BALANCING ACT – Scottish keeper Emma Thomson’s story

Emma Thomson is a talented young Scottish goalkeeper. Her career progression has been rapid. From playing regularly for Hamilton Academicals at age 16, before moving on to Spartans, and then to her first full-time contract with Hearts this season. She went out on loan to Motherwell at the start of the season but was recalled to Hearts within a month.

Just after Clare McEwen spoke to her, Thomson was back out on loan at Motherwell and gaining more SWPL experience – while still studying at university. With maturity and professionalism beyond her 18 years, Emma Thomson is one to watch.

When we last spoke a couple of years ago I asked you what your career plan was. You said you hoped to become a full-time footballer. How does it feel now you are? 

Oh amazing. I think that’s the one thing you think about when you’re young and you’re playing football. You want to be a professional footballer. It’s massive for me.

I felt like I made my family proud. I know the job’s not done yet because I want to go further and play down in England, potentially, but I think it’s a really good step for me. I’m really happy.

You gained loads of experience at Accies (Hamilton Academicals), lots of minutes, became the youngest player to win the SWPL player of the month award. Then you moved to Spartans. Tell me how that came about and what you gained from that move?

Yeah, I played a lot at Accies and then the Spartan’s manager, Jack [Beesley], put an approach in for me. We were in the relegation battle at Accies at that point and the opportunity to continue to play in SWPL 1 was huge for me.  I couldn’t really turn it down, even though Accies were my childhood club for five years and had been absolutely massive in my development.

When I spoke to Jack, I really liked the setup at Spartans. I was going to be training more than I was at Accies. He seemed like a really good manager and had a really good, experienced goalie coach. It was a no-brainer that I had to continue to play in SWPL 1. 

Then the big move to Hearts. How did that come about and did you have to think about it?

Not really (smiles).  I sat down with Jack and he told me about it. He urged me to do it.

He said that’s what clubs like Spartans are about, producing good players and helping them go on and be full-time. That also works out well for Spartans – people want to go there because they know they can produce players that can go and play full-time.

I was really grateful that Jack wanted to push me to go to Hearts and thought that was the best thing for me.

Then you go to Hearts and then out on loan to Motherwell. But the loan’s cut short. That’s quite a lot to deal with mentally?

Yeah. I was really looking forward to my loan because that was probably the best situation for me at the time – be with a full-time team, be training full-time, and then go on loan and get some more experience. I was still 17 at that time.

It was really unfortunate to be honest that the other goalkeeper Carolina was injured and my time got cut short.

I think that’s something you just need to deal with in football and totally out of my control. I had a good month at Motherwell. I played once out of the three games, but had a really good month there and enjoyed training.

I think the training environments are completely different  – at Hearts we focus more tactically, a really tactically sound team, and at Motherwell we were doing more technical stuff and looking to improve players as well. I really enjoyed the balance of both.

At this point in your development at a big club your minutes are going to be limited, so how do you see your role at Hearts and what do you want to get out of it? 

Right now, I’m third choice and I’ve got Rachael Johnstone and Carolina Vilao ahead of me, who are both excellent goalkeepers. Two completely different goalkeepers, I would say.

It’s great that I’m getting to train with them and find that balance between what they’re good at, trying to implement that in myself, as well as keeping my own individual qualities. I want to go back on loan, get good minutes and then hopefully push to come back and be second or first choice at Hearts at the start of next season. 

Ideally, how would you like it to play out over the next few seasons?

My hopes are to be good enough to compete for number one at Hearts but the most realistic situation is coming back and trying to play in cup games or teams that are lower in the league. And really show that I’m good enough. I’d like to be involved in the u23s national team too.

This is my last u19s campaign, so trying to come back to Hearts and hopefully that’s good enough to push on to Scotland u23s. 

How have you found that step up to full-time professional? What’s been the biggest adjustment?

Workload and professionalism. At Spartans I was training Monday, Wednesday, Friday, so you’re getting decent recovery times. I was doing the gym myself Tuesday and Thursday but it’s completely different when you’re in full-time every day.

We’ve got prevention before, then we’ve got pitch, and then we’ve got gym every day. The standard and tempo of training’s a lot different as well. You’re getting worked a lot harder, there’s more demands, so I need to be recovering better to live up to those demands the following day.

And trying to balance that with uni as well.

I think you’re at one of the hardest stages as a young goalkeeper, having to work hard and having to wait for the opportunities. How hard is it to be patient?

It’s really difficult. Something I’ve been trying to focus on is only worrying about what I’m in control of. Getting opportunities isn’t in my complete control so there’s no point worrying about it.

I focus on how well I’m training, how well I’m recovering, how well I’m eating, and communicating. All those little things will lead to that opportunity.

But it’s easier said than done when that’s all you really want, to get that opportunity. I think you can’t focus too much on that and it’s about the process every day.

Do you get a chance to talk to other goalkeepers in your position because it must be quite lonely?

I’ve got a good support network at Hearts. My goalie coach, I’ve known him since I was at Accies, so it’s always good to speak to him. Talking about opportunities and seeing where he thinks I’m at.

I also have my friend Chloe, she was also a goalkeeper at Accies. She came up through the Rangers Academy and had to wait for her opportunities. I’m still really close to her. Because she’s older, it’s good speaking to her having seen her grow up, and I know what it feels like to have to wait. 

You touched on the international situation. What are your hopes with regards to Scotland?

It’s a difficult one because I was consistently in the squads at u16s and u17s and was a starting player. Then during my time at Spartans I hadn’t been selected for a year.

The camp just previously in November was my first camp since, so the next step is to keep getting into the u19s squad and starting.

Of course I would like to go and play u23s and move up to the first team but I feel right now there’s no rush. I’m happy to go through the stages and earn my spot.

Are there any goalkeepers at the moment that you really keep an eye on? 

Hannah Hampton. She’s incredible and seeing how good she is with the ball at her feet. I think that’s something at Hearts that’s really important.

Eva and Pascal demand that you’re good with the ball at your feet and that’s the style of football they’ve brought into Hearts.

And when you hear about how mentally strong Hannah is and the challenges she’s gone through, being dropped from England squads etc. Then going from Aston Villa to Chelsea is massive. She’s a real inspiration.

Goalkeeping is probably the most technically improved position across the sport, it’s advanced quickly. Does that make it harder for a young goalkeeper or does it make it more fun? 

I think a good mix of both.

Technically there’s much higher demand for a goalkeeper now. You need all of your attributes to be at a high level. You can’t afford not to be good on the ball or you can’t afford to be less good at shot stopping.

I think it’s hard because there’s so many aspects of goalkeeping that need to be at a really high level.

Also you need to find things that are going to make you stand out from other players. You can’t just have a really good level of everything, some things have to be better. You need to stand out from other people.

I do think it’s difficult but that’s exciting as well. And why would you not want to progress the game?

What’s your standout feature as a goalkeeper? 

I think for a while it’s been shot-stopping. I really enjoy that and I think I’m pretty good at it.

When you look back at yourself as a goalkeeper a few years ago, what’s the biggest way you’ve changed, maybe technically, but also as a person?

I think mentally, going from Accies to Hearts in quite a short succession has been huge.

Mentally I’ve toughened up a lot and understand what it’s like to play in big games and what people expect of you. I think going from those three different environments – from Accies to Spartans to Hearts – the standard and what people expect from you increases every time.

Being able to take on board lots of constructive criticism, I think that’s the most important thing because I’ve taken that on everywhere I’ve gone, in the national team as well. I think that’s what makes you a better player.

Thinking about the game more broadly, are you seeing the fan base build at Hearts?

Yes, I’d say it’s getting better. For example, the Edinburgh Cup, the Capital Cup, we played Hibs at Tynecastle and there were lots of fans there.

I think the things the club are doing, like lowering ticket prices or giving out free tickets to invite fans in, is great.

It definitely makes a difference to the girls on the pitch when you’re playing and you’ve got lots of fans. We’ve had discussions about how much energy they get from the crowd. When we play in big games like that and we deliver performances, that encourages them to come back to Oriam (Hearts home ground) and helps make it a bit more lively.

Scotland as an international team feels like it’s building up some excitement at the moment: the men are in the World Cup for the first time in ages, World Cup qualifiers for the women soon. Does Scotland believe?

When the men qualified for the World Cup there was such a buzz around Scotland. That was the talk for a good couple of weeks.

The Scotland women’s national team, there’s more talk about them as well, and I think with the new manager coming in, that’s been really positive.

Finally, what’s something about goalkeeping that only goalkeepers really understand? 

I think the strain that it puts on your body. I think that’s really overlooked.

Outfield players or just normal people don’t really understand the strain that training takes.

I think people just think it looks really fun and we don’t need to run.

The standard and tempo we train at, everything’s really short, sharp, fast, explosive movements. You’re throwing yourself about all day every day. So yeah, that.

Photo credits: Hearts Women / Malcom MacKenzie