It would seem that Mr Thomson was a Saints fan in his younger years. He is from a Saints supporting family and his brother goes to many of our games. You'd hardly know from his decisions mind you, but if he fancies making up for that then this weekend at Hampden would be the place to start!
Mr Thomson has taken charge of three of our games this season but we only managed to take something from one of them. That was a 1-1 draw with Falkirk just before Christmas when both sides had a goal ruled out - probably correctly. The other games are a 2-0 defeat to Rangers (not a good omen) and a 1-0 defeat to Aberdeen. The Dons scored a late winner from a disputed free-kick, a decision that enraged Lee Mair so much he was sent off for protesting.
Things are a bit more encouraging if you go back to last season as Mr Thomson took charge of our two cup games against Motherwell - the original Scottish Cup tie and the replay - which eventually saw us progress. Unfortunately, 2006/07 isn't so good as we lost both of this official's games 3-0. We had Hugh Murray sent off against Dundee United and the other was another defeat to Rangers. The symmetry continues in 2006/07 when both of Mr Thomson's games with us saw us hammered 5-1 by teams playing in green and white - Celtic and Hibs!
Despite Mr Thomson having first officiated in the Scottish league in 2000, Soccerbase has no more Saints games for him - which may confirm the view he supports us. However, I do seem to remember him being in charge of our League Challenge Cup semi-final win over Morton in 2005 - and he denied them a few decent penalty claims...
There is one good omen if you look at the Rangers games Mr Thomson has officiated this season - they lost one. He was in charge at Pittodrie when Aberdeen beat them 1-0, despite having a man sent off. It's the only domestic game Rangers have lost this season. Aside from the game against ourselves, he's also overseen a 6-1 hammering of Motherwell and a 2-1 win over Hearts, where he sent off Kevin Thomson but made up for that with the typical last minute penalty. He also did the first Old Firm game of the season, Rangers winning 2-1 while Celtic were denied a few decent penalty shouts.
There were another couple of Old Firm games for this official last season, Rangers winning one and losing one. The other games include high scoring draws with Hearts and Dundee United, a narrow win over Hamilton and a draw and a win against Aberdeen. Not a red card or penalty in sight!
There were a mere five Rangers games for Mr Thomson in 2007/08, one of which was the aforementioned win over ourselves. There's another Old Firm game too, Celtic winning 3-2 and Rangers having Steven Whittaker sent off in the last minute. Allan McGregor was also dismissed in the last minute of a Scottish Cup tie against Hibs, although Rangers won the replay. The other game was a 1-1 draw at Motherwell - Kris Boyd scoring the penalty. The previous season saw him in charge of just three Rangers games - a shock defeat to Inverness Caley (despite Rangers scoring a penalty), another defeat to Aberdeen and, bizarrely, a win over Celtic!
2005/06 sees five Rangers games for this official, four of which - against Celtic, Livingston, Dunfermline and Hearts - were draws. The Dunfermline game saw both sides score a penalty and finish with 10 men. The other match was a win over Livvy, future Saint Richard Brittain being sent off. The previous season saw another draw, this time with Caley Thistle, and a win over Hibs, while a 1-0 win over Motherwell in 2003/04 was Mr Thomson's first game in charge of Rangers.
Mr Thomson has experience of European and international games, but this will be his League Cup final. He did a semi-final in 2006/07, Hibs beating St. Johnstone in extra time, and he also did a Scottish Cup semi that season when Dunfermline beat Hibs with a late penalty. Penalties were in play when he took charge of that year's League Challenge Cup final, Ross County seeing off a Clyde side that had future Saint Eddie Malone sent off. Worryingly, he was also in charge of last season's Scottish Cup final - which Rangers won.
So, we've not won with Mr Thomson as referee (unless he was the ref for that Challenge Cup tie) and Rangers have already won a final with him. But then, they have suffered a rare defeat with him this term...