Ah shit. Rambo was one of my favourite players ever. Totally committed, never the most technically gifted but could play a bit better than a lot of people gave him credit for.
RIP big man.
Ah, no. My abiding memory of him is demolishing an advertising hoarding behind the goal at Selhurst in his efforts to get back and block the ball, against Liverpool I think? He was one of those players that you never got less than 100% effort from, and one of the reasons why that promotion team rekindled my family's love for Charlton.
RIP Thommo
That was a classic moment for me and dad. In a newspaper the next day the headline read "I could have been killed!" because he flew over a big spike or something. Dad would say words to that effect every time a player ran into an advert board for the next 30-odd years. Thanks to Twitter I got to tell Steve about that and he seemed to find it funny.
Really sorry to hear about this. Steve was a proper connection to my dad and my childhood and he seemed like a proper bloke.
Steve was my favourite player from the promotion winning squad that Lennie assembled. He was a man mountain who always gave his all, often along with a drop or two of blood.
Back when he was on Twitter (he left after he was sacked from a co-commentating job he had on local radio, for saying something “hurty” 🤦🏻♀️) I chatted with him & he told me he was in the process of writing his autobiography; I asked him if Charlton would feature much in it & he said we would. I have never been able to find out if he managed to get the book published, sadly I presume not. But I’m sure it would have made a great read.
Rest in peace Thommo and condolences to his family and friends 😢
The club will observe a period of applause ahead of kick-off on Saturday in memory of former player Steve Thompson, who sadly passed away at the age of 70.
Thompson, whose family will be pitchside for the period of applause at Saturday's fixture, made 112 appearances for the Addicks across all competitions between 1985 and 1988.
Re the injury v Liverpool, I think they put extra advertising boards out as the game was being televised for overseas, and it sounds like no one noticed there was a nail sticking out of one of them. Lennie was raging about it, quite rightly as it could have had tragic consequences.
Fast forward a few years and there was an article in, might have been VOTV, and a school in Lincolnshire (I think) had done a project and they interviewed Thommo about his career. He related how before the away game at Anfield, Lennies' preparations centred around telling Peter Shirtliff about Ian Rush's runs, when he dropped deep, when he went wide etc, etc. After a while Thommo said "What do I do boss?" Lennie said "You take the other one - Kenny Dalglish!"
That’s decided my shirt for tomorrow - the Osca one to pay respects to Rambo. I’ll admit it’s the replica (as worn at Wembley in my profile pic). I do have an original - found it in a suitcase in the loft last week. It is tiny, unlike me these days!
A well deserved tribute. What a great signing was - £25,000 from Lincoln, with his mate George Shipley also reunited with Lennie for only £15,000.
Thommo was a tough, but certainly not dirty, player, although I do remember him saying in the press that he was delighted to reach the end of January at Charlton before he was suspended because it was the longest he'd ever avoided one in his career.
If you were an opposition player, seeing Steve Thompson in the tunnel before you ran out would not fill you with optimism - if you got anything in the game, you'd know you had to really work for it. His pragmatic and no-nonsense defending contributed hugely to our return to the top flight and our success in staying there in the first season or two.
I absolutely loved Rambo, such a wonderful player, totally wholehearted and commited, hard as granite and never gave less than everything he had. He was one of my early Charlton heroes and it's fair to say that it's people like him that kept our club going in it's darkest hours and then helped achieve the miracle of top flight football. I was as honoured as a fanboy when I had a few chats with him on twitter and he was always a sweet and kind man. I had a lump in my throat at the tribute to him today which was fabulously observed by both sets of fans which is exactly what a legend like Steve Thompson deserves. Eternal respect to the great man- forever in our hearts.
There's been a lot of criticism recently as to how these tributes have been managed by the club (or not). I thought today's was done very well. RIP Thommo.
Comments
Really sorry to hear about this. Steve was a proper connection to my dad and my childhood and he seemed like a proper bloke.
Back when he was on Twitter (he left after he was sacked from a co-commentating job he had on local radio, for saying something “hurty” 🤦🏻♀️) I chatted with him & he told me he was in the process of writing his autobiography; I asked him if Charlton would feature much in it & he said we would. I have never been able to find out if he managed to get the book published, sadly I presume not. But I’m sure it would have made a great read.
Rest in peace Thommo and condolences to his family and friends 😢
The club will observe a period of applause ahead of kick-off on Saturday in memory of former player Steve Thompson, who sadly passed away at the age of 70.
Thompson, whose family will be pitchside for the period of applause at Saturday's fixture, made 112 appearances for the Addicks across all competitions between 1985 and 1988.
https://www.charltonafc.com/news/guide-game-blackburn-rovers
Fast forward a few years and there was an article in, might have been VOTV, and a school in Lincolnshire (I think) had done a project and they interviewed Thommo about his career. He related how before the away game at Anfield, Lennies' preparations centred around telling Peter Shirtliff about Ian Rush's runs, when he dropped deep, when he went wide etc, etc. After a while Thommo said "What do I do boss?" Lennie said "You take the other one - Kenny Dalglish!"
Thommo was a tough, but certainly not dirty, player, although I do remember him saying in the press that he was delighted to reach the end of January at Charlton before he was suspended because it was the longest he'd ever avoided one in his career.
If you were an opposition player, seeing Steve Thompson in the tunnel before you ran out would not fill you with optimism - if you got anything in the game, you'd know you had to really work for it. His pragmatic and no-nonsense defending contributed hugely to our return to the top flight and our success in staying there in the first season or two.
They said they'd let us know the funeral details when they have them.
He was one of my early Charlton heroes and it's fair to say that it's people like him that kept our club going in it's darkest hours and then helped achieve the miracle of top flight football.
I was as honoured as a fanboy when I had a few chats with him on twitter and he was always a sweet and kind man.
I had a lump in my throat at the tribute to him today which was fabulously observed by both sets of fans which is exactly what a legend like Steve Thompson deserves. Eternal respect to the great man- forever in our hearts.