Geoff Thomas, the legendary former Crystal Palace captain, is more similar to Pele than you might imagine…
Thomas captained Palace to the FA Cup final in 1990 before going on to win nine caps for England at the start of the following decade.
And it was while wearing the Three Lions on his chest that he delivered one of his more, um, notable performances.
Thomas’ hilarious attempted chip against France at Wembley in 1992 is still being repeated more than three decades later – but, as he points out to FourFourTwo, it puts him in good company.
“I was so gutted at the time,” he says. “It would have been a worldie, never forgotten, if I’d scored, but that’s the kind of fine line between failure and success.” When you reach the top flight, you’re playing on a larger stage where everything is accentuated. I’d have gone to the European Championship if I’d scored, but I’m content with never having played in a losing England squad.
“I suppose that miss put me on a par, arguably, with Pele and that World Cup miss against Czechoslovakia in 1970 [a chipped effort from the halfway line].” But it did teach me an important lesson. That’s something I’ve always tried to do in football: learn and look for the positives. I can guarantee you that after that miss, I never attempted to chip a ‘keeper again when I had a one-on-one. I had more luck hoisting it over him or dashing around him. Unfortunately, I chose the biggest stage to try something I had never done before or since.”
Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for The Analyst and When Saturday Comes, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open…
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