Benjamin Lindsay Thornley (born 21 April 1975) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and sports commentator. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, although making nine league appearances over a five-year stay. He also played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

and Bury, and in the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

for

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. He finished his playing days in non-league football with Halifax Town, Bacup Borough, Salford City, Wilmslow Albion and Witton Albion. He was capped three times by the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

team. Thornley now works in media and is a sports commentator for MUTV.

Playing career

Manchester United

Thornley was born at

Fairfield General Hospital Fairfield General Hospital is a hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury, Greater Manchester. It is managed by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the Bury Union Workhouse Infirmary which was ...

Bury, Greater Manchester Bury (, ) is a market town on the River Irwell in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. which had a population of 81,101 in 2021 while the wider borough had a population of 193,846. The town was originally part of the ...

. He is most widely known for his career as a youth and reserve team player at

, where he played in the

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politic ...

position from 1991 to 1998 (becoming a professional in 1992 after helping United win the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

) but was occasionally used as a striker. Thornley made his debut for United on 26 February 1994 as a substitute in the

match against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

which ended in a 2–2 draw at

Boleyn Ground Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium in Upton Park, London, Upton Park, east London, England. It was the home of West Ham United F.C., West Ham United from 1904 to 2016, and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic ...

. A quick and tricky right-footed left winger, he was highly regarded by

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

and at one point was expected to become a regular player at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. Although he did make nine league appearances for United, serious injury and increasing competition for places prevented him from making the expected impact at first-team level. The most notable injury came in April 1994, when he suffered knee ligament damage in a reserve match against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

due to a reckless tackle by opposing defender Nicky Marker; the injury kept him out of action for over a year. This came days before the FA Cup semi-final against Oldham Athletic, for which Alex Ferguson was reportedly considering selecting Thornley (at least for a place on the bench) in case

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; born 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach, former player and co-owner of Salford City. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best wingers in the history of footba ...

was not fully fit. Thornley was not fit again until the start of the 1995–96 season. He was rated by contemporaries including

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

(one of the players who went on to eclipse him in the first team), as well as club legend and former youth coach

Nobby Stiles Norbert Peter Stiles (18 May 194230 October 2020) was an English professional footballer. He played for England for five years, winning 28 caps and scoring one goal. He played every minute of England's victorious 1966 FIFA World Cup campaign. I ...

, as one of the finest young players at the club during that era. In 1997, Thornley sued Marker and Blackburn Rovers for millions over the tackle, claiming a loss of earnings that resulted from him being kept out of the Manchester United first team because of the injury. In 1996, he won three caps for England at U-21 level.

Huddersfield Town

After loan spells at

and

, Thornley finally left United on a free transfer in May 1998 and went on to make 127 appearances for Huddersfield Town, scoring 8 goals and helping them come close to a First Division play-off place – and the chance of a place in the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

. From June 1999 until November 2000, he was playing under former Manchester United teammate

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was a centre-back in a twenty-year playing career. He is currently the head coa ...

, who was Huddersfield's manager. When Bruce was dismissed, his successor was another former Manchester United player –

Lou Macari Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Kenn ...

, who had left United before Thornley joined them. Thornley's spell at Huddersfield brought mixed fortunes. In his first season they finished 10th in the First Division and in his second they finished eighth (being in contention for a play-off place right up to the last match of the season), but in his final campaign they suffered relegation to the Second Division.

Aberdeen

In August 2001 he signed a two-year deal at

, which gave him another crack at top division football – this time north of the border in the

. In 30 appearances for Aberdeen, he scored three goals – the opening goal in a 4–2 victory against

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

, and both goals in a 2–0 victory over

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

. He also scored in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

, and in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

against Queen of the South.

Later career

He returned to England and signed for Second Division club

on an 18-month contract in November 2002, but was released from his contract at the end of the 2002–03 season. Thornley signed for Bury in September 2003, but was released less than two months later after making just five appearances. He then joined Halifax Town on non-contract terms in March 2004, ending his professional career just before his 29th birthday to play in the

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

. He then joined the

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

scene with Bacup Borough where he was joined by former Manchester United teammate David May. He joined Salford City at the beginning of 2006. Alongside his younger brother, Rod, a striker, Thornley played for Witton Albion in the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

between 2008 and 2010.

Post-playing career

Thornley now works as a television commentator for MUTV.

Personal life

His younger brother, Rod Thornley, also a former academy player at Manchester United, used to be a sports therapist at the club.

Honours

Manchester United *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornley, Ben 1975 births Living people Footballers from Bury, Greater Manchester English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football wingers Manchester United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Bury F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Bacup Borough F.C. players Salford City F.C. players Wilmslow Albion F.C. players Witton Albion F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players National League (English football) players