BEN Thatcher's Christmas dinner consisted of a bottle of water and a bowl of pasta - but you won't find the City defender complaining.

Thatcher has been foregoing his turkey and sprouts ever since making his professional debut for Millwall as an 18-year-old left back in 1993, and accepts that it comes with the job of being a Premiership footballer.

"I've been doing it for 13 years, so I'm used to it," Thatcher said. "My family have been up at my house, enjoying themselves over Christmas, and I was sitting there with a bottle of Evian and a bowl of pasta."

The 31-year-old has just celebrated his 11th Christmas as a Premiership footballer, and his wish-list for Santa this year was exactly the same as it has been for each of the previous 10.

"I just wanted some points over Christmas, to be honest," Thatcher said.

"I'm at the age now where Christmas is just for the kids really. Over Christmas, all I want is a few wins and a bit of a win bonus."

If defeat at home to Bolton last Saturday was the worst possible start to the defender's yuletide, then the Boxing Day victory at Sheffield United at least cheered him up a day late.

Deflating

And victory at West Ham this afternoon would be sweeter than a slice of Christmas pudding, and would be the perfect opportunity to demonstrate just how much Thatcher's fortunes have turned around since his last trip to East London.

City's last visit to Upton Park was back in April, when they were in the middle of that awful late-season slump that followed a deflating FA Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of the Hammers in March.

It's fair to say that Thatcher had a shocker at Upton Park on that April afternoon.

Supposedly playing at left-back, he found himself dragged horribly out of position so many times that manager Stuart Pearce not only hauled him off at half-time, but decided he would be better off playing centre-half Sylvain Distin in that role. It was to be Thatcher's last appearance of the season.

When Thatcher was then sent off on City's pre-season tour of China, and followed it up with that horrific challenge on Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes at the start of this season, many Blues fans questioned whether the defender had a future at Eastlands.

It's a sign of Thatcher's fighting spirit that, not only did he accept the eight-game ban he received for that challenge without protest, he also knuckled down and made the left-back spot his own when he returned to the side at the end of October.

The defender is now clearly winning the battle he has been fighting with Stephen Jordan for that spot since arriving at Eastlands from Leicester for é100,000 in the summer of 2004.

Fate

Jordan actually made more Premiership appearances than Thatcher during the former Wales international's first season at City, and the Academy product was given the left-back spot when Pearce replaced Kevin Keegan as manager in March 2005.

Given the fate that has befallen Danny Mills, who started to lose his firm grip on the right-back slot at around the same time - first to Nedum Onuoha, then to Micah Richards - Thatcher could easily have slipped out of the picture at City.

And considering the off-field obstacles Thatcher had to overcome during that first season, when the former Wimbledon and Tottenham defender very nearly returned to London to join Fulham after a series of burglaries at his Manchester home had unsettled his family, it would have been little surprise if he had decided not to stick with City.

The fact that Thatcher has come through a testing two years - during which he has not always been a regular fixture - to establish himself beyond question as City's first-choice left-back is a tribute to his determination and staying power.

It is the sort of determination that has ensured an unbroken run of 10-and-a-half years in the Premiership since leaving Millwall to join Wimbledon in the summer of 1996.

Even then, that early in his career, there was a sign of the hatred of losing, the willingness to put the team above himself, that would ensure him a long career at the top level.

It came in his final game for Millwall in May 1996, a 0-0 draw at Ipswich that condemned them to relegation from the First Division.

The match was shown live on television, and Thatcher was chosen as the man of the match. But it was clear, as Thatcher was presented with the award, that it meant little or nothing to him.

Reason

In an incredibly blunt, and rather short, post-match interview, the defender had barely received the award before telling his interviewer: "This is my worst day in football."

From that moment on, it was clear that Thatcher was a team player. For that reason, it is little surprise that the defender has no problem with sweating off the alcohol and the turkey over Christmas to help City move up the table.

He believes that City can pull themselves a long way up the table with a couple of victories.

See in the New Year with a couple of victories under the belt, and even Thatcher might be prepared to celebrate with something stronger than a bottle of water.

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