A violent father an ill mother, racism & cancer.. Sir Alex helped me survive it all
BEFORE he became the footballer who twice beat cancer, Joe Thompson played a time-honoured schoolboy prank on Sir Alex Ferguson.
During his seven years on the books at Manchester United’s academy, Thompson tapped Fergie on the shoulder and ran away before the great man could spin round and growl.
The joker thought he had got away with it until, a few weeks later, Fergie eyeballed him and grunted: “Was that you who tapped me on the shoulder? I hope you’re as confident on the pitch as you are with your mates.”
If Thompson believed his close encounter with a legend would be forgotten, he overlooked one very important detail: Ferguson has the memory of an elephant.
“I saw him in a restaurant not so long ago,” said the Rochdale forward. “I thought he might vaguely recognise me as a face from the past.
“But he said ‘You’ve got an incredible story – you need to share it.’ For the most successful club manager of all time to say that, after everything he’s been through this year, was incredible.”
As usual, Fergie was spot on. Thompson’s story is absolutely astonishing.
Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma – a form of blood cancer – at 24, he confounded medical advice by earning a contract at Bury just two months after being discharged from hospital.
When cancer returned, three-and-a-half years later, he spent 18 days in an isolation unit. It cured him of cancer but nearly blew his mind.
And after being given the all-clear a second time, he scored the goal which kept Rochdale in League One on the final day of the season. As Thompson puts it, he has seen the end of the world and decided to give it a miss.
During his gruelling chemotherapy sessions, Thompson made notes about his life-or-death battle and the result is a spellbinding, heartwarming memoir, Darkness and Light.
It’s a handbook on how to survive all the setbacks life can throw at you, including a violent jailbird father, a mother’s descent into bipolar illness, racism and cancer. Thompson’s rejection by United, half his lifetime ago, now seems like a trifling footnote – but he remains grateful for the standards they drummed into players.
At their chance meeting at neighbouring tables over dinner, Ferguson asked him what he had learned from his time at Carrington.
Thompson said: “I told him ‘You taught me so much about doing things the right way, and in testing times I delved into those reserves when I needed them most.’
“People talk about how he was tough on his players to make them stronger, no matter what they came up against. The proof ’s in the pudding: We’ve seen what he’s overcome a few months ago, and when he turned up at Old Trafford last month, looking bright-eyed, he’s come out the other side, too.
“There were times I thought about throwing in the towel, but my ‘team’ (notably wife Chantelle and daughter Lula) wouldn’t allow it. I’ve stared the end of the world in the face, looked it in the eyes and said ‘Not on my watch, not today.’”
All the pain, the throwing up, the nastiness of chemotherapy, dissolved into a giddy euphoria when Thompson’s winner against Charlton in May kept Keith Hill’s side in League One at Oldham’s expense.
“That goal was payback for everything I went through,” he said. “It was like reaching the mountain top.
“Even Oldham fans have been gracious. It shows you there is a bigger picture out there, bigger than football. People are able to evaluate what’s more important.”