around my feet and my calves after breaking my leg, so I felt more comfortable doing that. So it wasn’t the case that I was an extremely hard person, it just made me freer and allowed me to go play and enjoy myself playing like that.”
How enjoyable was the process of working on your autobiography, ‘Don’t believe a word’?
“My autobiography ‘Don’t believe a word’ just came about because I had a load of stories, and some very funny stories and Bill Howell was driving me mad saying that I should write a book. I wasn’t interested, Stuart Curtis was a publisher and a big Albion fan – he kept saying the same thing. They called me one day about two and a half years ago and badgered me into doing it and I went “oh, okay then” and the process started and went on for two years. I met Bill every six weeks where we sat in the pub, drank loads of drink and talked about myself, so basically what’s not to love! It worked out really nicely, when I started reading the chapters and correcting bits and the things I went through with the loss of my parents I think it was quite cathartic, it was very good for me – I didn’t want to do it but I am actually delighted that I have done it. Now I have seen the finished article I’m really proud of it.”
I hope you enjoyed reading this Q&A, there will be more coming soon - so keep your eye out for them!