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Ben Thatcher

Thatcher during his Millwall days
Personal information
Full name	Benjamin David Thatcher
Date of birth	November 30, 1975 (1975-11-30) (age 34)
Place of birth	Swindon, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Left back
Club information
Current club	Ipswich Town
Number	33
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps (Gls)†
1992–1996	Millwall	090 00(1)
1996–2000	Wimbledon	086 00(0)
2000–2003	Tottenham Hotspur	036 00(0)
2003–2004	Leicester City	029 00(1)
2004–2007	Manchester City	047 00(0)
2007–2008	Charlton Athletic	022 00(0)
2008–	Ipswich Town	020 00(0)
National team‡
1995–1997	England U21	04 (0)
2004–2005	Wales	07 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:20,03 September 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18:20,03 September 2009 (UTC)

Benjamin David "Ben" Thatcher (born November 30, 1975 in Swindon, Wiltshire) is a professional association football player, currently with Ipswich Town. He has played for a number of English clubs, and has featured in more than 300 English league games from his position as a left-sided defender.

He represented England's under-21 national team, but has chosen to represent the Wales national team in his senior years, for whom he has earned seven caps.

Career

As a youth, Thatcher played Sunday League football for various amateur teams in London, before attending the Football Association (FA)'s School of Excellence at Lilleshall.^[1]

Before joining the professional ranks of top flight football, Thatcher studied unsuccessfully for two years at Canterbury Christ Church University. He was a distinguished player for their University 1st team and represented England University XI. Thatcher was the first member of Canterbury Christ Church University to represent his nation.

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.^[2]

Wimbledon

In the 1996 close season, he was transferred to Wimbledon F.C. for a fee of £1,840,000. In his first season at Wimbledon, Thatcher made only nine appearances, but played more regularly in subsequent seasons. After Wimbledon's relegation from the Premiership in 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 George Graham was sacked, and Thatcher featured less frequently under successor Glenn Hoddle, though he was a member of the Spurs team for the 2002 League Cup final.

Leicester City

He subsequently moved to Leicester City in a £300,000 transfer deal in the summer 2003,^[3] immediately proceeding to attack Glenn Hoddle's style of management.^[4] After a single season at Leicester, Thatcher once again found himself in the arms of a relegated club, and moved to Manchester City. He scored once in the league for Leicester, in a 4-4 draw with his former club Spurs.^[5]

Manchester City

His move to Manchester City cost around £100,000. His Manchester City debut came on the opening day of the 2004-05 season against Fulham. He was initially the first choice left-back at Manchester City, but a combination of injuries and the emergence of Stephen Jordan limited him to 21 appearances in his first season for the club. In January 2005 Thatcher nearly joined Fulham for a fee of £500,000 after a series of burglaries unsettled his family, but the move fell through.^[3] His second Manchester City season followed a similar pattern to the first, with most of his 19 starts coming in the first half of the season.

Thatcher gained notoriety on August 23, 2006, in a game between Manchester City and Portsmouth. Whilst challenging with Pedro Mendes for a loose ball Thatcher viciously and intentionally led with his elbow, knocking Mendes into the advertising hoardings rendering him unconscious. In the immediate aftermath Thatcher is seen to be indignant and visibly irate with his now prostrate, motionless opponent. Mendes required oxygen at pitchside and suffered a seizure while being transferred to hospital, where he spent the night. Mendes was discharged from hospital the next day, but remained under medical supervision.^[6] Thatcher, who issued a written apology to Mendes, was investigated by the FA as a result of the challenge. Greater Manchester Police noted receipt of many "statements of complaint" and also chose to investigate the matter.^[7] On August 30, Manchester City announced that Thatcher would be banned for six matches, two of which would be suspended, and fined six weeks' wages for the challenge.^[8] This punishment is separate from the sanctions made by the FA, who suspended Thatcher for eight matches, with a further fifteen game suspended ban for two years.^[9]

The incident was the second time in less than three weeks that a Thatcher elbow had hospitalised an opponent, following an incident on August 4 in a pre-season tour of China, when his challenge caused a career-threatening collapsed lung in Yang Chungang, a 20-year-old midfielder from Shanghai Shenhua. Thatcher also faces possible action from Lancashire Police over a clash with ex-Blackburn Rovers player Ralph Welch during a reserve game at Ewood Park in February 2006.^[10]

Charlton Athletic

He signed for Charlton Athletic on 11 January 2007 for a reported fee of £500,000, which could rise to £750,000 depending on appearances.^[11] He played his first match for Charlton Athletic on 23 January 2007 against Middlesbrough ^[12]

Ipswich Town

He joined Ipswich on 14 August 2008 on a one-year contract with an option to extend it for a further year.^[13]

International career

During his time at Wimbledon, Thatcher played for the England under-21 team four times.^[14] However, in 2004 he opted to play for Wales, for whom he qualifies due to his Welsh grandmother.^[15] 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 John Toshack, and Thatcher was categorically left out of the Welsh national team in September 2005.^[16] Since then, he has not been selected for Wales.

Statistics

As of 10 December 2008.

Honours

• League Cup
  • 2001-02 runners-up, with Tottenham Hotspur

References

External links

• Ben Thatcher career stats at Soccerbase
• Official Charlton Athletic F.C. profile
• Official Manchester City F.C. profile
• Official Leicester City F.C. profile
• BBC profile