BEN THATCHER

'Benjamin David Thatcher' (born November 30, 1975 in Swindon, England) is a Welsh professional footballer, who currently plays for Charlton Athletic in The Championship. He has played for a number of English clubs, and has featured in more than 275 English league games from his position as a left-sided defender.
He represented England's under-21 national youth team, but has chosen to represent the Wales national team in his senior years, for whom he has earned seven caps.

Contents

Club career

International career

Controversies

Statistics

Honours

References

External links

Club 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]
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]
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 for a fee of £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. 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 for £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. 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. 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.^[5] He played his first match for Charlton Athletic on 23 January 2007 against Middlesbrough
^[6]

International career

During his time at Wimbledon, Thatcher played for the England under-21 team four times.^[7] However, in 2004 he opted to play for Wales, for whom he qualifies due to his Welsh grandmother.^[8] 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 inter-city rivals Manchester United. This angered John Toshack, and Thatcher was categorically left out of the Welsh national team in September 2005.^[9] Since then, he has not been selected for Wales.

Controversies

On August 23, 2006 Thatcher was involved in a controversial elbowing incident during a match between Portsmouth and Manchester City. As he and Pedro Mendes ran to get a loose ball, Thatcher viciously and intentionally led with his elbow, knocking Mendes into the advertising hoardings and rendering him unconscious. 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.^[10] Thatcher, who issued a written apology to Mendes, is currently under investigation by the FA as a result of the challenge. Greater Manchester Police issued a statement saying they have received many "statements of complaint" and will be investigating the matter further.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]
The incident was the second time in as many months that a Thatcher elbow had hospitalised an opponent, following an incident in a pre-season tour of China. Thatcher isn't new to controversy, as he has produced similar challenges against Nicky Summerbee (playing for Wimbledon against Sunderland) and Allan Nielsen of Tottenham Hotspur. He is also facing 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.^[14]

Statistics

' Club Performance'

Club	Season	League[15]		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others[16]		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Millwall F.C.	1993–94	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	10	0
	1994–95	40	1	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	48	1
	1995–96	42	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	46	0
	Subtotal	90	1	7	0	6	0	0	0	1	0	104	1
Wimbledon F.C.	1996–97	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
	1997–98	26	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	32	0
	1998–99	31	0	2	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	40	0
	1999–00	20	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	22	0
	Subtotal	86	0	5	0	12	0	0	0	0	0	103	0
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.	2000–01	12	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	15	0
	2001–02	12	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	17	0
	2002–03	12	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
	Subtotal	36	0	3	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	46	0
Leicester City F.C.	2003–04	29	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	29	1
	Subtotal	29	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	29	1
Manchester City F.C.	2004–05	18	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	21	0
	2005–06	18	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	19	0
	2006–07	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
	Subtotal	47	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	51	0
Charlton Athletic F.C.	2006–07	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
	2007–08	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Subtotal	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
Career total		299	2	16	0	28	0	0	0	1	0	344	2

Honours

★ 'League Cup'

★
★ 2001-02 runners-up, with Tottenham Hotspur

References

1. Profile:Ben Thatcher
2. Ben Thatcher
3. Player Profile : Ben Thatcher
4. Thatcher snipes at Hoddle
5. Thatcher completes Charlton move
6. Tactical Formation
7. Ben Thatcher
8. Margetson earns Wales call
9. Toshack slates Thatcher's desire
10. Thatcher could face police investigation James Ducker
11. Police, FA investigate Thatcher 'tackle'
12. Man City hand Thatcher ban & fine
13. Thatcher banned for eight matches
14. Thatcher faces second elbow probe
15. Includes Football League (1993–94 – 1995–96 & 2007–08 – ) and Premier League matches (1996–97 – 2006–07)
16. Includes Play-Off, Football League Trophy and FA Community Shield matches

External links

★

★ 'Official Charlton Athletic F.C. profile'

★ Official Manchester City F.C. profile

★ BBC profile