Gloucester City skipper Keiran Thomas has been captain of pretty much every club he has played.

It’s easy to see why because the articulate 30-year-old leads from the front, sets the standards and gives 100 per cent every time he puts on a pair of boots.

He also loves the game – absolutely loves it.

Talk to him about football and the two words he uses often when describing his time in the game are ‘amazing’ and ‘brilliant’.

Thomas, who is from the Forest of Dean, began his footballing journey as a youngster with Mitcheldean.

He was clearly good from an early age because he was soon invited to join Cheltenham Town’s academy at the age of 11.

For much of his career Thomas, who is now in his second spell with Gloucester, has been a right-back, but in those formative years he was a central midfielder.

He looks back on his time at Cheltenham with great fondness.

“It was good, my parents were amazing,” he said. “They used to drive me everywhere. I was there until I was 18, including two years as a scholar.”

He was living in digs in Cheltenham by then and admits he was a bit surprised that he wasn’t offered a contract.

“I thought I had a chance,” he said. “I thought I’d done really well. In the last couple of months I was training with the first team and travelling with them to away games.

“It was a bit frustrating but football is a game of opinions.”

Mark Yates was Cheltenham’s manager at the time. Current Gloucester duo Joe Hanks and Ed Williams were also at Cheltenham at the same time as Thomas, as well as ex-City player Spencer Hamilton.

But despite the disappointment at the end, Thomas says he has “very happy memories” of his time at Cheltenham.

John Brough, who converted him to a right-back at the age of 17, and Russell Milton were his youth team managers, and current Cirencester Town boss Brough had a big influence on Thomas’ early career.

Brough was manager of Cinderford Town during Thomas’ time at the Southern League club.

Thomas had joined them in the summer of 2013 when he was being released by Cheltenham after enjoying a loan spell with the club the previous season.

He was made captain at the start of the 2015/16 season, a campaign which saw them win Division One South & West, and Thomas said: “Cinderford were brilliant, it was where I was from, it was a brilliant time.

“I played there when I was 17 and we won the league. John Brough is a very good manager and a very good coach, he understands the game very well.”

Thomas’ impressive form earned him a move to Gloucester, who were then playing in National League North, in the summer of 2016.

His first spell lasted two years and he said: “Tim Harris was manager in my first season and Marc Richards in my second. It was amazing, I had a really good time.

“Tim was brilliant and Rico was a brilliant coach.”

And Gloucester clearly thought highly of Thomas because he was made captain in his second season.

“That was a real honour,” Thomas said. “Tom Webb was the previous captain and he’s a club legend. He was coming to the end of his career but he was still a huge influence. It was an honour for me to be handed the captaincy by Tom.”

The aforementioned Hanks and Williams were also both at the club during this time, along with the likes of Jas Singh, Lewis Hall and Luke Hopper.

Thomas’ younger brother Luke, now 26 and playing for Bristol Rovers, also had a spell with the club.

“He played with us on loan from Derby County,” said Thomas. “That was a great time, and he’s doing really well now at Bristol Rovers.”

Luke’s time at Gloucester coincided with Keiran being given a week’s trial at Derby.

“They’d come down and watch Luke play,” explained Thomas. “They said I was playing well and invited me up for a trial.

“I trained with the under-23s. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, but they had a lot of 19 and 20-year-olds and I was 22. They said it wasn’t long enough to develop me for the first team.”

But although he didn’t get his dream move to Derby, he was soon on the move again, this time to National League North club Hereford, the one-time successful Football League club who play their homes games at Edgar Street.

“They still had their fanbase,” recalled Thomas. “We used to have home crowds of 3,500. The fans were always good with me, they were amazing.”

Thomas, a self-employed carpenter, was there for two years – he played for Peter Beadle, Russell Slade, Marc Richards and Josh Gowling – before joining Weston-super-Mare where he spent five seasons before linking up with Gloucester for the second time at the start of the current campaign.

He was made captain of Weston at the start of the 2021/22 season and helped them win the Southern League Premier Division South title in 2022/23.

Last season was also memorable for the Thomas because he came face to face with his younger brother in a competitive game for the first time.

“It was an FA Cup first-round game at their place,” Thomas explained. “They beat us 3-1 in extra time, it was a good experience. Luke came on as a sub and played in the 10 role so our paths didn’t really cross. It was a really proud day for our parents.”

Keiran led from the front during that game, of course, just like he has done all his career.

“I like to lead by example, especially on the pitch and around the changing room,” he said. “I like to look after the players. I’m quite loud on the pitch.”

His return to Gloucester this season has been disrupted by a broken ankle, but promotion from Southern League Premier Division South remains very much the target.

Gloucester manager Daf Williams favours playing three at the back and Thomas is happy in that formation.

“I can play on the right of the three and right wing-back, as well as right-back,” he said. “I’ve always been an attacking full-back and I pride myself on working hard and getting forward.”

And he’s got a goal in him too.

“I won two goal of the season awards at Weston,” he said.

So which was the best?

“I’d say the one at Truro. It was 0-0 and I hit the ball from 25 yards first-time, it flew into the net,” he said.

Thomas retains close connections with Weston because he coaches the club’s women’s team.

“I set up exactly the same as Daf does at Gloucester,” he laughed. “He plays three at the back but he’s got lots of formations which he changes in games.

“When I finish playing I’d like to go into a coaching role, possibly at Gloucester.”

And Thomas is a big fan of Williams.

“Daf is a top, top person,” he said. “I always wanted to come back to Gloucester.”