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, Steadinho
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Sheffield United
Number	8
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002-2004 2004-2005 2005-2007 2006-2007 2007-	Huddersfield Town Blackburn Rovers Sunderland → Derby County (loan) Sheffield United	68 (22) 42 0(8) 35 0(2) 17 0(3) 07 0(2)
National team
2004-2005	England U21	11 0(1)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:23, 11 March 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Jonathan 'Jon' Stead (born April 7, 1983 in Huddersfield, England) is an English football player who currently plays for Sheffield United as a forward.

1 Education
2 Club Career
3 International Career
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Education

Raised in Honley, Jon Stead attended Honley High School, Huddersfield. During his time there he could regularly be seen honing his skills on the quads kicking a tennis ball with friends between two jumpers, laid down for goalposts.

[edit] Club Career

Stead made his league debut for Huddersfield Town, 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 moved to Blackburn Rovers^[1] marking his debut by scoring the only goal in a match against Middlesbrough^[2] before scoring again in his next game against Newcastle United.

However, the goals for Blackburn dried up 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.^[3]

During his time at Sunderland Stead scored only two goals, the first of which was on 1 April 2006 against Everton at Goodison Park in a 2-2 draw, breaking his duck of 11 months without a goal. He 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 ^[4] and 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 that goal with the opener in a 2-0 win at Luton Town to make it 2 in 8 appearances and then again went on to bag Derby's first in the 1-0 home win against Leicester. He was nominated for Powerade Player of the Month as a result of his form at Derby in November.

On January 10, 2007, Premiership side Sheffield United had an offer of £750,000 accepted by Sunderland.

On January 13, 2007, Stead played his first Premier League game with Sheffield against Portsmouth ^[5] He scored his first goal for the Blades in his third game, against Fulham on January 30, 2007. He would go on to score his second goal for the Blades in the next match against his former club Blackburn Rovers F.C. on February 3, 2007. Stead's muted celebration further enamoured him to the Rovers fans, who remained grateful for the considerable contribution he had made during the relegation scrap in 2004.

[edit] International Career

His early goalscoring exploits at Blackburn Rovers led to a call-up for the England Under-21 side against the Netherlands in February 2004. However, he managed just 1 goal in 11 appearances.