Mr Thomson is, supposedly, a Saints fan, although you'd hardly know that from how he takes charge of games involving us! His brother was spotted in the Saints end at the game at Falkirk at the end of last season, while a former school pal claims he is indeed a Buddie. Good stuff.
He has taken charge of only two Saints games this season, one of which was a 1-1 draw with Falkirk at St. Mirren Park. He correctly chalked off a goal for Pedro Moutinho, who stole the ball from Paul Gallacher, and generally had a good display. The other was when we lost to Aberdeen in September and Lee Mair was sent off. he does also have the distinction of taking charge of our first ever win at our new ground when he officiated the Scottish Cup tie against Motherwell last season.
As Mr Thomson is one of Scotland's top refs, it means he has handled Rangers a number of times, rather than the diddy refs we usually seem to get. This will be his fifth one of the season and three of them have yielded victories - a hammering of Motherwell and a win over Hearts - complete with traditional last minute Rangers penalty when the scores are level, although he had already sent off Kevin Thomson. The other win was the first Old Firm game of the season that Rangers won 2-1, with Celtic slightly aggrieved (surely not!) at some of the decisions. The other Rangers game Mr Thomson has done this season was when they lost to 10 man Aberdeen, while he also sent off Celtic's Stephen McManus when Hearts knocked them out of the League Cup.
Mr Thomson did a magnificent seven Rangers game last season, including both Old Firm games at Ibrox - each side managing a 1-0 victory. The other matches were a draw and a win over Aberdeen, a 3-3 draw with Dundee United, a draw with hearts and a narrow win at Hamilton. No penalties anywhere, which is a surprise.
There were a mere five Rangers games the previous season, one of which was a hammering of us at Love Street at the end of the season. There's also a win over Hearts, when he sent off Nacho Novo, a cup draw with Hibs - when he sent off Allan McGregor - and a draw with Motherwell, Kris Boyd scoring the usual penalty. He also did the season's final Old Firm game where Celtic scored a last minute goal for a 3-2 win, having missed a penalty when Steven Whittaker was sent off. The season before Mr Thomson did just three Rangers games - an amusing last minute defeat to Inverness Caley Thistle in one of Paul Le Guen's final games, a 2-0 Old Firm win at Ibrox and a 2-0 defeat to Aberdeen.
As we charged to the title in 2005/06, Mr Thomson was charging his way to four Rangers draws in games against Celtic, Livingston, Hearts and Dunfermline. The latter saw each team have someone sent off and the referee get confused by giving the Pars a last minute penalty. There was also an opening day win over Livingston in which future Saint Richard Brittain was sent off.
The previous season saw just two Rangers games for this official - a draw with Caley Thistle and a win over Hibs. His first game involving the Gers came in 2003/04, a late goal giving them a win at home to Motherwell.
It's a decent record for Rangers with this official, but there do seem to be quite a few draws in there. He's fair notched up the red cards this season, averaging nearly one every three games. he hasn't showed any his last four games, so let's hope if he plans to keep his average up he makes the rare decision to send off someone playing for one of the Old Firm.