Garry Kevin Langrish Thompson (born 24 November 1980) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who was last manager of

Bradford (Park Avenue) Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

Playing career

Born in

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

, Cumbria, Thompson scored

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

's first goal in the Conference play-off Final against

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

in May 2007. In January 2008, Morecambe turned down a £10,000 offer from

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

for Thompson. Instead he agreed to sign for

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

on a three-year contract on 27 May 2008 on a free transfer, joining on 1 July. He was released by the club in May 2012. Thompson signed a one-year contract with

on 4 July 2012. He made his debut on 11 August in the League Cup during a 1–0 win against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. He then made his league debut a week later against Gillingham. He made his home debut on 21 August in a 1–0 win against

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Zavon Hines Zavon Albert Hines (born 27 December 1988) is a football coach and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. He is currently assistant coach for the West Ham United F.C. Under-21s and Academy ...

. On 28 August, he scored his first goal for the club, scoring an injury-time winner in a 2–1 win in the League Cup against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

. On 11 December, he helped Bradford to the semi-finals of the League Cup by scoring against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. He scored his first league goal for the club on 26 December in a 2–1 win at home to

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

. On 2 May 2013, he scored in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, he assisted goals from both

Nahki Wells Nahki Michael Wells (born 1 June 1990) is a Bermudian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Bristol City F.C., Bristol City and the Bermuda national football team, Bermuda ...

and James Hanson as Bradford beat

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

3–0 and secured promotion to

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

. On 23 July 2014, Garry Thompson signed for

. After one season with County, he joined

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

on a two-year deal. He scored in the 83rd minute of Wycombe's FA Cup fourth round match against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

on 28 January 2017 after heading in

Myles Weston Myles Arthur Eugene Wesley Weston (born 12 March 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a left winger for club Bromley. Born in England, he represents Antigua and Barbuda at international level. Club career Charlton Athletic Weston wa ...

's cross to give Wycombe a 3–2 lead, although Wycombe went on to lose the match 4–3. At the end of the 2016–17 season, Thompson left Wycombe Wanderers after his contract was not renewed. Thompson re-signed for Morecambe on 28 June 2017, after 9 years away from the club. He had remained in close contact with his former teammate

Jim Bentley James Graham Bentley (born 11 June 1976) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the first team manager at Southport F.C. Playing career Bentley debuted for Telford Unite ...

, who is the manager of Morecambe. Thompson made his second competitive debut in the opening game of the new season, a 2–1 win over Cheltenham Town. Thompson scored both goals to complete the comeback, including a last minute winner. In January 2019, he was released by Morecambe and joined

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 ...

club

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

. After a short spell with Penrith FC, 39-year old Thompson decided to hangs up his boots on 9 December 2019.

Coaching career

In May 2019 he became player-manager of

. However, he was sacked after just two league games, having lost both of them 5–0, on 8 August 2019.

Career statistics

Honours

Bradford City *

Football League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

runner-up:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Garry 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Kendal Footballers from Cumbria English men's footballers Men's association football wingers Morecambe F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Penrith A.F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. managers National League (English football) managers English football managers 21st-century English sportsmen