When Life Tackles with a Red Card…
In the great cosmic match of life, Joe Thompson left the pitch too soon, at the tender age of 36. He might not have been a globetrotting superstar, but to us, he was the Messi of kindness and camaraderie! Manchester United goalie Tom Heaton, probably still trying to save every compassionate word, called him “a great human” — and you’d better believe it! Plunging through the green sea of memories, Joe trumped cancer twice, showing resilience fit for the wildest championship comebacks.
Joe’s heroic saga sounds like a screenplay for a sports drama when narrated by our gaffer, Neil Custis. The boss once drew up a team tactic board like his life depended on it — slapping Joe’s name on it as our genius No.10 for a merry kickabout at Old Trafford in May 2023. Despite our dreams of glory, we morphed into the comedy troupe of footballers, losing 9-4, but it didn’t matter a smidgen. For Joe, it was a dream decades in the making, as immortal as that forgotten sandwich in the back of your fridge — releasing childhood trauma and tapping deep pockets of courage on a pitch kissed by 115 years of history.
Joe’s lifelong romance with Man United began as a starry-eyed lad at age nine, weaving into the fabric of club folklore like peanut butter in jelly. His last-minute media day call-up let him relive that boyish wonder once again, prancing in a Red Devil kit with an iPhone and a smile that could outshine the infamous Old Trafford floodlights. Like his Instagram Love Actually montage, Joe’s pass led to dispatch my second goal — a world-blinding 6-inch banger! Joe, buddy, the ball was all class, perhaps channeling the spirit of Pele whispering “GO NUTS!” He seized his dream 25 years later, and we were all lucky enough to see him score one last time in the game of life.
