was rejected by Hibernian. Speculation about Thomson's future increased after he (and Scott Brown) appointed Willie McKay as his agent. McKay demanded that Hibernian offer Brown and Thomson wages commensurate with the transfer fees Hibernian were demanding for the players. Hibernian would have needed to significantly break their pay scale to offer such wages. Hibernian refused to meet with McKay to discuss improved contracts, which resulted in Brown submitting a written transfer request. On 20 December 2006, Charlton Athletic made a joint offer for Brown and Thomson, which was rejected by Hibernian. This sparked a further round of speculation, as Brown and Thomson demanded to know why they had not been informed of the offer before it was rejected. Thomson was stripped of the captaincy on 2 January 2007 and was replaced by Rob Jones. Thomson was told by manager John Collins to concentrate on his game because he believed that Thomson's performance levels had dropped since the transfer speculation began. Rangers Thomson signed for Walter Smith's Rangers for a fee of £2 million on 30 January 2007. Less than two months earlier, Smith had been critical of Thomson's behaviour, calling on him to show more "responsibility", although this was a month before Smith had been appointed as Rangers manager. Thomson made his Rangers debut on 11 February in a 3–1 victory over Kilmarnock, although he was substituted at half-time after suffering a hamstring injury. Thomson established himself as a regular in the Rangers first team. He scored his first goal for Rangers in a victory against Celtic on 29 March 2008 and he played in the club's run to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final and winning the League Cup and Scottish Cup in his first full season. Thomson scored his second goal of the 2008–09 season when he scored an equalising goal in injury time against Dundee United at Ibrox Stadium, on 4 November 2008. In the following league match against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, a 4–0 victory for Rangers was overshadowed by Thomson suffering a serious knee injury. This injury ruled him out for the rest of the 2008–09 season. Thomson had surgery to save his career on 31 December 2008. The surgery was a success and Thomson hoped to be fit for the following season. On his return to the Rangers first team, Thomson was sent off in the 13th minute of a 2–1 win against Hearts.