Steven Thompson

Steven Howard Thompson (born 14 October 1978) is a Scottish former professional footballer, and current television pundit who played for Dundee United, Rangers, Cardiff City, Burnley and St Mirren.

Born in Paisley, he started his career at Dundee United in 1996 and made his début as a substitute in a league match against Hearts in 1997.

With United he won the SFL Youth League in 1997.

By season 1998–1999 he had become a regular in the Dundee United team and in October 2002 began talks on a new contract, insisting a week later they were "going well".

Amidst speculation that Rangers were interested in signing Thompson, talks resumed in mid-November, only for the move to Rangers to all but be confirmed before the end of the month.

Following talks on a new contract broken down, it announced that Dundee United had placed Thompson on a transfer list.

He was also a Scotland international between 2002 and 2004.

On Boxing Day 2002, Thompson moved to Rangers for £200,000 with Billy Dodds having returned to Tannadice twenty-four hours earlier, though Sky Sports reported the move was completed on 31 December 2002.

Thompson scored on his debut in the 3–1 win over Dundee.

After suffering knee ligament damage in September 2003, Thompson missed most of the season, undergoing surgery which was successful and returning in March.

Later in the 2003–04 season, Thompson would go on to score six goals in the remaining matches, which included a 2–1 loss in an Old Firm game on 28 March 2004.

Thompson played in the majority of matches the following season and despite having played in nearly every match of 2005–06, Thompson would score his first Champions League goal, in a 2–2 draw against Petržalka 1898, in Matchday Four, on 1 November 2005.

Thompson's goals were usually accompanied by what appeared to be extreme anger as Thompson vented to all and sundry.

By the end of December, Thompson was allowed to move to Cardiff City for a fee of £250,000 in January 2006.

He was previously linked with a move to SPL rivals Aberdeen.

During his first year at Ninian Park, he scored twice on his debut, on 14 January 2006, in a 3–0 win over Burnley.

Since his debut, he was a regular first team member and spent the year forming a partnership with fellow striker Michael Chopra.

He played a total of 45 games in both league and cup competitions during his first year but only managed to find the net 6 times.

Thompson was transfer listed in the summer of 2007 due to his inability to score goals consistently at Championship level but a bizarre injury prevented him from leaving the club.

Thompson was on holiday in the US when he fell off a banana boat, being towed behind another boat, which caused him to sustain a groin injury that required surgery.

He returned from the injury on 15 September where he came off the bench to grab a late equaliser in a league match against Plymouth Argyle and continued to progress making his first start for Cardiff in five months in November.

However, despite his increasing form he was not formally taken off the transfer list and attracted interest from Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen.

During November and the beginning of December, Thompson was first choice striker for the Bluebirds and normally lined up alongside Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in the squad and he found the net three times during this period, against Hull City, Colchester United and Blackpool.

After these matches Thompson held an interview with Scottish newspaper The Herald in which he claimed that manager Dave Jones had made him a scapegoat for Cardiff's failure to reach the play-offs the previous year.

During the interview he also revealed that he and Jones rarely speak to each other any more after he was placed on the transfer list.

A day later on 15 December he was sent off in a derby match against Bristol City after a foul on Bristol goalkeeper Adriano Basso by referee Uriah Rennie, who was heavily criticised by Dave Jones for his handling of the game.

On 14 January 2008, Cardiff manager Dave Jones revealed that the club had received two offers for Thompson from another Football League Championship club, but they had been turned down.

In the 2008–09 season, Thompson played four times for Cardiff City, including his first goal of the season, in a 2–1 win over Southampton on the opening game of the season.

On 1 September 2008, after spending over a year on the transfer list at Cardiff, he signed for Burnley on a two-year deal linking up with manager Owen Coyle again, during Coyle's time at Dundee United Thompson used to clean his football boots.

He made his Burnley debut on 13 September against Nottingham Forest and went on to make over 40 appearances for the side during the season scoring a career high total of 11 goals, including a 20-yard volley on 12 May in the 2–0 win over Reading in the second leg of the Championship play-off semi-final.

His form led manager Owen Coyle to label him "the best free transfer of the season".

In the 2009–10 season, with Burnley now in the Premier League for the first time in 33 years, Thompson's opportunities were mainly limited to cameo roles.

Following Coyle's departure to rival Bolton and was replaced by Brian Laws, He scored his first Premier League goal for Burnley in a 2–1 defeat by Wolves on 13 March 2010.

Despite Burnley being relegated, Thompson went on to score three goals in the remaining matches, against Sunderland, Birmingham City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Thompson was offered a new one year-contract by Burnley, which he accepted.

In the 2010–11 season, with Burnley back in the Championship after one season in the Premier League, Thompson again saw his opportunities limited.

Thompson would score an equaliser against his former club, Cardiff City, in a 1–1 draw.

Thompson said after the match: "It's important we kept up our momentum, going into these two bigs games at Watford and Cardiff, and taking four out of six points is a good return, on the back of our win against Norwich before that. We're building momentum and looking forward. This is the first time certainly I've felt we're really picking up a bit of speed here." After the 2010–11 season, Thompson was released by the club.

Following his release, Thompson announced he would return to Scotland for the first time since leaving Rangers for Cardiff City.

In addition, Thompson stated he enjoyed playing for the club.