“Nobby Stiles takes over and first game we play Chelsea and their fans sing my name. From the start to the end. So, after the game Nobby says: ‘Can I have a word with you? I’ve won the World Cup, the European Cup and can you tell me what you have done at Chelsea? I’ve never seen anything like that.’”
There is one story that cannot be left out. It is about Thomas and Howard Wilkinson, who signed him for Leeds United in 1989.
“When I played for Chelsea I made my home debut, scored two, we won and the headlines were ‘Mickey Thomas – King of the King’s Road’ and underneath there was an article by Howard Wilkinson which read ‘Mickey Thomas is a great player until he gets fed up with the manager’ and I thought: ‘He doesn’t f—— know me.’” Thomas says.
He kept the article and used it as motivation every time he faced a Wilkinson team, starting with Sheffield Wednesday. “I scored and one time I knocked one of their players out because he said something about my wife,” Thomas admits. “We [Chelsea] drew 4-4 [in the League Cup quarter-final in 1985], came back from 3-0. There was a fight in the tunnel, then we had the replay and I scored the winning goal in the 93rd minute. At kick-off this player ran straight at me and I thought, ‘Here we go.’ And he just said: ‘Will you accept my apology?’”
Then, at the end of the 1988-89 season, when he was with Shrewsbury, Thomas was asked to call Elland Road one Monday morning. “Mick Hennigan [Wilkinson’s assistant] said ‘I’ll get the boss for you’ and his exact words were: ‘Hi Michael how do you fancy playing for Leeds?’ and I went: ‘Hey, you can f— off!’” Thomas says.
“And he goes, ‘Pardon?’ I said: ‘You hammered me’. He said: ‘I hated you but I always admired you and want you to sign.’ I still wasn’t going to sign and he said: ‘We will give you a thirty grand signing-on fee.’ I thought: ‘F—— hell, where’s the pen?’ So, they signed me, Vinnie Jones, Jim Beglin, Mel Sterland and unfortunately I only had four games before I needed an operation.
“Wilkinson had said to me: ‘Right, I’ve done my homework on you. I even called Dave Sexton to find out what you were like at Manchester United and he said Mickey’s all right when he’s on the pitch, it’s off the pitch when he’s a f—— nightmare.’ He said: ‘I don’t care what you do until you cross that white line.’ So he had respected me all that time even though I thought he hated me. I guess it’s because I had been a thorn in his side.”
‘Wrexham in the Premier League would be British football’s greatest story’
It will be an emotional evening for Thomas when Wrexham line up to face Chelsea – and maybe they will do so again in the Premier League next season?
“The priority is the league and promotion and sometimes the Cup can be a distraction. But this is a great distraction,” Thomas says. “Joey passed away not long ago and I’m sure the Chelsea fans will sing his name. I’m not bothered about my name, I want Joey to get the recognition. I joined Chelsea because he was there. When I scored my first goal for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge he told me to run over to Gate 13 [in the Shed End] where the lunatics are. We won promotion against Leeds, 5-0, and I scored the first goal and ran to the crowd. I was wearing a gold chain but when I came back out it had gone.”
There it is again. That mix of humour, self-deprecation and a little rebellion.
“I’ve enjoyed myself but I don’t think people take me seriously. I never, ever let anyone down on the pitch,” Thomas argues. “I gave everything. No one could question that. I remember walking along the seafront with Kevin Ratcliffe, who came to see me when I had cancer, and he said: ‘If you’d been a bit steadier, you could have won more things.’
