Ben Thatcher

Thatcher was born in Swindon, Wiltshire. As a youth, he played Sunday League football for various amateur teams in London, before attending the Football Association (FA)'s School of Excellence at Lilleshall.

Millwall

Upon graduation, he signed his first professional contract with Millwall, making his debut in the 1993–94 season at the age of 18. The following season, he established himself in the Millwall first team, and scored his first goal as a professional. He made more than 100 appearances for Millwall, and won their Player of the Year award for the 1995–96 season.

Wimbledon

In the 1996 close season, he was transferred to Wimbledon F.C. for a fee of more than £1.8million - making him Wimbledon's first million-pound signing and doubling the club's previous record fee which had been paid for Efan Ekoku three years earlier. In his first season at Wimbledon, Thatcher made only nine appearances, but played more regularly in subsequent seasons. He was banned for two matches in January 2000 for elbowing Nicky Summerbee of Sunderland to the head in the build-up to a goal; the incident was missed by the referee but action was taken by the governing body following a video review. After Wimbledon's relegation from the Premiership at the end of the 1999–2000 season, Thatcher moved to Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham Hotspur

Thatcher cost Tottenham Hotspur a fee of around £5 million in the Summer of 2000. A few months after the transfer, Spurs manager…

During his time at Wimbledon, Thatcher played for the England under-21 team four times. However, in 2004 he opted to play for Wales, for whom he qualifies due to his Welsh grandmother. His debut international performance came against Hungary, in a 2–1 victory in March 2004, and by October 2004 he had earned seven caps for Wales. In October 2004, John Toshack was appointed new Welsh national team coach, but Thatcher did not play any games under Toshack, due to suspensions and injuries. Thatcher did not play Wales' 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against England and Poland in early September 2005 on grounds of injury, while playing full-time three days later when Manchester City met cross-city rivals Manchester United. This angered Toshack, and Thatcher was categorically left out of the Welsh national team in September 2005.

Club

International

Tottenham Hotspur

Football League Cup runner-up: 2001–02 Individual

PFA Team of the Year: 1994–95 First Division Millwall Player of the Year: 1995–96