Former Wolves, Crystal Palace and England midfielder Geoff Thomas reflects on his most elegant, skilful and stylish teammates, kits and moments which make up his beautiful game.
Most beautiful player | Ian Wright
It's very difficult to look past Ian Wright. We spent three years together at Crystal Palace during the years where he developed into the player he was at Arsenal. He was so skilful and a fabulous player. I was playing behind him in midfield and he would make an average ball from myself look like a worldie and he’d go and score a goal. It definitely helped my career as well! He was very similar to how Bully was at Wolves, with the way they could score a goal out of nothing.
Most beautiful Wolves teammate | Robbie Dennison
I always really like watching Robbie Dennison. I enjoyed playing alongside Robbie because he was such an old fashioned winger. He didn’t need to use pace to get past you, he had the skill and the technique to get past defenders. Robbie is one of quite a few in that Wolves side I played in that could have easily gone on and played at the top level. That’s the frustrating side of my time at Wolves, was that we never had that opportunity.
Most beautiful opposition | Tottenham Hotspur
It was probably the old Tottenham team, because Tottenham used to always have people with flair. When you’re playing against them, you always thought you had a chance, but there was always some sort of air about the Tottenham side that they were the purists when it came to football. Just walking into the old White Hart Lane, you always felt that you were against a team of quality players on the ball and they were always going to be difficult to handle.
Most beautiful goal | Wright vs Wimbledon, 1991
I’m going way back, and it’s got to be Ian Wright again, when he scored from the half way line against Wimbledon at the old Plough Lane when Wimbledon were in the top flight. I think it may have been a goal to score his hat-trick, so it was a little bit special.
Most beautiful kit | Crystal Palace 1989/90 away
I’ve probably got three to choose from. When I was at Palace, I loved playing in the sash away kit. Because I’m a Manchester lad, and a Manchester City fan when I was a boy, the Crystal Palace away kit was the same as my favourite Man City kit – it was white with a sash across the front of it. There was also another one at Palace when we played in the Brazil away colours, not for too long, because I think Steve Coppell got fed up with us losing in it! But thirdly, I also liked the playing in my first gold and black kit in 1993/94, with the goodyear logo on it and it had a black collar on it. It was nice that one.
Most beautiful stadium | Anfield
I’ve played at Anfield a number of times, and just playing on that pitch was something special. We’re going back years here and the quality of the surfaces weren’t great then, but the two that stuck out when you played there were Highbury and Anfield, but Liverpool, with the stadium and the atmosphere that the fans created there, it was always a magical place to play.
Most beautiful moment in history | Final whistle of 1990 FA Cup semi-final
I was playing for Crystal Palace against Liverpool, the team that had beat us 9-0 earlier in the season, in the FA Cup semi-final and I was able to be a part of taking Crystal Palace to Wembley for the first time in its history. That was a special moment for me. Not a lot of people gave us any chance of winning that semi-final, and although we were missing Ian Wright because of injury, Mark Bright was solid up front, and we just turned it on that day. Everything went just to plan and that doesn't happen very often, so hearing that final whistle was a beautiful moment for me.
