John Thomson (footballer) - Style of Play

Style of Play

Thomson was very small and thin, standing at only 5 ft 9. Many people thought that he did not look like a goalkeeper due to his diminutive stature, and small hands. Although his team-mate Jimmy McGrory described him as having "artists hands".

In his biography of Thomson, author Tom Greig described him as having strong, slender fingers and powerful wrists and forearms. Saying that "The combination of these physical attributes was the basis for his extraordinary shot-saving and clutching capabilities." Football historian Robert McElroy, described him as being "graceful, athletic, very brave and courageous". Celtic chairman Desmond White said that Thomson was the best 'keeper he had ever seen, and described him as having "the ability to rise in the air high above the opposition. It was this almost ballet-like ability and agility which, in his tremendous displays, endeared him to the hearts of all Celtic supporters." After his death Thomson's manager Willie Maley said that; "Never was there a keeper who caught and held the fastest shots with such grace and ease. In all he did there was the balance and beauty of movement wonderful to watch."

Read more about this topic:  John Thomson (footballer)

Famous quotes containing the words style and/or play:

    To translate, one must have a style of his own, for otherwise the translation will have no rhythm or nuance, which come from the process of artistically thinking through and molding the sentences; they cannot be reconstituted by piecemeal imitation. The problem of translation is to retreat to a simpler tenor of one’s own style and creatively adjust this to one’s author.
    Paul Goodman (1911–1972)

    The indispensable ingredient of any game worth its salt is that the children themselves play it and, if not its sole authors, share in its creation. Watching TV’s ersatz battles is not the same thing at all. Children act out their emotions, they don’t talk them out and they don’t watch them out. Their imagination and their muscles need each other.
    Leontine Young (20th century)