With her longstanding dedication to both international and grassroots football, she is recognised as one of the largely unsung pioneers of the modern women's game.

[5] Women's football was still banned in England at the time, as it would be until 1971, with leagues contested by teams supported by companies being "the lifeblood".

[5] In the same year, to support herself, she took a job as a clerk at Northern Dairies; the company did not have a football team, but she played netball for them.

[5] Still, she sought out better football:[1][5] she was a guest player for Tottenham Hotspur on a tour to Switzerland,[18] and spent a year at Preston Ladies (in Lancashire), but travel was an issue.

[1][5] When Thomas returned to playing in Yorkshire, with several seasons at CP Doncaster Ladies, she also had the opportunity to train with the men's Hull City A.F.C.

[1] In 1974, when Thomas was establishing herself in the Northern England team, she was invited to the first all-women coaching course held at the then-national footballing centre, Lilleshall.

[20]: 62–63  Thomas retained her captaincy under Tranter's successor Martin Reagan and became an ever-present until September 1985;[2] she recalls that she missed only one England match between her first call-up and retirement, a 1985 match against Wales that took place on the Isle of Man, with most of the squad's Northern players unable to go "due to logistical and financial restraints".

[5][19] The team's record under Thomas saw them reach at least the semi-finals in all seven tournaments in which they competed, winning two:[5] the 1976 Pony Home Championship and the 1985 Mundialito.

[b] In March 1985, England beat Scotland 4–0 at Deepdale in Preston and Thomas was presented with her 50th cap by Tom Finney after the game.

[12] When the East Riding County FA created its first women's representative team in 1995, Thomas was asked to work with the coaching staff and, though aged 40, captain the side.

[32] She continued playing for both teams until 2002, taking a break but being drawn back into football two years later when asked to help set-up Brandesburton Ladies.

[1] By the late 1970s her achievements were being acknowledged outside the game:[5] in 1978 and 1979 she made appearances on the sports show Superstars,[35][36][37][38] and in 1984 she was interviewed on national breakfast television (the first women's player to be so) after the 1984 Euro final defeat.

[43] Though well-recognised during her time as England captain, she said that she received the most media attention when the team won the UEFA Women's Euro 2022.