Alan Thatcher

Retired. And playing more sport than ever. Squash ruined my hips and knees, but padel, pickleball and table tennis are keeping me busy on court.

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Great to hear from Indian squash legend @ritwikbhatta about the amazing work he is doing with the START Academy and his plans for @WorldSquashDay
https://t.co/Uh6a4yVp3V

[Waleed AlHamdan @waleedk_BW]

If there’s one sign that the system around Pep wasn’t ordinary, it’s this:
Messi didn’t get injured. Not in the way explosive players normally do. And neither did most of Pep’s squads.

Barca players were always available.
Bayern players were pushed into recovery timelines their own doctor refused to accept.
City players routinely returned weeks ahead of standard medical expectations.

This consistency across three clubs isn’t coincidence.
It’s the fingerprint of a very specific medical model that kept stars on the pitch when everyone else was losing theirs.

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Happy to endorse every single word of your post.

[ExWren @VoWalesWren]

I’m not passing on a post. This is me. I’m furious. 😡
I worked. They took NI off my wages before I ever saw it. My employer paid in too. For years. That was not a favour. That was money ripped out of work I actually did, on the promise it would be there when I was old.
People paid the same and dropped dead before they collected a penny. That money didn’t vanish. The government spent it. Then they have the cheek to look at the rest of us like we’re scroungers for wanting it back.
They never put their own money in. Not a pound. They took ours, blew it, and when it was our turn they changed the word. “Entitlement.” As if I crawled in begging.
Then they moved the line. Retirement age up. Then up again. Work till you drop. Wait till you’re worn out. Hope you live long enough to see what you already paid for. That’s the con, empty the pot, shove the age back, and let more of us die waiting.
And some of the young ones sneer. Talk as if we stole their lives. As if we sat on our backsides. We paid in when the deal was 60 or 65. We didn’t invent this mess. We grafted and now we’re the villains while they raise the age and spend the money elsewhere! 😤
It was never locked away with my name on it. I know that. They used it like a slush fund and expected us to swallow it.
Look at them. Fat packages. Weeks off. Sick pay. Sorted. Then look at pensioners on a fixed state pension, counting every coin, filling in bloody forms, being told there’s nothing left.
Veterans. People who built this country. Our own. Treated like an inconvenience.
Meanwhile the spongers sit on it fit to work, won’t work, know every loophole, take and take while the rest of us paid in. And still they find money. Hotels. Benefits. Lawyers. Welcome packs for boat after boat coming over. People who never paid a day’s NI here. Never put a pound into the pot I funded for decades.
Don’t tell me we can’t afford our own. Don’t tell me the cupboard is bare for the ones who worked, then fling it open for spongers and arrivals who contributed nothing. Don’t push the retirement age up on people who already paid, then let kids be told we’re the ones draining the country.
Billions abroad. Billions here on people who put nothing in. And the ones who paid get lectured, delayed, and spat on.
Now they want to tax it as well. Take it off you on the way in, spend it, make you wait longer, call it an entitlement then tax what’s left when you finally get it. Steal it twice. Three times if you count the years they added to the retirement age.
Don’t call my pension charity. Don’t call it welfare. Don’t preach at me about kindness while you rob the people who funded the lot.
I paid it. In work. In tax. In years I don’t get back.
They spent what was meant for later on spongers, on foreign aid, on boatloads who never paid in, then shoved retirement further away, told the young to blame us, and now they’re coming back for another cut.
It is my money! I earned it! 🤬
vowaleswren

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

@whittyuk Hi John. Thanks for the kind words. Everyone remembers Peter Nicol collapsing in the final in Aberdeen but there were many amazing matches including the Friday night punch-up between Martin Heath and Jonathon Power, and Rodney Eyles v Paul Price on the second glass court.

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Many of my proudest achievements in squash involved Scotland:
-World Squash Day
-Rescuing the 1999 British Open and taking it to Aberdeen
-MC at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow
As the Games closed I heard this beautiful song for the first time:
https://t.co/7LOKZqPnEp

[Jim Chimirie 🇬🇧 @JChimirie66677]

Thank you. I think that's the danger. I don't think Lowe set out to build what Restore has become, but political movements attract the people they tolerate.

I've had similar responses myself since publishing this piece. The irony is that the more some supporters respond to criticism with abuse, personal attacks and accusations of betrayal, the more they prove the point I was making.

I still support the argument for much tighter immigration control, and I've praised Lowe's mass deportation blueprint. But that doesn't mean I will give Restore a free pass. The Right needs serious political parties capable of winning power, not movements that drive away anyone who questions them. That is precisely why I wrote the piece.

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

@BarbaraOneillAU I'm 73 and playing more sport than ever, and feeling just as healthy as when I was super fit half a lifetime ago.

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

WORLD SQUASH DAY 2026
How the horrors of 9/11 led to the biggest global promotion for the sport of squash. https://t.co/mlQN8vTfT4

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Time to honour the memory of Derek Sword, a former Scottish junior International squash player who perished in the attacks on the World Trade Center along with dozens of fellow squash players from New York Athletic Club. We launched @WorldSquashDay in their honour.

[Jamais Vu 🏉 @boot15_vu]

11 September 2001 — 25 years ago today.

Look closely at the photograph.
You’ll see the faces of 2,977 innocent people — fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends and colleagues.

Among them were 67 Britons.

They were not soldiers. They were not combatants. They were ordinary people going about their lives when they were murdered by a murderous death cult.

Twenty-five years on, the threat posed by that ideology has not simply disappeared. It has continued to mutate, spread and take innocent lives around the world.

We remember those who were taken.
We remember those who ran towards the danger.
We remember the firefighters, police officers, paramedics and ordinary people who showed extraordinary courage.

And above all, we remember the innocent.

2,977 lives. 2,977 stories. Never forgotten.

Lest we forget. 🕯️🙏🏽

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Lenny Holden deserves to share the assist with that brilliant, accurate throw.

[KEVIN GRAVENELL @elliott9kev]

Some night that COYS 🖤💛
@Craigfagan7 @TomLeahy29

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

@HarrietSergeant @SamaHoole Lambo

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Good luck, Craig. Love the way you have got the Stones playing such quality football in pre-season. #COYS

[Craig Fagan @Craigfagan7]

Proud moment representing the football club as manager tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the first home game of the season at the Gallagher Stadium ! 🟡⚫ Let’s get behind our new group and make some noise! Come on you stones💪🏽🫶🏽⚽ #COYS #MaidstoneUnited #stones

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Your target to beat is the 40,000 players who took part in @WorldSquashDay 2012, with Team Squash and Team 2020 supporting the Olympic Bid.
@SquashRepublic

[World Squash @WorldSquash]

Rally for Squash! 🌍🙌

World Squash are teaming up with World Squash Day and Rally28 to bring you the biggest global team match in squash history as we build momentum for LA28 💪

Find out more ➡️ https://t.co/MSJXEzZIEE

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Stones' man of the match against @WorthingFC

[Maidstone United @maidstoneunited]

🧤 Doop, Doop, De, Doodop Lenny Holden!

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Wonderful send-off for you yesterday, George, crowned by a huge victory over Worthing. The fixtures have been kind and the 3 teams above us, Maidenhead, Weston and Ebbsfleet, face the top 3, Hornchurch, Dorking and Worthing on Saturday. One last push to get the win at Bath!

[George Elokobi @georgeelokobi]

Thank You Maidstone 💛🖤

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Stones players and fans will do everything they can to give @georgeelokobi a winning farewell to the Gallagher Stadium.

[Enterprise National League @NL_Enterprise]

Will we have a Worth-y winner?

The Enterprise National League South champions could be crowned on Saturday 🏆

It's a massive afternoon ahead!

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

I published a similar report on the benefits of racket sports on @SquashMadNews in 2016 following a major health survey in the UK:
https://t.co/UxcbrG42H6

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

@georgeelokobi @maidstoneunited @acerhelen Thank you, George, for taking the Stones on an incredible journey and for developing so many outstanding players. You and Craig have done a superb job. Good luck with the next stage of your career.

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

Thanks Craig.
Three cup finals left to play!

[Craig Fagan @Craigfagan7]

Enjoyable at times 😅
No good for the 🖤💛
But good result in the end 👏🏽

[Alan Thatcher @AlanThatcherCS]

I enjoyed commentating with @justafan1m on this crazy goalfest yesterday as mighty @maidstoneunited beat @HornchurchFC 5-4, turning Easter Monday into Easter Funday!
https://t.co/AV1S55rpY9
@maidstoneunited
@Craigfagan7