Jonathan Stead

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Personal information
Jon Stead
Full name	Jonathan Stead
Date of birth	April 7, 1983 (age 23)
Place of birth	Huddersfield, England
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Nickname	Steady
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Derby County (on loan from Sunderland)
Number	10
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
2002-2004 2004-2005 2005- 2006-	Huddersfield Town Blackburn Rovers Sunderland → Derby County (loan)	68 (22) 42 (8) 35 (2) 11 (3)
National team
2004-2005	England U21	11 (1)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:21, 2 December 2006 (UTC).

Jonathan 'Jon' Stead (born April 7, 1983 in Huddersfield, England) is an English football player who currently plays for Sunderland as a forward, but as of October 13, 2006 is on loan to Derby County.

He was initially on the books at Huddersfield Town, making his debut as a nineteen-year-old against Brentford.

He scored four goals in three games at the start of the 2003-04 season, igniting interest from big clubs. In February 2004 he signed a deal to move to Blackburn Rovers until 2007. He marked his debut by scoring the only goal in a match against Middlesbrough, and scored again in his next game against Newcastle United

His performances led to a call-up for the England Under-21 side against the Netherlands in February 2004. Now too old to be eligible for England U-21s, he totalled 11 caps and scored 1 goal.

The goals for Blackburn dried up however and with manager Mark Hughes signing additional forwards including Welsh International Craig Bellamy, Stead was transferred on June 13, 2005 to Sunderland in a deal worth £1.8 million.

His Sunderland career has so far been underwhelming. However, he finally managed to score a goal on 1 April 2006 netting against Everton at Goodison Park in a 2-2 draw, breaking his duck of 11 months without a goal. This was his third ever visit to Goodison Park, and has scored pivotal goals on each occasion, leading to the notion that he could be the new "Les Ferdinand".^{[citation needed]}

Stead scored his second Sunderland goal in the 3-1 defeat to Southend at Roots Hall on August 19, 2006.

On October 13, 2006, he completed a loan move to Derby County. After failing to find the back of the net in his first 6 games, he finally broke his Derby duck with the first goal in a 2-1 win away at Coventry City on November 11th. He followed this with the opener in a 2-0 win at Luton Town to make it 2 in 8 appearances. He then again went on to bag Derby's first in the 1-0 home win against Leicester. Prompting fans to begin chants of "Jon Stead, there's only one Jon Stead, there's only one Jon Stead."He was nominated for Powerade Player of the Month as a result of his form at Derby in November