He started his career with Blackburn Rovers, but failed to make a single league appearance in four years before he left to join Swindon Town.
[2] After a loan spell at Wigan Athletic, he signed for Swindon Town during the 1994–95 season, helping them reach the Football League Cup semi-finals but not being able to prevent relegation to the Second Division.
Thorne remained a vital part of the team the next year and had scored 13 times when he fractured a bone in his foot meaning he missed the last three months of the season.
In the summer of 2006, Norwich manager Nigel Worthington indicated that Thorne would be allowed to leave the club if a suitable offer was received.
He considered retiring but subsequently signed for recently relegated League Two side Bradford City on a one-year contract.
[8] A hip injury kept the striker out of the start of the campaign but he eventually made his belated league début in a 2–1 defeat of Lincoln City at Sincil Bank on 7 September 2007 where he had a goal disallowed.
[13] Thorne started the 2008–09 season by scoring two goals in each of the first two league games as City defeated Notts County and Macclesfield Town.
[21] He waited four months for his next goal which came as a late consolation against Notts County at the end of February before he scored another two the following weekend in a 5–0 defeat of Aldershot Town.
[24] He signed a new one-year contract with Bradford in June 2009 and he was appointed as club captain ahead of the 2009–10 season,[25][26] but he suffered an injury setback and was out of the team until January 2010, returning after scoring for the reserves.