Dean Thomas (footballer)

Dean Thomas (born 19 December 1961) is a Welsh former footballer and former manager of Hinckley United. Thomas was the only manager in the club's history and managed the team for 15 years. He also managed Kettering Town.

Dean Thomas
Personal information
Date of birth (1961-12-19) 19 December 1961
Place of birth Bedworth, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
0000–1981 Nuneaton Borough
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1983 Wimbledon[1] 57 (8)
1982–1983 → Ilves (loan)[2] 35 (9)
1983–1988 Fortuna Düsseldorf[3] 81 (9)
1988–1990 Northampton Town[4] 74 (12)
1990–1994 Notts County[5] 134 (8)
1994–1997 Bedworth United
1997–2005 Hinckley United 64 (7)
Teams managed
1994–1997 Bedworth United
1997–2012 Hinckley United
2013–2014 Kettering Town
2017 Hinckley AFC
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Thomas was a professional footballer with Wimbledon, Tampereen Ilves, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Northampton Town and Notts County. During his second loan spell with Ilves, Thomas won the Finnish championship in 1983. While at Notts County, he was club captain and played twice at Wembley Stadium.

Managerial career

His first managerial post was with Bedworth United, his hometown club. In 1997, he became newly formed Hinckley United's first manager. He led the club to the Southern Football League Western Division championship in the 2000–01 season and the FA Cup second round in December 2001 and December 2004.

Thomas resigned as manager on 10 October 2012.[6] In his 15 years with the club, he managed the club in 972 games.[7]

Thomas took over as manager of Kettering Town of the Southern League Division One Central at the beginning of the 2013–14 season. He lost most of his first games, but eventually pulled together results, going 21 games unbeaten. The Poppies finished in 3rd place, thus qualifying for the play-offs. They beat Daventry Town 1–0 in the semi-final and progressed to the play-off final against Slough Town in the final. Kettering took a two-goal lead in the final but ultimately lost 3–2.

In May 2014, Thomas announced that he was stepping down as Kettering Town FC manager.[8]

References
  1. Wimbledon : 1977/78 – 2008/09, Newcastle Fans.
  2. Vuorinen, Juha; Kasila, Markku (2007). Pelimiehet – Suomen jalkapallon pelaajatilastot 1930–2006 (in Finnish). Sports Museum Foundation of Finland. p. 342. ISBN 978-952-99075-9-5.
  3. "Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895:Home".
  4. Northampton Town : 1946/47 – 2007/08, Newcastle Fans.
  5. Notts County : 1946/47 – 2007/08, Newcastle Fans.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Thomas quits Hinckley". NonLeagueDaily.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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