Mickey Thomas: Stabbings, Jail Time & Dealing in Counterfeit Money
The Crazy True Story of Former Man United Footballer Mickey Thomas
This rising star played for the biggest clubs in the country while winning silverware and achieving promotions for his boyhood club.
However, he stopped playing professionally after going to jail - and he was regularly in the tabloids for all the wrong reasons.
But what really happened to Mickey Thomas? The Sporting Blog tells the full story!
Controversial football star Mickey Thomas
Mickey Thomas won’t be well known to football supporters born after the 1970s, but he had a promising career before it ended in disgrace.
The 68-year-old’s career spanned three decades, and he played for 13 different clubs in 22 years. He was known as the ‘Welsh George Best’, so plenty of managers took an admiring glance.
But as a non-conformist, the left-winger burned a lot of bridges and was overlooked by clubs.
He would play for Manchester United before becoming overwhelmed with pressure - and his story includes a run-in with the law and time in hospital.
So, what happened to the footballer whose career is full of what-ifs?
From Wrexham to Man United
Michael Reginald Thomas was born in Mochdre, Wales – a village to the west of Colwyn Bay. He came from humble beginnings and left school without being able to read or write.
His local club were Wrexham and he ended up playing for their youth side before turning professional. That was after painfully writing to clubs to ask for a trial, however.
Thomas was already playing in the Conwy League men's team by the age of 13, and he was selected to play for the Red Dragons at 15.
His first two years weren’t too dissimilar from an apprenticeship, cleaning boots, tidying the change room and helping to maintain the stadium, but he eventually made his first-team debut in 1971/72.
Under John Neal, Thomas played his part as Wrexham became seen as giant killers in the 1973/74 FA Cup, besting Middlesbrough who were one division higher and Southampton who were two divisions higher.
They were knocked out by Burnley in the quarter-finals but won the Welsh Cup a year later as a consolation.
Wrexham reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1976 before being beaten by Anderlecht, but Thomas would enjoy success with the Red Dragons in 1978.
Wrexham won the Welsh Cup and Third Division title, so that was enough for Manchester United to take a £300k punt on the left-winger.
Thomas’ Descent into Alcoholism
Thomas would go on to make approximately 110 appearances for the Red Devils, scoring 15 goals, before leaving due to the mounting pressure on his shoulders.
Thomas admitted in a 2013 interview with the Manchester Evening News that he used alcohol to curb his nerves and anxiety.
He was no longer the big fish in a little pond and couldn’t cope with tens of thousands of supporters watching him every week.
“I was playing in front of 50,000 United fans and I was desperate to please them. In the end, the pressure brought me down and I walked out,” he said.
Thomas explained in a 2021 interview how tough it was playing for a club with such high expectations.
“I wasn't relaxed,” he admitted. “I didn't feel comfortable. I found it hard there.” Thomas regularly got drunk to numb his feelings, but he rued how the culture was in football decades ago.
The winger couldn’t be emotionally vulnerable to his teammates, otherwise, they’d mistreat him.
He said: “There's more awareness now of mental health, of the pressure on players and what it can do to them. But my era was a tough era, you had to be a proper man.
If you said you were a bit scared, they'd say 'f***-o**' and knock you out.”
Thomas had a gambling problem too, losing up to £500k down the years, which is the equivalent of £17m in today’s money.
He would spend three years in Manchester before joining Everton, but he’d peaked by the time he left the Red Devils and couldn’t settle at another club for more than two years.
Off-Field Controversy
Thomas has led a nomadic club career while representing his country more than 50 times, but his off-field controversy is what you’ll find when looking up his name in a search engine.
He’s played for:
Wrexham (1970 - 1978) (1991 - 1993)
Man Utd (1978 - 1981)
Everton (1981)
Brighton & Hove Albion (1981/82)
Stoke City (1982 – 1984)
Chelsea (1984/85)
West Bromwich Albion (1985/86)
Derby County (1986)
Wichita Wings (1986 - 1988)
Shrewsbury Town (1988/89)
Leeds United (1989/90)
Stoke City (1990/91)
Porthmadog (1994)
However, you’ll often hear about his jail sentence before his footballing career.
Thomas was jailed in 1993 for a counterfeit currency scam. He and businessman Alexander Roache were believed to have laundered fake money through Wrexham's trainees.
Though not blamed for creating the fake money, the left-winger was accused of delivering £800 in notes and was jailed for 18 months.
The scheme was rumbled after the youngsters used the money to pay for drinks at a club in Buckley, Clwyd.
This implicates Thomas by telling the police exactly where the notes came from.
Upon his release from prison, a broke and desperate Thomas threatened his mother with a knife for loose change, cutting open the sofa to find gold coins.
And a year before his sentence, Thomas was also attacked by two men at Dyserth, Clwyd for having an affair with the wife of his ex-wife's brother - the husband was one of the attackers.
Thomas was hit with a hammer and stabbed with a screwdriver, forcing him to be admitted into hospital with multiple stab wounds.
What’s Mickey Thomas Doing Now?
Thomas was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in 2019, surviving emergency surgery and sepsis while put into an induced coma.
He told the Daily Mail in 2022: “It was the scariest time of my life walking into that operating theatre knowing I might not wake up.”
Thomas endured chemotherapy before announcing the all-clear months later, thanking his friends and family for getting him through the gruelling treatment.
He’s still doing interviews with national media outlets and is a paid speaker at events, but he admits that he struggles with his fitness. He’s slower than he used to be and he doesn’t feel as vibrant as when he was at his peak.
Thomas now appears to be on the straight and narrow though, overcoming his alcohol addiction, so his story has a happy ending.
He’s looked upon very fondly by Wrexham fans too, with many still remembering his goal in the 1992 FA Cup win over Arsenal.
The Gunners were defending champions at the time, while Wrexham had finished bottom of Division Four, so the Dragons coming out on top at the Racecourse Ground was a major upset.
“It still makes me feel good,” Thomas said. “I can't go anywhere without someone saying they saw me score that goal against Arsenal. I've got it as a memory that will never fade. I'm lucky that I have it to treasure.”
In addition to public speaking, Thomas provides analysis of Manchester United matches for Total Football and Piccadilly Magic 1152.
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