His first managerial post was with
Bedworth United, his hometown club. In 1997, he became the first manager of newly formed
Hinckley United. He led the club to the
Southern Football League Western Division championship in the 2000–01 season and the
FA Cup second round in December 2001 and December 2004. Thomas resigned as manager on 10 October 2012. In his 15 years with the club, he managed the club in 972 games. Thomas took over as manager of
Kettering Town of the Southern League Division One Central at the beginning of the 2013–14 season. He lost most of his first games, but eventually pulled together results, going 21 games unbeaten. The Poppies finished in 3rd place, thus qualifying for the play-offs. They beat
Daventry Town 1–0 in the semi-final and progressed to the play-off final against
Slough Town. Kettering took a two-goal lead in the final but ultimately lost 3–2. In May 2014, Thomas announced that he was stepping down as Kettering Town FC manager. == Personal life ==