Michael Thomas

Arsenal

Thomas was born in Lambeth, London. After growing up as a Tottenham Hotspur fan, he signed for rivals Arsenal as a schoolboy in 1982, turning professional on 31 December 1984 at the age of 17, just months after leaving school. He was loaned out to Portsmouth in early 1987, playing three times, before returning to Arsenal. His Gunners career started with a baptism of fire, as Thomas made his debut in the first leg of a League Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur at Highbury on 8 February 1987. Thomas soon became a regular in the Arsenal side, making his league debut in place of the suspended Viv Anderson on 14 February 1987 in a 1–1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. But, for his next appearance, he was drafted into midfield role at Oxford United. The switch was a quick success, and Thomas extra versatility boosted his chances of a first team place. Just to prove his adaptability he stood in for injured Kenny Sansom and by the end of that campaign he had played 12 league games as Arsenal finished fourth and had a League Cup winners medal, coming on as a late substitute as Arsenal defeated Liverpool at Wembley. In 1987–88 season, Thomas missed only five league games. He started off as right back following Andersons departure, then switched to midfield for the League Cup semi-final first leg win at Everton in February, and kept that role the rest of the season and finished with 9 goals in the league (2 of them were penalties). Steve Williams…

Thomas was first called up to the England squad under manager Bobby Robson. His debut came on 16 November 1988, at the age of 21, in the 1–1 friendly draw against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, thus becoming the first player in Arsenal's history to play at five different levels for his country. Thomas made his second and final England senior appearance just over a year later, on 13 December 1989 in a 2–1 friendly win over Yugoslavia.

International

After retiring from football, Thomas set up his own security service. He plays for the Liverpool legends team and resides in Liverpool. In 2019, Thomas featured as a guest substitute player in series one of the ITV show Harry's Heroes, which featured former football manager Harry Redknapp attempting get a squad of former England international footballers back fit and healthy for a game against Germany legends.