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Then he revealed Hibs are the ONLY team he’d be willing to play for for NOTHING.

The former Scotland midfielder has signed a deal with his old club until the end of the season.

But Thomson WON’T pick up a weekly wage throughout that time. Instead he’ll use the games to get himself fit and back in the shop window.

And, after a late run-out as a sub against the Jambos, he admitted he is just thrilled to be back playing again.

Thomson became a free agent when he left Middlesbrough at the end of January.

Boss Pat Fenlon was honest enough to admit he did not have the money to sign him.

And that led to Thomson, 28, making the unusual offer to his former employer.

He said: “I just wanted to help this club. And I would like to think it is probably the only club in Britain I would do this for.

“It is what it is — I am here playing for nothing and I’ll give my all.

“It wasn’t something I thought about to start with. But the more I trained and worked with the manager the more I wanted to play.

“I had a few deals that fell through at the last minute and that was frustrating.

“So in the end I asked the manager if I could play. And thankfully he was impressed enough to think I could try and help the boys.

“If people want to praise me for doing that then great!

“If not I am still going to go about my business and try my best for the team.

“I love playing football and it’s the first time I have been on a park for seven or eight weeks. So it was nice to come on and the reception was really touching.

“I wasn’t really worried about that, if the fans wanted to boo me then so be it.

“All I can do is try my best and I can guarantee that’s what I’ll be doing.”

Fenlon believes Thomson will prove a quality addition. And the midfielder is looking forward to doing all he can to help out the Irishman.

Yesterday’s draw with the Jambos kept Hibs’ hopes of a top six place alive. They also have a Scottish Cup semi-final with managerless Falkirk to look forward to.

And Thomson admits he has no idea if his temporary move may become a permanent one.

He said: “I just want to do my best for the club and try and get to the end of the season. Whether or not I move on, football is one of those things you don’t really know what is around the corner.

“So I’ll give my all for the next two months and we’ll see where we are in the summer.”

Thomson, though, believes it will be a travesty if Hibs DON’T make the top six.

And he revealed he has been left impressed with the quality of Fenlon’s squad.

He said: “I think it is nip and tuck. The whole season teams have been sitting on the borderline of the top six and at one stage everyone thought they could get second.

“The last time I looked at the table Motherwell looked as if they have stretched that wee bit clear of the chasing pack. But if you get beaten in one game you could be sitting ninth or tenth. So the desire is there to finish as high up the league as possible.

“The manager has set his stall out to try and finish in the top six and that’s our objective.

“The boys here are more than good enough to be in the top six so it’s almost out of the question that we don’t finish there.”

Former Hibs team-mate and Celtic skipper Scott Brown was at Easter Road to watch Thomson make his comeback.

But Thomson admitted Hibs couldn’t grumble at the outcome of the derby clash. He said: “There wasn’t much in the game, it was nip and tuck with no more than half-chances at either end.

“And a draw was probably the fair result.”