Tackling life after Anfield

Premiership interview: Michael Walker talks to Blackburn's David Thompson, once described by Sven-Goran Erikkson as "aggressive and impressive", before he makes a nostalgic return to his old club Liverpool.

Short, sharp and Scouse, David Thompson is a young man brimming with vitality. "Spiky and easily upset," is the description of him by his manager at Blackburn Rovers, Graeme Souness. "Fiery" is what Thompson's former Blackburn team-mate David Dunn called him. Sven-Goran Eriksson, who summoned Thompson into the England squad last November, said at the time: "Aggressive and impressive." There is a certain theme to all this.

Meanwhile, another David Thomson, the celebrated film critic and historian, said that James Cagney possessed a "compressed gaiety", and while Thompson the footballer might object to a modern interpretation of gaiety, it fits him in the traditional sense. As does a Cagney comparison with Thompson, in terms of stature and image: Angels With Dirty Faces and all that.

Certainly Gerard Houllier sees Thompson as a villain. His latest comment was that he was "glad" Thompson is no longer a Liverpool player. It should make for an interesting meeting when Liverpool travel to Ewood Park this afternoon, although Thompson said a remark he made about Markus Babbel has been blown out of proportion.

Babbel has joined Blackburn on loan from Liverpool, "and all I said was Liverpool's loss is Blackburn's gain", Thompson explained. "Then it gets taken out of context. So, of course, I'll shake Gerard Houllier's hand, there's no reason not to."

Thompson was 26 yesterday and it is three years since Houllier sold him to Coventry City for £3 million. But Birkenhead-born Thompson will always fall under the focus on days like these.

In relation to the pen portraits above "charming and handsome" was how a laughing Thompson described himself. "No, when I play I like to win. I'll do anything to win. I work really hard and put tackles in, and if that upsets people along the way then maybe it's perceived as spiky. Maybe that's me, then."

But, sitting on a bench overlooking Blackburn's lush training ground on Thursday, Thompson also displayed maturity. He was honest enough to admit it was born out of leaving Liverpool. Not many depart Anfield and prosper but, via Coventry and Blackburn, Thompson is a player on the up. The word Portugal did not pass his lips but you can be sure it is in the back of his mind.

"I think the time was right to leave Liverpool, but it was sad," Thompson said. "I had some great friends there. But it was also exciting because I had to go and establish myself as a footballer. It was easy for me at Liverpool, I had all my friends there. It was time for me to get out and be a man, grow up. And it happened. I went down to a new environment - I went from being at a club that was used to winning most weeks to one that could hardly win a game. I had no friends or family down there, you have to create your own social climate.

"I did grow up. It brought the best out of me - I had to make my own food. It was a time that was necessary for me. I don't have any regrets about leaving Liverpool."

He had joined Liverpool as an Everton-supporting teenager and made a one-minute debut under Roy Evans against Arsenal in August 1996. Thompson came on for Robbie Fowler. "It was at Anfield, we were winning and I got a minute. But I was just delighted, finally you get to make a mark. You get a squad number and then you get to play in front of the crowd. You look around the team and you think: 'This is the start.' You've got an appearance under your belt then. It's a special moment in your life - you can always say you played for Liverpool."

That was a high. But Coventry brought a low: relegation. "The first season at Coventry was really tough. We couldn't buy a win, we'd play really well to get beaten 2-0 by somebody. I wasn't used to that. You'd come off the pitch having given everything. But the second season, in the First Division, I really enjoyed it. I scored goals, put in good performances and got a move to Blackburn. If you drop down a division then that's a make-or- break season for you - if you don't do it in there, then you can drop again and that's when you can fall away. It was a time for me to stand up and be counted, or fade away. It was crucial.

"I became a more experienced, more complete footballer at Coventry. I played on the left, on the right, in the centre and in behind - at a big club you play in one position."

The 13 goals Thompson scored that season caught the eye of Souness. Blackburn paid £1.5 million rising to £2.5 million for Thompson last August. The transfer was completed at Ewood the night Blackburn hosted Liverpool. Thompson scored two in his first three games for Rovers but his season ended in February after he scored the only goal in the home win against Southampton. Some knee cartilage has been removed since - "a regular footballer's injury" - and Thompson returned with a goal against Wolves on this season's opening day.

He said it would be "unbelievable if we could emulate last season (sixth and the semi-finals of the Carling Cup). But we've got new players in who need to gel and bond." Can Blackburn overtake Liverpool this season? "I don't think so. They're a bigger club than us, up there with the Man Uniteds and Arsenals. We're competing for honours below them."

Personally, Thompson's targets are "little and big." "To get back into the England squad, that's my ambition. First I have to get the form I showed at Blackburn last season." And England still desire something Thompson gained at Coventry: right-footed left-sided experience. "It depends what's expected of you. If England want a right-footed player to beat someone on the outside, it can be a problem. I think we should change the perception - if there is a right-footed player there and he's cutting in and scoring goals, creating chances, then he's doing a good job. It'd be nice if we did have a Ryan Giggs, but we haven't. My job was to score and create goals at Coventry and that's what I was doing. Coventry were never unbalanced, so they kept me there. I immediately felt comfortable. It was natural for me to cut in and shoot."