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00:00Pete, afternoon. I think Stoke have had the fair share of former P&E men and now looks like one of your folk is coming to Deepdale, Jordan Thompson.
00:09I'll start, we'll come on to his sort of character and ability as a player, but were you surprised by the decision or did you see it coming that Stoke were going to let him go this summer?
00:19Yeah, it's a Stoke City reserve, isn't it? Liam Lindsay, Jordan Thompson.
00:23I think of all the players that Stoke have released, Thompson was the one that has divided opinion the most.
00:28We ran a survey actually at the end of the season. I think there was a majority of Stoke fans who would have kept him.
00:35The thing that counted against him was probably his availability in the end.
00:39He didn't play enough games last season. Partly he missed a big chunk through a hernia operation in January.
00:45There's no long-term problem. And then he missed the last couple of games with an ankle injury.
00:51So it doesn't feel like there's any lingering doubts about whether he can play a lot.
00:56But when Stoke are making decisions this summer, I think a lot is going to be based on players who've been available for more than Stoke have had in the last couple of years.
01:09We've spent so much time talking about injury lists that I think that's going to be a big box for him to take in any decision at the moment.
01:20Do you think he belongs at the level still? He was your longest serving player at the time of his departure, wasn't he?
01:26Yeah, he's always been a squad player, I would say.
01:28When he's come in, he's been a pretty steady pair of hands without ever really doing enough to make the shirt his own.
01:36There have been people saying that he probably has done that over times.
01:39And I think there are always players who, for whatever reason, aren't particularly glamorous.
01:45Glenn Whelan was probably one during his time at Stoke.
01:47There was always a will to try to replace him with somebody who's a bit more sexy.
01:53And Jordan Thompson probably fell into that bracket.
01:55But when he came in, he was reliable, no nonsense pretty much.
02:02And he filled in at left-back as well.
02:06And although he's got his Blackpool connections, hasn't he?
02:09I think he'll pretty quickly win over Preston fans with his work rate and his willingness to put his bag on the line for the club.
02:21Yeah, I think Heckingbottom's spoken about we can't lose what we are.
02:25And he's sort of an honest, hard-working, good group.
02:28So do you think Thompson, they've let Ryan Ledson go, who was a massive person in that regard.
02:33So do you think he'll fill that void that's been left?
02:36Yeah, I think so.
02:37He's a reliable character as well as fairly reliable on the pitch.
02:41Really popular inside the changing room.
02:43And, yeah, it just seemed like a good lad to have around the place.
02:49Michael O'Neill spoke well of him.
02:51Alex O'Neill spoke well of him.
02:53Stephen Schumacher spoke well of him.
02:55And then Mark Robin spoke well of him as well, even though he released him in the end.
02:59So, yeah, I think his race had been run at Stoke.
03:02He'd seen a lot of managers come and go over the last few years.
03:06And like Preston, I'm sure, Stoke are just looking for that chance to make changes where they can
03:12and make sure that they're not just repeating the same cycle of the last couple of seasons.
03:19Yeah.
03:19What's his best sort of midfield role, would you say?
03:22The versatility will be music to people's ears, you know, someone who can play different positions.
03:26But in terms of actually midfield, is there somewhere he's best suited?
03:30I remember asking this question when I was in your position and Stoke was signing in from Blackpool.
03:35And we were under the impression that he was going to be some kind of attacking midfielder.
03:39And he's not that.
03:41Or down or something, I think, is it?
03:42Yeah, be prepared for long-range shots with his left foot that end up in the car park.
03:48He's quite keen to take shots on.
03:50Not many go on target.
03:51He hit the bar at Cardiff in the spring, but that was his best shot in about four years, from what I can remember.
04:00He's a holding midfielder, really.
04:03He's different to Ben Pearson.
04:06I think Ben Pearson's probably more of a natural defensive midfielder in terms of breaking up the play.
04:10But Thompson can sit back and link play between defence and midfield.
04:14And then he can fill in at left-back as well, which has been useful at Stoke over the last couple of years,
04:22when they've had a lot of injuries at left-back particularly.
04:26Is there a sort of major trait in his game?
04:29Or is he a bit of a sort of jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none vibe to him?
04:34Yeah, I think that will probably be what the realistic assessment would be,
04:39that he comes in and keeps things simple.
04:43That's when he's probably at his best.
04:45He knows he'll know his own game better now than he has done at any other points in his career.
04:51And I think when he's just keeping things simple,
04:54there's always been an urge from Stoke fans to get him playing forward more regularly and taking more risks.
05:01He's keen to just keep all the possession and just knock it around and keep the ball rather than take risks.
05:08That can also be a strength, I guess, as well, if you're in that position.
05:13He's willing to take the ball and willing to move it wide into players who can probably do more damage than he thinks he can do himself.
05:23There's been a sort of feeling Preston have gone a bit nice in recent years,
05:26which I don't think a Preston team ever should be.
05:28Do you think Thompson will improve that side of things or do you like to get stuck in?
05:32Well, you enjoy this then.
05:33Last time I spoke to him was when he was filling in for Ben Pearson in the spring.
05:37And I think I said to him something like,
05:40you're getting a bit of a reputation for being Stoke's nasty man like Ben Pearson.
05:46And he took that as a compliment, which was how it was intended.
05:50And I think, yeah, he will get stuck in.
05:55He embraces that side of the game.
05:57He doesn't get involved in the same kind of skirmishes as Ben Pearson.
06:02That's hard to match.
06:03Yeah, but I know it's hard to match.
06:06He's at his own standard for that.
06:08Thompson is equally willing to stop a counter-attack and take a yellow card to break up play
06:15and make a challenge if he needs to make one.
06:19Who would you say played his best football under?
06:22Has he sort of been on an even keel throughout his Stoke career?
06:25Well, his best game was probably his final game for Stoke when he played as a flying left-back
06:34in a must-win game against Sheffield Wednesday at home.
06:38He came on as a sub.
06:39He'd been really lucky to lose his place in central midfielder to Pearson,
06:43who'd been injured the previous week.
06:44Thompson came on when there was an injury at left-back.
06:47And he played like Roberto Carlos for an hour before he was stretched off.
06:50I wouldn't say you'd expect that from him regularly.
06:55But in terms of midfield, where you'll see him most,
07:00when Stephen Schumacher got the balance right at the end of last season
07:04and he was playing as the deeper man next to Josh Leran and Luke Cundall,
07:12he really seemed to knit everything together.
07:14And for a spell of perhaps a month, it really looked like we were seeing the best of him.
07:21And Ben Pearson was out injured at that time.
07:24And Thompson really stepped up and played a key part in Stoke staying up.
07:28Just lastly, how often did he sort of play left-back?
07:31Because hearing what you said there,
07:32I wonder if that game might have convinced Preston to make a move
07:35because they need people who can just get up and down the side of the pitch,
07:38which hasn't been easy for them to find in recent years.
07:40But if he can do that, then it'll be a massive sort of string to his bow.
07:45I don't want to lead you down a dead end there.
07:47I wouldn't think that he's coming in.
07:48No, I expect it when he can make it out.
07:50Yeah.
07:51But I think if he needed to do five to ten games there a year,
07:56filling in as like a second choice left-back,
07:59then he's willing to do it.
08:03His point of shift, he's really popular at Stoke.
08:06When he comes back, he'll get a good reception
08:08and there aren't too many players who leave
08:11and can be sure of that.
08:14Certainly over the last seven years.