RIP Peter Thompson

[Portly]

Liverpool No. 11 Peter Thompson has died at the age of 76.

He was my all-time favourite Liverpool player. It was worth my three shillings admission to watch him jinking down the left-wing and leaving defenders behind him, completely bamboozled. He had a powerful shot and scored many memorable goals.

Former Liverpool, Preston and Bolton winger Peter Thompson has died aged 76.
Thompson scored 54 goals in 416 appearances for the Reds between 1963 and 1973, and won two First Division titles under Bill Shankly.
He helped Liverpool win the FA Cup for the first time in 1965 and reach the European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1966.
He was capped 16 times by England under World Cup-winning manager Sir Alf Ramsey.
Thompson was named in Ramsey's initial 28-man squads for the 1966 and 1970 World Cups but was cut from the final 22 for both tournaments.
Shankly, who died in 1981, once said of Thompson: "He could run forever, but more importantly in football he could run with the ball - probably the hardest thing to do.
"He could run every minute of every game, every week, every year better than anybody else.
"His work-rate was outstanding, his fitness unequalled, his balance like a ballet dancer. I have no hesitation in placing Peter up among the all-time greats - alongside such players as Tom Finney, Stanley Matthews and George Best."
Born in Carlisle, Thompson started his career at Preston, becoming a first-team regular at 17 before going on to score 20 goals in 121 appearances.
Following his 10-year spell at Anfield, he joined Bolton in 1973 before retiring in 1978.

 

[Portly]

Here is a YouTube compilation of Tommo's highlights, including his goal against Chelsea in the 1965 FA Cup semi-final. I was there behind the goal!

Peter Thompson in action.

 

[tombrown]

Here is a YouTube compilation of Tommo's highlights, including his goal against Chelsea in the 1965 FA Cup semi-final. I was there behind the goal!

Peter Thompson in action.

RIP

1965 was the year I was born ... and some people have accused me of being one of the "older" generation

 

[Judge Jules]

God rest him. Unbelievable that such a talent could be left out of two final World Cup squads (1966 and 1970) after being called up in the original larger groups, tho' in the circs.I suppose one can't easily argue with the 66 decision. However, the story goes that in 1970, when Peter Thompson travelled with the squad to take part in training as he represented the kind of player Ramsey thought they'd be up against, a group of Brazilian journos came to watch an England training session before we played Brazil, raved about him and couldn't believe it when they were told he wasn't in the tournament squad. Later in his LFC career he played more centrally and made a success of that too - a good deal more so, for example, than Digger did when he made the same move, IMHO of course. Digger gets the wide left spot in my All-Time XI but only just ahead of Thompson, who would defo be on the bench.

Peter Thompson RIP.

 

[gene hughes]

RIP

 

[Insignificance]

Sad news. One of the real great players. RIP

 

[dee]

Ahhh fuck. My first hero, closely followed by Callaghan (Yepp I was left footed!!)

 

[Dave G]

was one of the first players I remember seeing. A sad day indeed. RIP

 

[gkmacca]

Very sad that he and Sir Roger were just before my time in terms of watching footie, so I grew up hearing awesome stories about both of them and even now I've not found much vivid footage to actually see what they did. I'm sure I would've have adored Thommo in action. A bona fide legend of the club.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

 

[dantes]

Ahhh fuck. My first hero, closely followed by Callaghan (Yepp I was left footed!!)

I'm unsure what he was, it's surprisingly hard to tell if he's left footed or right footed from the clips.

 

[Dreambeliever]

RIP

 

[RedStar]

So for those of us who missed out on seeing him play his name is familiar but not one that is instantly recognisable even compared to some of those Reds of his era, he seems to have been very highly regarded, why was he not better known or consistently overlooked for the national team?

 

[FoxForceFive]

I'm unsure what he was, it's surprisingly hard to tell if he's left footed or right footed from the clips.

A rarity amongst older generation of players.

Our current players, certainly the forwards & some of the midfielders, are so good with both feet that you could struggle to know which was their favoured at times (part of Klopp's plan imo), but in the past it was very rare a player would have any real skill in their less favoured foot, much less use it.

 

[Portly]

So for those of us who missed out on seeing him play his name is familiar but not one that is instantly recognisable even compared to some of those Reds of his era, he seems to have been very highly regarded, why was he not better known or consistently overlooked for the national team?

Sir Alf Ramsay's World Cup winning team of 1966 were known as the "wingless wonders" and I think that had something to do with it. Wingers were out of fashion in the England camp.

 

[Insignificance]

Ahhh fuck. My first hero, closely followed by Callaghan (Yepp I was left footed!!)

Was? What happened?

 

[gkmacca]

Shankly: “They say he didn’t score enough goals, they said his final pass wasn’t telling enough. Well, if he had scored goals as well as everything else he did, he would have been in the same category as Jesus Christ!”

 

[Judge Jules]

Better than me, mate. I only played fullback, albeit for Israel.

Signed Jesus.

 

[Portly]

A criticism of Peter Thompson was that he enjoyed beating defenders so much, he would run back to the wing and beat them again, just to show he could.

 

[moron]

A criticism of Peter Thompson was that he enjoyed beating defenders so much, he would run back to the wing and beat them again, just to show he could.

Now thats proper entertainment !!!

 

[are we back?]

Just before my time. I remember the name but 1974 FA Cup final is my first memory of seeing Liverpool on the telly.

 

[Ukrainian by marriage]

One of the greats. God bless, Peter.

Thanks for the link to the clips, portly, many memories there.

 

[jimmy]

RIP
(Just before my time too)