Rod Thomas

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Rod Thomas
Personnel
Surname Roderick John Thomas
birthday January 11, 1947
place of birth Glyncorrwg ,  Wales
position Full-back (right)
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1963-1964 Gloucester City 10 (3)
1964-1973 Swindon Town 296 (5)
1973-1977 Derby County 89 (2)
1977-1982 Cardiff City 96 (0)
1982 Gloucester City
1982 Newport County 3 (0)
1982-1983 Barry Town
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
Wales U-23 6 (?)
1967-1977 Wales 50 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Roderick John "Rod" Thomas (born January 11, 1947 in Glyncorrwg ) is a former Welsh football player . The right full-back and 50-time Welsh international played almost 300 league games for Swindon Town and surprisingly won the league cup in 1969 with the then second division side against Arsenal . After moving to Derby County , he won the English championship in 1975 .

Athletic career

After his first experience in the Southern League as a player from Gloucester City - not far from the Welsh border in south-west England - Thomas joined Swindon Town in July 1964 . The team trained by Bert Head at that time was initially still active in the second-rate Second Division in the 1964/65 season , but rose from this again. Thomas himself had to wait almost two years for his first league appearance, which then ended with a 0-0 win against Scunthorpe United towards the end of the third division season 1965/66 . From the 1966/67 season, Thomas established himself in the right full-back position as a permanent solution. In the following three years he completed 120 league games, came regularly from 1967 in the Welsh national team to the train and crowned the 1968/69 season with a double success. With Swindon Town he not only succeeded in returning to the second division, but also surprisingly won the league cup title after Arsenal had been defeated 3-1 in the final after extra time. In the following more than four years as a second division player, he confirmed his achievements and he was considered one of the best players nationwide in his position outside the highest English league. In November 1973 the opportunity finally arose to change to the First Division . The background of the transfer was the change of coach at Derby County from Brian Clough to Dave Mackay , Mackay had recently played in Swindon at the side of Thomas.

For a transfer fee of 80,000 pounds, Thomas was hired in Derby. On the way to the main lineup, however, he first had to cure an injury, as it were, and oust the Ron Webster , who continues to be the “first choice” in right-wing defense . And so it lasted until the second half of the 1974/75 season , in which Thomas benefited from a injury from Webster and played the last 19 league games (of a total of 22 appearances) on the way to winning the English championship. A good one and a half years later, he remained "set" as right defender before the Irishman Dave Langan challenged him after the turn of the year 1976/77 . After just six championship games in 1977, Thomas moved back to Cardiff City, his home in Wales, in November 1977 .

Thomas had been active for the club that played in the English second division for more than four years and during that time he had to fight repeatedly with injuries. In February 1982 Thomas briefly returned to his old place of work at Gloucester City and just a month later he moved to Newport County - also a Welsh club that operates in English (third division) professional football. The last known station before retiring was Barry Town in the 1982/83 season .

Two decades later, Derby County's then owner Lionel Pickering hired him as sporting director. However, since he had little decision-making authority beyond the title, the engagement that began in April 2003 ended again in November of the same year.

Title / Awards

literature

  • Gerald Mortimer: Derby County - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, 2006, ISBN 978-1-85983-517-3 , pp. 106 f .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Thomas, Rod
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thomas, Roderick John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION welsh football player
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Glyncorrwg