Thompson, Josh

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Fullname: Joshua William Thompson
aka: Josh Thompson, Joshua Thompson
Born: 25 February 1991
Birthplace: Bolton
Height: 6′ 4” (193cm)
Signed: 8 August 2009
Left: 31 August 2012
Position: Defender/Central Defender
Debut: Celtic 1 – 1 Falkirk, SPL, 16 January 2010
Internationals: England / England U19
International Caps: 0 [for senior side]
International Goals: 0 [for senior side]

Biog

Hulking teenage centre half Josh Thompson signed for Celtic in August 2009 for an undisclosed fee.

The 6ft 4in defender emerged from Stockport County’s youth system to stake his claim for a first team place at the Cheshire club in season 2008/09. However County’s more saleable players were sent out on trial by the ‘Hatters’ administrators when the club hit financial difficulties and Thompson spent brief trials at Manchester United and Tony Mowbray‘s West Brom in May 2009.

He was then brought to Parkhead by Mowbray as the ex-West Brom boss set out on rebuilding the Celtic squad.

Expectations for Thompson were not immediate and it was anticipated that he would spend at least a season or two in the reserves before earning regular first team football. Injuries and the departure of Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus would however accelerate Thompson’s progress through the Celtic ranks.

He would make his début as a substitute when he came on for the soon-to-be-Middlesbrough-bound McManus in the home clash with Falkirk on January 16th 2010. His performance hinted at his raw inexperience but was generally impressive and on January 24th he was handed his first start in the 4-1 away victory at St Johnstone. Again the youngster produced a solid and mature display.

With Jos Hooiveld and Glenn Loovens sidelined through injury Thompson found himself enjoying an extended run in the heart of the Celtic defence. Although not blessed with great pace his physical presence and solid defensive skills enabled the youngster to cope admirably and he produced some decent performances which belied his lack of experience. Unquestionably rough round the edges the teenager was – one or two games aside – a mostly dependable figure in the Celtic backline.

He would mark his remarkable progress with his first Celtic goal when on March 20th when he opened the scoring with a powerful header in the 3-0 home win against St Johnstone. His best day was in scoring both goals at home as Celtic defeated Motherwell 2-1 in Apr 2010, in a late season match, but Celtic had already lost the league and were knocked out the Scottish Cup a few days earlier. If anything, the best part was that the victory with Thompson as the unlikely hero helped to pick the First Team up again.

At 19-years-old Thompson still had much to learn but although Celtic hugely disappointed that past season, and the finger of blame could not be pointed at the rookie centre-half.

As a reward for his progress, he was awarded a place in the England U-19 Squad and won 3 caps, gaining some very good reports for his performances.

Although he had done himself much credit, it was still expected that Josh would return to the reserves or the bench for 2010-11 and be allowed to learn his trade away from the often harsh spotlight of life in the Celtic first team.

On 20 August 2010 he joined League One club Rochdale on a season long loan. Manager Neil Lennon indicated that playing competitive games would be beneficial for Thompson, but noted: “He is still our player, at the end of the day.”

However, despite comments of praise or need for development, he seemed to be quietly forgotten and moved further out of the long-term plans for the club. In August 2012, he ended the remainder of his contract so to enable a move to Portsmouth on loan.

He was unlikely to make the grade at Celtic with the raft of new players in (such as Kelvin Wilson et al) and a new start for the youngster was the best.

Post-Celtic

Following Celtic, he was to be a well travelled player across the tiers in English football having been on the books for around eight clubs in total after Celtic. He never reached any great heights, but helped Chesterfield to the 2012 Football League trophy.

Sadly, whilst at Southport he suffered a near career threatening knee injury. He still managed to move on to join Macclesfield Town but didn’t win any first team games. He moved to Atherton Collieries (his juniors club where it all began) and is believed to have then hung up his playing boots.

He then moved into physiotherapy.

We wish him well.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

none

Pictures

Articles

Celtic secure defender Thompson(BBC)

Aug 8 2009
Celtic have completed the signing of Stockport County’s highly-rated teenage defender Josh Thompson.
Manager Tony Mowbray said he was delighted to have secured the services of the 18-year-old 6ft 4in centre-back. “We see him as a young player with great potential and we look forward to working with him,” Mowbray told the club website. Thompson’s former Stockport team-mates Curtis Jones, 17, and Michael Ordish, 16, have also moved to Celtic Park. Mowbray is a long-time admirer of Thompson’s and was tracking him while he was still in charge of West Brom. And the teenager was believed to have been interesting a host of English club. Thompson, who made six appearances for Stockport last season, had been on trial at Manchester United, and attracted interest from Sir Alex Ferguson’s son Darren, who is in charge of Peterbrough. Mowbray has been keen to bolster his defensive options at Celtic, with captain Stephen McManus still some way away from a first-team return as he battles back from a knee injury. Thompson will provide cover for Gary Caldwell, Glenn Loovens and Darren O’Dea. Of his other two signings from Stockport, Mowbray said: “Curtis and Michael are young players with a lot of potential and they will be valuable additions to our youth set-up.”
Since succeeding Gordon Strachan, Mowbray has also signed Marc-Antoine Fortune, Landry N’Guemo and left-back Daniel Fox. Goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska arrived from Dundee United on a pre-contract agreement.

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